Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
But he wasn’t a stranger.
I felt my friend in his arms.
I heard Peter as a child in the walls and saw his ghost standing at the bottom of the stairs.
His mother dashed around me and patted the couch for her husband to place me down. They sat on either side of me, both arms wrapped tight around me, rocking with me as I broke and broke and broke.
“It’s okay. There, there. What on earth happened, beta?”
I broke harder.
Even his voice reminded me of Paavak.
I’d lost Henri and Peter.
I’d lost my innocence and happiness.
But in these strangers’ arms, I found the strength to smile through my tears and study them.
Paavak’s father wiped my tears away with his thumb. “Are you safe? Are you hurt? You can tell us. We’ll look after you.”
“Did someone attack you?” his mother asked softly, her voice so soft and sweet. “We can call the police for you? Your family? What happened?”
“I…” I sat taller and gathered all my courage. “I-I’m a friend of your son.”
Both parents froze and shot each other a look.
“Paavak?” his dad asked. “But he’s been gone for—”
“H-He saved my life.” Touching my chest that would always have a small indentation from where the bullet had shot me, I spoke through my tears. “Your son protected me without any hesitation. He stepped in front of me and…” I clung to his mother’s hand. “He…he died last month saving me and…” I hung my head and couldn’t continue.
His mother started to cry.
His father got up and paced the lounge.
I didn’t know how much time passed but eventually my tears dried up, and I accepted a hot tea that his father placed into my hands.
“It’s been five and a half years,” he murmured, crouching on his heels before me. “We’ve missed him every day. Yet you tell us he’s been alive this entire time? Can you...can you tell us what happened?”
I clutched the warm mug and winced. “It’s not an easy story to hear. But…I’ll tell it if you want.”
“I’d like to know,” his father said. “If you can share it with us.”
“What do you want to know?”
His mother dabbed at her tears with a pretty mandala handkerchief but her smile revealed she was far stronger than me. “Everything. We want to know everything.”
And so I told them…
Everything.
Chapter Thirty
………………………….
Henri
I BOLTED FROM THE SLAUGHTER.
Blood dripped down the walls from where I’d slashed my way through the mansion.
Bodies lay where they’d landed. Four guards and seven bastards. Some I’d shot. Some I’d stabbed. All of them wiped off my brother’s dwindling list.
Spotlights flicked on, scanning the swimming pool deck as I barged through the patio doors and headed toward the fence I’d climbed over.
The two guards patrolling the perimeter hadn’t been enough to stop me.
However, the dogs almost did.
Scowling at my shredded arm, I cursed the two Dobermans that’d decided to dine on me tonight.
They’d taken a decent bite.
I felt a pang of guilt for shooting them.
They weren’t at fault.
I hadn’t wanted to kill them.
But they’d been brainwashed by their Masters, just like I’d been brainwashed by Victor for a time. I didn’t have long enough to recondition them to see the error of their ways.
“There!” The spotlight arrowed on me. “Shoot him!”
I hurled myself over the high metal fence. My automatic rifle caught on the fleur-de-lis at the top. “Fuck.” Slashing the strap with my dagger, the webbing gave way and I dropped to my feet.
I staggered as the quiet pop of a silenced bullet sounded.
Shit.
I ducked and ran.
I hadn’t parked far.
The car I’d stolen from the last prick I’d exterminated in his villa in the Italian hills waited at the end of the looping drive. My hunt had been rather successful in Europe. I barely slept. I ate just enough to get strong enough to fight if it came down to it.
Nothing else drove me but madness.
Sheer and utter madness to slaughter as many of these cunts as possible.
The monster inside me was completely off its leash, and fuck, it felt good.
Better than good.
I was free.
Another pop.
The red-hot poker of being shot.
Fuck!
My leg tried to give way, but I kept running. Blood oozed out of my black slacks, my thigh throbbing with agony.
I should go back and murder the guard who shot me, but…with my arm gnawed on and my leg now quickly becoming useless, I wasn’t exactly ready for another fight.
No matter.
Just a minor inconvenience.
I barely even felt it.
Pain.
What was pain?
All of it had switched off the moment Ily had died.
She’s dead.
I’ll join her soon.
Who knew…maybe tonight I would finally get my wish.
Perhaps I’d bleed out and this could all be over.
Hop-running the rest of the way to my stashed orange Lamborghini, I threw myself into the driver’s side and cranked the engine.
I wouldn’t be able to drive this car come morning.
It might already have been reported stolen by anyone who went to the house and found five men with their hearts carved out.