Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 83800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
"He's always thought he was better," Henry says, his eyes taking on this haze of distance as if he's thinking back to all the times he perceived some sort of wrong committed by his brother. "He has always gone out of his way to please everyone around him. He would never risk someone else's happiness in order to have what he wants. He thought it made him stronger, but it only makes him weak."
I open my mouth to argue with him but think better of it. The man is no doubt out of his mind, and there isn't a thing I could say to him to make him change his mind. Some people are too far gone to even reason with.
"We've always been opposites. We have the exact same face, but our personalities couldn't be more different. Even as toddlers, I remember our parents choosing his happiness and easygoing personality over mine. They didn't want the angry baby. They didn't want to spend time with the child who had an opinion that might not have matched theirs. They chose Rob every single time."
I listen because I know that's what he wants from me. At least, I hope it is because there's no way I could ever agree with him. Robert is an amazing man, and that makes me believe that they had amazing parents. Any wrong doing that Henry is speaking of has to be a misconception of the truth.
"He has lived his life the complete opposite of me. Rescuing sex trafficked women," he says with a scoff, and it makes my blood run cold.
"You t-traffic w-women?" I stammer, a new wave of fear running the length of my spine.
His eyes drop down to me. "Why would I waste my time doing that? It's a lucrative business if you don't have any other means to make money, but I can have millions in my bank account with a couple of clicks on my computer. That shit takes too much time and effort," he says as if he isn't discussing selling women to monsters to be abused. "There's no real money in the rescue."
"Maybe he isn't doing it for money," I say without thinking, and it earns me a sharp glare from Henry.
"Money is the only reason to do anything," he argues, and from the tone of his voice, I know he truly believes it.
"Then why are you hurting him?" I whisper. "There can't possibly be a payday from this."
His smile is once again slow and villainous. "I'm doing this for fun."
As if to punctuate his words, he leans in closer, his hand gripping my chin when I try to turn my face away.
Before he can brush his lips over mine, the door to the room swings open.
With wide eyes and hope in my chest, I turn my head, but the guy standing there looks stunned to see us.
He mutters an apology before he backs out and closes the door. Before I can scream and beg for help, which I was too stunned to do at the man's first appearance, Henry pulls the pillowcase from the pillow and shoves it into my mouth.
Chapter 36
Rooster
When I began my job with Cerberus, I never imagined I'd be involved in a case that was so close to home. Although Morgan hasn't been sex trafficked, she's in a situation that Cerberus would get involved in whether she was linked to us or not.
The anticipation and unease inside of me feels ten times worse than it did those times I was sitting in on missions that Cerberus was executing when we were all training in New Mexico. Of course, I was anxious, wanting things to go well, but I had no real skin in the fight.
Right now, as the guys are gearing up to push inside of the hotel room that Henry is in, I feel like my own life is being held in the balance. I will never forgive myself if something terrible happens to Morgan. I'm a hundred percent responsible for what has happened so far, and if I'd just kept my distance or never even took this fucking job in the first place, then she wouldn't be going through this.
I can reason that no matter where I would've been in life, Henry still would've found a way to ruin it, but at least this one woman would've been safe. As huge of a sacrifice as it would be for me, I would've forgone ever meeting her to save her from whatever Henry's plans were.
"We're seconds away," Wren says, his words meant to be reassuring, but this feels almost too damn easy. "She's going to be fine."
I remain silent. There's nothing I or anyone else can say that will make me feel better right now.
Morgan has been with Henry for hours at this point, and a hell of a lot of things can happen in that time. The woman who smiled at my twin, thinking it was me when she left work, could very easily not be the same woman the guys find when they bust through the hotel room door.