Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 150546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 753(@200wpm)___ 602(@250wpm)___ 502(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 753(@200wpm)___ 602(@250wpm)___ 502(@300wpm)
I stop when I reach them, and both women stop laughing, their dazed eyes lifting to mine. The boy is too fucked up to notice me as he traces the lines of his hand. “You look happy.”
“I am.” The older woman beams up at me as if I hold all the answers to every question she has ever had.
The younger one pales, her brunette hair glossy and her skin riddled with tattoos. “Oh no.”
Oh yes.
The older one blinks up at me, her smile falling as if only just recognizing where she is. Her head swivels over her shoulder, before turning back to me. Panic looks good on her.
“Why are we here? Who are you?”
The boy trips to the ground. “You look awfully bitter for people of Candyman.” I pretend to ponder. “Or should I say, Callihan Leon?”
I feel the air shift when they realize just how fucked they are. Katsia needs new drugs. This load is shit.
My eyes widen. “Run.”
Vaden’s footsteps stop beside me. “You figure out who they are?”
“They don’t know Candyman,” I say, watching as they disappear through the forest. “But they do know Callihan Leon.”
***
I flip my cap backward after stripping out of my hoodie. “How can it be so fucking hot here but not far from Perdita?”
Vaden’s tapping on his phone as the jet doors open. “Because it’s closer to hell, no doubt. I mean, I get it. The need for a safe place that isn’t going to bleed into EKC business and is kept away from Perdita, even though Perdita got hit by the fucking scum anyway.”
I unclip my belt and we shuffle down the aisle. As soon as we hit the tarmac, we’re in complete view of the spray of green hills and lush mountains. There’s a building that looks almost the same as the White House, beehive included, only painted sable black.
Vaden’s laugh is soft around the edges. “Well, shit. If it isn’t the secrets we hide.”
“What time does everyone arrive?” I ask Priest when I hear his hard footsteps over the metal.
“Eleven. Makes for a midnight slaughter.”
We make our way toward the start of the path that leads to the… house? Building? Fucking whatever it’s called, and I look over my shoulder just in time to see flight workers unloading a large wooden box.
Cargo is here.
“What are we gonna do with this place after tonight?” Vaden muses as long blades of grass whip our boots.
“Don’t know. Pop has given it to us to do what we like.” We climb the steps to the front door, and Priest pushes it open just as Halen makes her way down the hallway.
She comes straight for me, and my arms wrap around her back, pulling her in tight.
She kisses my arm. “Come. I want to show you guys something.”
“Should I be scared?” I joke into her neck, lapping my tongue over the vein that bounces against her flesh but allowing her to lead me to whatever it is that she wants to show me.
“Always,” she quips, before stopping.
I raise my head from her neck and my brows shoot up in surprise. “Okay. Now I see how you’re your brother’s twin.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
I stare back out to the yard. Its flat green grass is clear of any excess shrubs or gardens, but to the left it looks to dip down over the cliff, as if you can walk it. I draw my eyes back to what Halen is gesturing to. There’s a single clear cube front and center. You can see in, and they can see out.
“Archer and Danny didn’t waste time after you got in contact with them last night. They kept to their agreement, that they would allow us Callihan, though I believe Archer gave you a gift, too?” Halen turns in my grip, peering up at us. “That is his wife, daughter, and son. I don’t care for them personally, they did nothing to me. He kept them away from the Factory, from what I gather since I’d never seen them.”
I keep my hand planted on her ass, forcing her in closer to me. “That’s okay, baby, we’re gonna kill them anyway.” I use my other hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
“Figured so.” She winces. “There was a slight amendment to the agreement. And before you get angry, I agreed to it for us.”
Priest steps closer to the window that overlooks the yard, resting his hand against the glass. “What is it?”
“They want to witness it.”
Priest’s head snaps to her. “What?”
She lifts her finger. “Priest, this man did bad things to Danny’s daughter for almost ten years. Ten years. Archer? His father gave them his best friend in turn for me. He only just got out last night, when they blew up the compound and killed every one of the soldiers. Now, it’s just the ones on the street, but they’re kids selling drugs, coming from bad homes and all that. Most of them never met him because he’d just pay them off for what he’d get them to do, and they’d never ask questions.”