Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Relief surges through me at not having to deal with her wild emotions, and that can only mean that she’s got no idea where I am right now.
I quickly hash out a response as the clanging sound from deep within the cells gets louder.
Sawyer - Mind ya business. And yes, you’re staying at that apartment until Zade’s completed his ritual. I’ll get someone in to look at your pipes.
I hit send before immediately regretting my choice of words.
Cara - I wouldn’t mind if Zade wanted to check out my pipes. I know he’s got the right tools for the job.
Fuck me. If she knew what Zade had done to our family, that he’s responsible for sending our father to his execution, she’d never speak to him again. Fuck, I don’t even know if I’ll ever speak to the asshole again. At least, not how I used to. There’s too much damage. I understand why he did it. My father was foolish to make a move against Oakley, but I thought my friendship with Zade meant more than that. He’s always said that he was loyal to his cause, and it’s my fault that I chose to underestimate just how far he’d go. Hell, the asshole is his father reborn.
Sawyer - Don’t you have your own friends you can fuck? Quit fucking mine.
My phone beeps with another response, but when Harrison steps up to a big metal gate, I slip my phone away. He jams an old key into the lock and gives it a hard turn, and the heavy clanging that follows is almost deafening.
Harrison opens the gate up wide before stepping back and looking at me, a darkness in his eyes that has me reaching for my gun. “After you,” he says, waving me through.
My grip on the gun in the back of my pants eases as Harrison’s familiar smirk calms my nerves. I’ve known him my entire life, and though he gets off on the power trip of locking people up down here, I don’t think he’s dumb enough to risk trying to keep me prisoner—not with Zade knowing exactly where I am and who I’m with. Harrison is the typical Empire lackey, normal enough on the outside, but once you get past his suburban dad persona, he’s as messed up as the rest of us.
I walk through the gate and down another set of rickety stairs that lead to the main cells. There are so many cells down here that it’s like a maze, so easy to get lost if you don’t know where you’re going.
It’s broken up into two sections—people who will violently slaughter a man, use his skin as a blanket and his teeth as a necklace, and then the people who probably have no fucking idea why they’ve been shoved down here.
Old oil lanterns light the narrow corridor, and as I start to pass some of the cells, I expect some crazy asshole to jump out at me like they do in the movies. “How far is he?” I ask, glancing back at him to see the distorted shadows from the lanterns spread across his face.
“Just up ahead,” he tells me. “Around the corner.”
I keep going, listening to the continuous clanging that’s accompanied by a constant drip that must be driving the prisoners insane. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Harrison was responsible for leaving a tap on just to remind these fuckers who’s the boss down here.
Moving around the corner, Harrison steps in closer and indicates to a cell to my left. “Your father is in there.”
I nod, my gut twisting with unease, not knowing what the fuck I’m going to do. How am I supposed to say goodbye to the man who raised me? To the man who gave me my name and ensured I had a life worth living?
My footsteps echo through the darkened hall, and just as I approach his cell, something jumps at me from the right. “Sawyer?” A gasping, familiar voice breaks through the silence as the person slams into the bars beside me. My head whips around, my hand on my gun ready to fuck someone up, but the wide-eyed, terrified blonde staring back at me tears me to shreds.
“Oakley?” I rush out, my eyes widening as I throw myself up against her cell, my hands coming down on hers around the thick, metal bars. My split knuckles instantly open, blood trailing down my hands, but all that matters is her. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Harrison jabs me in the ribs. “Move it along. You’re here for your father, nothing else.”
I shake my head, panic pulsing through my veins as her big, blue eyes fill with tears. She’s filthy, dirt smeared across her face and body. “Get me out of here, Sawyer,” she begs, the words breaking over a lump in her throat. “Please, I can’t—”