Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Crosby was never coming to find me. He didn’t want me or our baby.
Two
Bane
The searing pain inside my chest had taken the place of where my heart used to be. There was nothing that eased it, and if I’d been called down to this fucking underground cell for Linc Shephard to be corrected for my behavior, then I might end up with a bullet between my eyes. I respected him, but I could no longer be sure of my reaction to situations. Not since I’d been told my little brother was dead. There was a darkness eating me alive that wanted revenge, and until I had the fucker who had killed Crosby bleeding out at my feet, it wasn’t going to get any better. Too much fucking time had passed, and every day I didn’t find who had shot him, the pain intensified.
The heavy, booted steps were singular as they drew closer to me. I stood, waiting with my arms crossed over my chest. I’d expected more than just Linc when he sent me a text to meet him here. His second-in-command, Luther Levine, or at the very least my father.
Linc entered the room. The somber expression on his face didn’t surprise me. There wasn’t good news anymore. There never would be again. Since the day we had buried my brother, all the good had gone with him. Twenty-one fucking years old and dead. My teeth clenched as the urge to slam my fist into the concrete wall overcame me.
Goddammit! I hated the thought of him in a cold, dark grave.
“Did you tell anyone you were coming down here?” Linc asked me.
I shook my head.
“Good. What I’m about to tell you can’t be shared. Your dad doesn’t even know. He doesn’t need this right now, but it has to be looked into, and I think this just might lead us to Crosby’s shooter,” he told me.
The demanding urge for violence that tore through me caused my breath to stutter.
“Who?” The one word was all I could manage.
Linc held up a hand. “What I’m about to tell you requires that you calm the fuck down. Keep your head on straight. This is shit we weren’t expecting. Within the family, it is gonna need to be handled with care, meaning telling no one.”
I’d calm the fuck down when the person who had killed my brother was choking on their own blood, but I nodded.
Linc didn’t look convinced. His eyes narrowed. “I came to you because Crosby was your brother. It is out of respect, but I need your word that you can handle this and you’ll obey my orders.”
I tried to focus on my breathing. The rage that consumed me was hard to tamp down.
“I’ll obey your orders. But I want to be the one to kill the motherfucker.”
Linc’s brows drew together. “I know that. It’s why we are down here alone,” he told me. “Okay, let me explain everything and give you the details before you start planning your retaliation. I said, I believe we have a lead. I do not know for a fact that this is even related, but my gut tells me that it is.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He held it up. “This was found in your grandfather’s old farm truck. It was stuck under the seat.”
“Whose is it?” I asked, trying to work around how that had anything to do with my brother’s shooter.
“It was Crosby’s.”
“That’s not his phone,” I told him.
Linc let out a weary sigh. “I’m aware. When it was found, it was also locked, but Levi was able to walk me through how to bypass that. I didn’t want anyone knowing about it until I saw what this was going to tell us. He bought the phone a little over three months ago and used it to contact only one number.”
“Who?” I demanded as I glared at it as if that phone had pulled the trigger.
“Bane, you’ve got to calm down. There is a lot I need to tell you, and the answer to who shot Crosby is not in this phone. It is a lead. That is all.”
I dropped my hands to my sides and fisted them. “I’m calm.”
Linc gave me a look that said he wasn’t buying my lie, but he continued, “The number belongs to a girl, but I’ve not had Wilder run it and see what all he can find on the person it’s registered to. Like I said, the fewer people who know about this, the better. There is Saylor to think about here. I want the bastard dead, just like you do, but this information would be a massive blow to Saylor, her parents, and yours.”
I shook my head. “My brother wasn’t fucking some other girl.”
He wouldn’t have done that. He’d been in love with Saylor since they had been little kids. They were always together. When the hell would he have had time to fuck someone else?