Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“Gee, I wouldn’t fucking know, because my only lead just got away thanks to you,” Atreus hisses.
“Kill me then, because I will keep on getting in your fucking way until you let her go,” Xavier responds with fury in his voice.
Atreus sighs and lowers the gun. “Whatever. Do what you want. I don’t care.”
When he tries to pick up something off the floor, Xavier grabs him by the collar. “What are you hiding? Who was that fucker who just ran off?”
Atreus snorts. “I’m surprised you don’t even know. He was her fucking ex.”
My eyes widen. “Samuel? The last guy on her list was her ex-boyfriend?”
“Stop lying,” Xavier grits, holding up a fist.
“He literally just told me,” Atreus says. “Because I threatened him with arrest.”
I grab Xavier’s arm so he doesn’t turn this into another fight. “All right, I know you want to hit him, but let’s be sensible about this.”
“Fuck that,” Xavier growls. “He couldn’t even make sure at least one fucker on her list actually went to jail and got proper justice. He just wants the honor of arresting the girl who killed them. Pathetic.”
Atreus seems unaffected by his threat. “I was going to arrest him if you two hadn’t interfered.”
“Xavier, enough,” I tell him. “Stop the fighting. Do you really think she wants us to bicker and fight among each other?”
“She gets off on it, doesn’t she?” Atreus taunts.
THWACK!
Xavier hits him square in the face.
“Fuck you, she’s a goddess, and you don’t deserve her.”
“No, but I guess I deserved that,” Atreus says, snorting.
I tear them apart and shove Atreus away so Xavier can’t hurt him anymore. “Stop. This isn’t helping anyone.”
“She’s in jail because of him,” Xavier roars. “Are you on my side or his?”
“I’m on her side, and she would want us to work together to get the last guy on her list.”
Atreus rolls his eyes. “You mean the guy you just let run right past you?”
“Listen here, you fucker—”
I block Xavier with a single hand so he doesn’t go charging at Atreus again. “Both of you … quiet.”
“Why?” Xavier retorts.
“Out of respect to her, let’s figure this out together,” I say.
Xavier’s nostrils flare. “I don’t trust that motherfucker.”
“Likewise,” Atreus muses, as he leans against a table.
“Let me have him,” Xavier says.
“And then what? What are you going to achieve?”
“Revenge.” Xavier smashes his fist into his own hand.
“It won’t bring her back,” I say.
There’s so much pain in his eyes, and I recognize all too well what that feels like, how it rips your soul apart.
“Killing him won’t bring her back to you,” I say. “But if we work together…”
“No one said anything about working together,” Atreus scoffs. “I work alone.”
“Yeah, we can see that,” Xavier retorts, making a face.
Atreus ignores him as he grumbles to himself, then turns around and snatches a bag and papers off the floor.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“The guy dropped this when he fled. I presume he meant to pilfer them from this place,” Atreus mumbles as he goes through them one by one.
“What is this place anyway?” Xavier asks.
“It fronts as a hospital,” Atreus answers stoically.
My brows draw together. “Fronts?”
Atreus pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. “Do you honestly believe anyone treated here was better off than when they came in?”
My eyes flicker with interest.
He’s talking about illegal stuff.
And the only ones participating in that kind of underground shit in this city are the Bones Brotherhood.
The exact same types of guys Sunny was hunting.
My skin begins to prick. “Organ harvesters.”
The room suddenly drops ten degrees.
“She knew them,” Xavier says.
Atreus nods. “Not just Samuel. All of the fuckers on her list. They’re all connected.”
“What’s the ex have to do with this?” I ask.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he says, reading the notes like he’s completely unbothered by our presence.
Xavier grinds his teeth, visibly irritated, before suddenly charging at him to snatch the papers right from underneath his nose. “Let me see that.”
Xavier filters through the papers while strolling around the room.
“Give that back!” Atreus barks, following him in circles.
Suddenly, Xavier pauses and stares at a singular page in his hands, and I look over his shoulder to read along to whatever is on the paper.
“It’s Sunny.”
Atreus grabs the paper too, but doesn’t steal it back, as we’re all too fixated on the words inked onto the pages. It’s an operative report with a date and an exact description of what was done.
SURGEON: Carlo Ferreira
ANESTHESIOLOGIST: Mike Smith
PRE-OPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS: Fetal Gestation, 9th week
POST-OPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS: Post-Abortion Hemorrhage
PROCEDURE PERFORMED: Medical Abortion
CHAPTER 43
Xavier
I can barely hold the paper in my hand.
“Gestation? What does that …” Orion mumbles.
“A child,” Atreus says, sucking in a breath. “That is what Samuel Garcia was trying to hide.”
But all I can focus on is the word abortion.
Sunny … was pregnant?
No, that can’t be. She never once acted anything but her normal self, and she didn’t have a visible belly, no other symptoms that I noticed, or anything else that I noticed was off.