Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
My heart pounds as I follow Kael, the weight of the knife a small comfort against the fear that’s rising inside me. We’re doing this. We’re really doing this. We load into the trucks, the engines rumbling to life, the tension thick and electric. I sit in the back, wedged between Mera and Kael, my mind racing with everything that could go wrong, everything that could go right.
Now is not the moment for hesitation. Right now, I need the kind of strength that is unwavering. I need to go in there with the confidence I had when I waved that gun in my father’s face. Only this time, I don’t plan on leaving without destroying him first.
I will bring them down, every last one of them.
I swear it on everything I hold dear.
If it costs me my life, then so be it.
It will all be worth it if it means dragging my father down from his fucking high horse.
That reckoning will be worth absolutely everything.
THE CROPS ARE TALLER than I remember, corn stalks like brittle fingers clawing at the sky. I crouch low, my heart pounding in my ears, telling myself this will work, that I’ll pull this off. I am just reaching the corner of the compound, where I know I can get in, when I see a dark shadow.
There, standing by the fence, is Talon.
I could cry with relief, knowing he hasn’t gone in yet, but at the same time that means telling him the plan. He might hate me right now, but I know he won’t be happy when he finds out what we have planned. I was hoping he would already be in there, and he wouldn’t get the chance to argue.
"Nia?" His voice is disbelieving, then sharp, like the crack of a whip. "What the fuck—"
"We have a plan. The club is in on it," I say quickly, before I lose my nerve. He lowers the gun. “It is something that will save all of us. Then, I’ll be out of your hair before you know it. It’s the only way, Talon.”
“Tell me,” he growls.
I tell him the plan, from start to finish, then I hold my breath, waiting for his reaction. He stares at me, his face impassive, and I want to scream. I don’t know what he’s thinking. He is impossible to read. The gun hangs at his side, his other hand clenched into a fist.
"You're not goin’ in there. No fuckin’ way.”
I cross my arms, pushing my chin out. "You don't get a choice, Talon. I'm doing this."
"Like hell you are," he growls, voice low and lethal. "They'll see you coming. They'll—"
"I know what they'll do," I cut in, my voice shaking but strong. The memories flash through me—the cross, mostly. "But this isn't just about me. I owe it to the club. To Lily."
He closes the space between us in two strides, and for a moment, I think he might grab me and haul me out of here. If he does, I’m not certain I can stop him. But he stops short, his breath harsh in the quiet, his presence a wall of fury and fear I can almost touch. "This isn't a fucking game, Nia. You could die."
My heart is pounding. "I know," I whisper. "But with or without your help, I’m going in. I owe them this...I owe you this.”
His eyes, those perfectly mismatched eyes, lock onto mine with an intensity that makes me want to look away, to run. But I don't. I stand there, trembling but unyielding, while the silence stretches between us.
“He’ll fuckin’ kill you.”
“He can try, but if this works, it will all be over. Isn’t that what you want? Me gone? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
He doesn’t say anything for a long time. Just stares at me, his face tight. Then, finally, he nods, a single dip of his chin. “Can see I don’t get a fuckin’ choice. We’ll do this, but if I see him even attempt to hurt you, I’m comin’ back. I will kill every last one of them, do you fuckin’ hear me?”
Something about his words makes my heart swell.
Maybe Kael is right.
I nod. Our eyes stay locked.
I need to ask him one more thing before I do this, even though I know he won’t like it. “Talon, if...if anything happens to me. If we can’t both get out, or if something goes wrong—” My throat closes up, and I have to force the words out. “Promise me you’ll make sure Lily is safe. That she goes to someone who loves her.”
“Do not fuckin’ say that to me, Nia,” he rasps, and the hard expression on his face finally falls away enough for me to see the man behind it, the man I have fallen in love with.
“Talon,” I whisper. “Please. I need this.”