Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Give me your phone,” I tell one of the men. He hands his over. I switch on the flashlight, and the other man does the same. The three of us begin the climb up the stairs. “Madelena?” I call out again, but get no answer. There’s an almost eerie stillness inside the lighthouse that is opposite the chaos of the storm outside.
“There’s no one here,” one of the men says when he reaches the main room at the top.
I’m the last to get to the landing. I look around, but there’s nowhere to hide. She’s not here—not inside anyway. Shining the flashlight down, I see a spot of red at the top of the stairs. A footprint has obscured it. I crouch to have a closer look and a swipe of my finger tells me it’s relatively fresh.
“She’s here. She has to be!” I stalk to the door that will lead to the catwalk. My heart races because it’s too fucking quiet.
When I see that the door isn’t fully closed, I move.
Wind hits me square in the face the instant I pull the door open. I brace myself against it as I take in the catwalk, the damage to the railing just a few feet from me. It’s the temporary rail, and it was intact when I got a look at it from inside the building when Caius and I were up here.
My heart slams against my chest.
“Madelena?” I ask, not looking over the edge, too afraid of what I’ll find. Instead, I walk stiffly around the catwalk, and there’s a moment of utter, indescribable relief when I see her. But that relief is short lived because she’s passed out, her back against the wall, body just two feet from the edge.
I rush toward her unconscious form, my freshly stitched wound on fire as I drop to my knees on the wooden planks covering the damaged catwalk. The railing that was in place just nights ago now creaks ominously as the wind sends it swaying back and forth. What the hell happened out here?
I touch her face, seeing the bruise that darkens her jawline. Her skin is cold to the touch, icy, but when I set my fingers over the pulse at her throat, I feel the strong beat of her heart.
I exhale with relief, adrenaline leaving my system and letting me breathe again.
“Out here!” I yell to the men. “Be careful. Stay close to the wall.”
“Santos!” I turn back to find not the soldiers, but Caius stepping out onto the catwalk. He’s drenched, his shoes are caked with mud, and his expression is worried. He must have run from the main building.
“Caius. Help me get her inside.” I slide an arm under Madelena, tilting her head onto my shoulder. When I try to lift her, though, I have to stop, sucking in a breath when several stitches rip open.
“I’ll get her. Val told me what happened. Get out of the way.”
It takes me a minute to clear the way, but he gathers her up quickly and carries her back toward the entrance of the lighthouse.
I’m about to stand when my gaze lands on something trapped between two planks just beyond where she was lying. It looks familiar, and I reach for it, freeing it from the crevice just as Caius peers out from inside.
“Brother?”
I look at what I’m holding in my hand then back to Caius. I shake my head, stand, and quietly tuck it into my pocket. Before I go inside, I glance over the edge just as lightning strikes, illuminating the cliffs below. The water is so high you can’t see the sharp gray rocks that are visible when the tide is out.
“Santos,” Caius says again, watching me as I walk toward him.
“Where were you?” I ask him before stepping inside.
“Downstairs. At the party. My phone was dead. I just picked it up from behind the bar where it was charging and saw all the messages.” He looks down at my side and I follow his gaze to the quickly spreading stain of red along yet another ruined shirt. “Jesus. What the fuck happened?”
“Looks worse than it is,” I say. I glance past him into the room where one of the men is holding an unconscious Madelena. “Let’s go. We need to get her warm.”
I move to step past him, but he sets a hand on my shoulder to stop me. “What the fuck happened?”
“It was an accident.”
He glances at Madelena. “Are you sure?”
I study my brother in this half-light, and when lightning breaks, it illuminates his face and the way the shadows fall across it casts a strange, eerie look to him. We remain like that for a moment more before I hear Madelena moan.
“Let’s go,” I tell him and the others.
“Godforsaken place, this. We should fucking burn it to the ground,” Caius says when we’re down the stairs and out the door. I get where he’s coming from.