Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“You want me to look into it again?”
I nod, frantically. “That girl didn’t deserve anything that happened to her. I should have looked for her sooner. I should have considered that maybe she was in danger, but I guess I just thought she ran away ... Maybe that was just an easier thought to have.”
“You’re only human, and you just lost a shit load in your life, too. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
He turns to walk down the hall, but I call out his name and stop him.
He glances back.
“I’m sorry, for the way I carried on back then. I know now that it was something I didn’t understand, but please know at the time, in my eyes, King had taken everything in my life because of his actions. I couldn’t cope with that. I couldn’t cope with you not having my back. I had nobody and the one person I needed wasn’t defending me.”
Alarick stares at me for a moment, and then walks over and stops in front of me. “You might not have seen it then, but we were protectin’ you. Protectin’ your sister. We didn’t want anything bad to happen.”
“I have to ask one more thing ...”
He nods.
“Who killed my mother?”
“To this day, we don’t fuckin’ know. There was nothin’ that came up after it. No warning. No message. Someone wanted revenge, someone wanted to make a point, but we don’t know who that someone was. King would have gone to the ends of the earth to find out who did that to her.”
Yeah.
I know he would have.
That much I am sure of.
“I’m so scared,” I whisper, my voice a little weak and so damned vulnerable. “I’m so scared of what my life is like from this moment on. I’m alone, fully alone, I have no family left, and I feel so damned broken inside. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do from here.”
Alarick takes my chin in his hands and tips my head back. “You have us, Briella. We’re your family now and forever. You are not alone.”
Tears burst forth and stream down my face.
I needed those words far more than I could have ever realized.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He swipes a tear away with his thumb. “We didn’t start off real well here, but know this, you fuckin’ matter to me. There hasn’t been a single moment since I met you that you haven’t mattered to me. Don’t you forget that.”
He leans forward and presses a kiss to my head, lingering there for long moments, and then he’s gone.
I watch him go, with tears running down my cheeks.
And I know I’ll be okay.
It might take a long time.
But I know I’ll be okay, because I have these guys, and these guys are family.
The only family I have left.
17
THEN- BRIELLA
“You’re not listening to me,” I cry, throwing my hands in the air. “Nobody is listening to me. Not my mother, not you, and everything is going so wrong. If she had listened, she might still be here. This club is dangerous and what you’re all doing is dangerous, and people are dying. God dammit!”
I stare at Flick, panting with rage, and he stares back at me. His stance strong. His eyes hard. He’s not going to break on this, no matter how much I scream and yell at him, he’s not going to break. That’s his family. His club.
“You’re hurt, Briella, and I understand that. What you’re sayin’ is crazy.”
“Crazy?” I cry, staring at him, hurt. “Crazy?”
“You know what I mean,” he growls, frustrated. “You’re takin’ this out on the wrong people. Whoever killed your mom has nothin’ to do with my dad. I believe him when he tells me he doesn’t know why that happened to her. There is a chance it has nothing to do with the club at all.”
“You expect me to believe that?” I laugh bitterly. “That she didn’t get killed in her own home because of that damned club? That some random just decided to murder her? You honestly think I’m going to fall for that?”
“Yes,” he snaps. “Because it’s the damned truth. I’ve never seen my dad like this, and I know he’s goin’ to go to the ends of the earth to find her killer, even if it means he leaves his club behind. You think he’d give it all up if he knew who it was?”
God dammit.
None of this makes sense.
Nothing is adding up in my mind.
King is falling apart, Magnolia is drowning, and I’m not sure how in the hell I’m supposed to cope with any of it.
I’m dying inside.
“I just want you to hear me, Flick,” I whisper, my voice hitching. “To hear what I’m saying. To even consider it. You won’t listen. You won’t support me. I lost everything ...
I drop my head, tears fall down my cheeks, and Flick steps forward, wrapping his big arms around me. “I’d fuckin’ do anything for you, Briella. You’re the only thing in this fuckin’ world that makes my life bright. But that club is my family and I know what family means, especially now. They’re your family too, you gotta know how much those men love you.”