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)
Venom flashed through Kane’s expression, and he sat back in his chair. Dude looked every bit the beast, tattoos twitching as they crawled across his skin. “Nah, man. Twisted fuck is such a narcissist, no doubt he thinks he’s in the right and he’s gonna have to teach her a lesson when he catches up to her.”
“He’s not gonna fuckin’ catch up to her.” I spat it as I shot forward, a slick of aggression gritting through my teeth. “Won’t let him get anywhere near her.”
Cash shook his head. “He’s got nothing, so I don’t think we have much to worry about. Same as all the rest. He’s gonna dig and the only thing he’s going to come up against are dead ends.”
I inhaled a steadying breath. He was right, but fuck, I couldn’t handle the idea of that prick finding out where Alicia and Lucy were.
“But?” River pressed. Clearly, he knew Cash well.
“Think just as a precaution, we keep Alicia and Lucy at The Sanctuary for another month before we move them.”
They’d start their new lives in Florida. Their identities had already been changed. It wasn’t like we could go around calling them by their real names.
Their appearances had been altered as much as possible. Alicia’s long, light brown hair had been hacked to her shoulders and dyed as dark as possible.
Same as Lucy’s.
Colored contacts for them both.
Dr. Reynolds, our doctor on the inside who took care of the ones under our protection—who was, in fact, not my uncle—had injected a shit ton of filler into Alicia’s face to give it a different shape.
It sucked, but it was the way it had to be.
Everyone nodded, though River said, “Then let’s put it to a vote.”
A round of “Ayes” went up. It wasn’t like any of us would vote against it.
Then River’s attention slanted my way. “This brings us to our next order of business.”
I rocked back in the hard, wooden chair and tried to act as casual as could be when every-fucking-thing about Piper Whittman made me shake.
“Unit B,” he said, making sure we were all on the same page.
“Yup.” I let it go with a lift of my chin.
“You’re proposing that someone outside of Sanctum’s protection stay in one of our units?” he clarified.
Thickness tightened my throat. “Yeah.”
Cash released a harsh breath. “You know the rules, man.”
“And not one of you wouldn’t break this one if you were in my shoes. Doesn’t hurt anything for them to stay there if it’s just sitting vacant.”
Otto’s blue eyes appraised, searching me from across the table.
“Blurs the lines,” he said, no anger to it, just pointing out the fact.
We also knew that when you started bending rules they tended to fracture and fully fall apart.
River, Otto, and Kane having families was proof of that.
“Think they need a leg up,” I said.
Could feel the panic rolling off of Piper when Silas told her how much it would cost to fix her car.
And I knew the number he’d given her was total bullshit. Far less than it actually would cost for someone who just came in off the street.
That number had been given because I was standing there. A million favors owed because Silas and his crew had my back just the same as I had theirs. Our dealings deeper than even my crew knew.
Piper had acted like she was just going to whip that kind of cash out of her pocket and hand it over.
Had decided to let that argument go, but there was no way in hell I was going to let her pay for it.
Not when I could.
Not when I could do something that might make their lives better.
Because there was something about what was going on with them that didn’t add up.
Something that made me sure there was a ton more to her story than she was letting on.
“This a Sanctum situation?” Kane asked.
I hesitated, unsure, trying to put my finger on what was up with Piper.
“Don’t think so.”
My insides roiled, screaming out that was a blatant lie.
This thing inside me that promised she was in something bad.
But it didn’t feel right to give that to my crew until I was sure.
Not when she was trying to keep me in the dark.
I was going to have to win her trust first, and I had a hunch siccing these brutes on her wasn’t going to win me any points.
Besides, I didn’t have any proof, so I carried on, “Think the situation is she’s a single mom who’s down on her luck and she could use an extra hand while she gets back on her feet.”
“How long?” River asked.
I roughed an agitated hand through my hair, still rocking back in that chair like none of this was a big deal. “At least three weeks until her car gets repaired.”
“Shit,” Cash wheezed under his breath.