Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
But there’s nothing.
Just the cold air clinging to my skin and the sound of my ragged breathing filling the space.
My mind scrambles, racing through fractured images. The last thing I remember is being injected with something and losing consciousness. After that…nothing.
My thoughts stutter and freeze like static cutting through my brain. My wrists burn from the strain, my muscles screaming, but it’s the fear that twists my jumbled insides.
What if Grant is using me to get back at Kane?
What if I’m his downfall?
I need to get out of here. Wherever here is.
My fingers curl instinctively, grasping the chain and pulling myself up, but I fall back down. The sound of my breath is louder now, echoing in the small space, filling the silence with my rising panic.
The drip in the distance fades, replaced by a low grinding metallic sound.
My heart kicks into overdrive, panic swelling as I strain to figure out the source of the noise.
Something shifts above me, and before I can brace myself, a torrent of freezing water crashes down, drenching me.
It’s cold.
Ice-cold.
Shockingly cold.
I stop breathing as the water slices through my skin like a thousand tiny needles.
It doesn’t stop.
It keeps pouring, soaking through my clothes, clinging to my body like a second skin.
I gasp, choking on the air. The ache in my shoulders sharpens, and the weight of the water jerks me down harder.
My feet slip on the wet floor, barely grazing it as I try to find some footing.
Oh God. Am I going to freeze to death?
The water stops, but I remain shaking in place.
It hits me then.
This is one of Grant’s torture methods. One he probably used on Kane countless times.
A fresh wave of terror rolls over me. The thought that a kid could have gone through this, that Grant subjected his son to this type of punishment churns my stomach.
The cold, the chains, the pain—how could Kane have hidden all this behind that calm, emotionless mask?
Water drips on the floor, each icy drop like a reminder, a piece of the puzzle that Kane never let me see.
How…how did he survive this all these years when I feel like I’ll die?
My body shakes, trembling against the freezing weight of the water. This must be why he had bruises that one time and his complexion was pale.
He still lived through it, though.
The thought hits me like a blow, but it doesn’t bring comfort. It just makes the darkness around me feel more suffocating.
Hopeless.
I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but it’s long enough that my shoulders are going numb while still screaming in pain.
A door creaks open and I close my eyes as strong light flickers above my head and bathes the room in bright white.
Grant walks in with two men dressed in black. One of them is bald with tattoos all over his head, and the other has a scar right beneath his eye.
I’m shaking uncontrollably as Grant walks to a table covered with black boxes off to the side. He opens one and then grabs a whip.
“Now.” He smiles. “I’m sure Kane won’t look your way again once we disfigure your face and body.”
My chin trembles as I say, “He’ll never forgive you.”
“Good thing I don’t care.” He smiles, his lips curling slightly. “Shall we begin?”
32
KANE
“Any news about Violet?”
I swerve the car in and out of traffic, driving as fast as I can without crashing the fucking thing.
I’ve been going like this for the past several hours, ever since I received the call from Samuel that made my worst nightmare come true.
“She’s in the dungeon.”
In the dungeon.
Dahlia.
In Grant’s fucking dungeon.
A place no one should ever be in—especially not Dahlia.
Not after what I gave up to keep her out of Grant’s claws.
That’s when the dooming realization hits me.
Uncle Kayden was right. Revealing my cards might have given Dahlia immunity for some time, but Grant will never let her survive.
Not after she’s proven to be my Achilles’ heel.
He’ll eliminate her just to maintain a hold on me.
He’s hurt her just to teach me a lesson.
I considered asking Jude and Preston to save her for me, to get as many of their guards as they could and just march in, but they and their guards don’t compare to the small army my father has on the estate. Besides, Grant would call their fathers and that would be the end of that.
The heavy breathing from the other end of the phone fills my car, and the shuffle of footsteps follows before Jude’s rough voice filters through. “I couldn’t locate Violet in any of our hospitals or safe houses. I’m done searching blindly, so I’m walking to my brother’s office and won’t leave until he gives me the information I need.”
My hand tightens around the steering wheel. “Julian can’t be threatened and you know that.”
“Not him, no. But his wife? That’s a different fucking story.”