Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Fuck, the stupid whore scratched me.” Cody shoved me away from himself. I landed on my knees before Earl, gasping from the sharp twinge, but I quickly pushed to my feet. I’d never kneel before someone like him.
He sneered. “Still too proud to bow to your betters?” He shook his head. “Just like your old man.”
“One day my father’s going to make you regret the day you were born,” I said, lifting my chin. A feeling of utter helplessness washed through me, but I didn’t let it take control.
Earl smiled in a way that froze my blood. “I was so close to allowing your old man to exchange himself for you, but something about his voice was just lacking the necessary submissiveness I was expecting in a situation like this, you know?”
I swallowed, not liking the way the bikers were looking at me. I couldn’t blame Dad. It wasn’t in his blood to be submissive. Even if he’d tried to appear that way, it would have never been convincing.
“Today, I’m going to make him regret the day he went against Tartarus and teach him his new place.”
He nodded at Cody who grabbed my neck and pressed me against the bar counter. Sharp pain shot through my hipbones from the impact. He shoved my head down so my right cheek pressed against the sticky wooden surface. The stench of cheap liquor was almost overwhelming. Earl came into view, holding a long knife. I tried to move back but Cody held me tightly, his body pressed against mine in the vilest way. The blade gleamed in the light of the lamps over the bar. Panic worked its way through my body like poison.
Earl held up the knife with a vicious smile, watching my reaction. I wished I managed to look brave and indifferent, but I was too terrified of what he might do. “You are too fucking pretty, whore. That perfect face makes me angry every time I see it.”
Fear choked me as he moved even closer, holding the sharp tip of the knife right before my left eye.
“I wonder what you’d do without those lethal looks.” He smiled in a bone-chilling way, revealing one golden tooth.
“Don’t,” I pressed out. I wanted to sound fierce and threatening but sounded terrified and almost begging, but I couldn’t help it. What if he blinded me? There was still so much I wanted to see, so many things I hadn’t appreciated enough because I’d thought I’d have time to look at them. My heart throbbed furiously, blood pumping through my veins like an avalanche.
“I’m sorry, sugar, but I need a little gift for your old man. He needs to know we’re not playing. We’ll destroy him.”
He moved the knife even closer. Where was Maddox? God, where was he?
When the blade sliced into me, a high-pitched scream tore from the deepest part of my body until everything pitched into darkness.
The moment I stepped into the clubhouse, I knew something was fucking wrong. Ruby, Earl’s favorite girl and stupid enough to think he’d ever make her his old lady, had a satisfied smirk on her face as Earl wiped blood off his knife. Blood also covered the bar. My heart lurched. “What happened here?” I asked, trying to hide my worry.
Earl sheathed his knife calmly, looking bored as fuck. “Taught the Vitiello princess a lesson and her old man too.”
Fuck. Earl must have used his spare key to get inside my room. I shoved past a grinning Cody and stormed upstairs, my pulse pounding. What the fuck had he done? I thought Vitiello was ready for the exchange? I unlocked the door and shoved into the room. Blood splatters covered the ground, leading into the small bathroom. Blood had never bothered me. After the carnage Vitiello had caused before my eyes as a little boy I was too hardened to be bothered by it. And yet, the sight of these few blood splatters made my heart race.
I followed them into the bathroom then came to a staggering stop in the doorway.
Marcella perched on the edge of the toilet, face ashen, shoulders and wife beater covered in blood. She pressed a towel over the left side of her face. “What happened?” I asked, fearing the worst. Earl had been like a father to me, but I knew what he was capable of. Over the years, his obsession with revenge had grown rapidly, even worse than my own.
She lowered the towel that her trembling hand had been clutching against the side of her head. Seeing her blue eyes intact, relief washed over me, but then I registered her ear, which was bleeding profusely. It took me a moment to see that Earl had cut her left earlobe off.
My vision turned red and I whirled around and thundered down the creaky stairs. I could barely breathe from fury. My ears were ringing, my temple throbbing. I stormed into the common area. Earl and Cody sat on barstools and downed bourbon as if to celebrate their success.