Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do.
The only thing I knew was I had to get away. That I couldn’t stomach this. That I couldn’t wrap my head around what Theo had just done.
I’d known he was dangerous, hadn’t I? I had known it from the beginning, and I chose to turn a blind eye.
But I could never unsee this.
Panic careened through my veins, and I fumbled in the direction of the cabin that had come to feel like a home. A cabin he instructed me to stay locked behind the doors, but when I heard the glass shatter and Alicia’s scream, I had to try to help her.
I couldn’t sit idle when I was sure she was in trouble.
And that trouble was something I couldn’t handle.
I felt like a fool who’d fallen into a false security. Like peace could ever really be meant for me. As if running wouldn’t be a permanent fixture of my life.
Running was the only thing I could do.
I had to get out of here.
Get my son and grandmother to safety.
“Piper!” Theo’s voice cut through the air. Not quite a shout but a command that hit me like a blade to my back.
A whimper of fear raked out of me, and I pushed myself harder. I didn’t take the time to make it back to the path that led to the cabin.
I cut across the land in front of it, fumbling over the snowbank in hopes it would get me to the porch faster.
The loud grumble of a motorcycle engine revved as it approached, blazing up the lane before the single headlight rounded the corner and came into view.
Tires squealed as the bike skidded to a stop.
A fool, I whirled to look over my shoulder.
River rose like a wraith from the metal.
A beast in the night.
Is that what they were?
How?
What was happening?
“Two down. I don’t think there are more, but we need confirmation. Secure the area. Cover me.” Theo ground out the instruction right before his focus flew to me.
Terror and confusion rebounded, and I forced myself forward. My legs felt like I had no control over them as I plodded through the snow.
I knew when Theo had started to move.
His presence swarming me from behind as he came straight up the road.
A violent echo that reverberated through my being.
“Piper,” he grated, a harsh desperation wound into the word.
The soles of his boots thudded against the pavement as he enclosed.
A shock of adrenaline blasted through me, and I pushed myself harder, trying to scramble through the snow that was deeper than I anticipated.
One of my legs sank into a hole. Buried to the knee. The shift in movement tossed me forward, causing me to fall.
On a gasp, I caught myself with my hands ramming into the freezing snow.
I gasped and choked as I crawled out of the deep snowdrift, desperate to climb back onto my feet.
Though I was bent.
Unable to fully stand as I basically crawled up the single porch step.
I finally managed to haul myself upright just as the crash of energy swamped me.
Right there.
Too much to bear.
“Piper,” Theo gritted as he reached for me.
A hopeless cry erupted from my throat when he looped an arm around my waist.
“No!” I shouted. I twisted out of his hold, whirled around, and began to slap my hands against his chest to deflect his attack. “No. Stay away from me.”
Big hands curled around my wrists, and I knew there was no chance of breaking free of the shackles.
A hazy glow from the sconce that hung next to the door was barely bright enough to illuminate his face.
Every harsh, ferocious line was etched in shadows and secrets.
Wind lashed through his black hair and those eyes struck like black flames in the pitch of the night.
The man was written in menace and peril.
Dangerous.
I’d known it. I’d known it.
And I’d let him steal my stupid heart anyway.
I knew it when I felt it breaking anew.
The fractured pieces that had barely been held together fully splintering apart.
“Let me go,” I wheezed. I jerked and thrashed and tried to break free.
He only tightened his hold. “Piper, listen to me.”
“No. I don’t want to hear it. Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. Please just let us go.”
Theo’s jaw clenched. “I would never fuckin’ hurt you, Piper. Never.”
I whimpered. “You…you killed them. I…”
I wanted to rein the words back in. Maybe if I didn’t bring them out into the world, they wouldn’t be reality.
Only a figment of my messed up, traumatized mind.
As if I was taken back to that horrible night.
Blood.
So much blood.
I couldn’t suppress the chaos that flooded from my tongue. “You…I saw you. I saw you.”
And somehow, I knew the police wouldn’t be coming.
I knew these sins were done in the dark.