Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Sleep pulled me under, but not before I got three more words out of my mouth. “You fucking better.”
They were true to their word, too.
The only problem was that she came in the back of an ambulance—unresponsive.
***
The next time I woke up it was to being moved. Again.
This time I was aware of what the hell was going on, at least.
“She back?” I asked, turning to find one of my brothers.
“Freaks me the fuck out that your face is covered in gauze. Look away, for God’s sake,” Truth sniveled.
I flipped him off, causing him to laugh.
“She’s back, but…,” he hesitated.
“But what?” I pushed.
“Something was done to her. She was…I don’t know. Not right,” Truth expounded.
Fury boiled in my blood.
“Is she okay despite that?” I asked, trying to sit up.
“Don’t sit up. You’ll break something, and then everyone will blame me.” Truth pushed me back down, causing me to wince. “Sorry.”
My heart was beating a mile a minute.
“Tell me,” I ordered.
“She’s hurt. She has a couple of broken bones. She won’t be working on any cars anytime soon.” He cleared his throat. “She has a cut down her face. One straight down her left cheek. And she didn’t have any clothes on when we went in and got her.”
He was trying to tell me that he thought she could’ve possibly been raped.
My eyes closed as pain consumed me.
“You don’t know that, though?” I asked, hope clinging to my voice.
“No.” He shook his head. “We don’t know for sure yet. She hasn’t woken up.”
I steeled myself, closing my eyes and battening down the hatches of my emotions.
“Take me to her,” I ordered.
He gave me a disgusted look.
“Where do you think you are going right now?” he laughed.
I flipped him off.
“At least that finger isn’t broken,” he snorted.
“Go check on my girl,” I rasped.
“10-4.”
With that, Truth left, and I was left wondering just what in the hell happened to Imogen to keep her from talking.
And I could only think the worst.
Chapter 19
Today is day two of my diet. I’m still not skinny. I think I’ll have a cupcake. Diets are bullshit.
-Imogen’s secret thoughts
Imogen
I’ve never been much of a violent person.
In fact, when I was in the Marines, I was known as Mouse.
I hated starting fights. I hated finishing fights (though I would if I needed) and I always rooted for the underdog.
The minute I came to in a freakin’ white walled hellhole, I’d immediately tried to get out.
Only problem was that getting out meant walking right into a room full of freakin’ gang members. Gang members that looked at me like I was fresh meat.
The only thing that stopped them was they already had a play toy.
Kellen.
Kevin, the douche’s little brother. The kid that played with my nephew.
“Don’t touch him!” I screamed the moment my eyes comprehended what they were seeing.
And what I saw wasn’t good.
It was so far from good that I didn’t think I’d ever be right again.
I took two steps toward the downed boy, and found myself stopped short with an arm around my waist.
“Chill, girl,” a man said at my back. “There’s plenty of us to go around.”
The more I fought to get away from the man, the tighter he hung on.
I fought, hit, hissed, screamed, clawed and bit all in an attempt to get to the kid who was still lying on the floor, but the man at my back continued to hold me immobile. Almost as if he were trying to save me from receiving the same beating and treatment as the kid had gotten sometime before I’d gotten there.
“Why are you doing this?” I screamed, since it seemed my only viable option.
My face was throbbing. My head felt like someone had taken a fist to it multiple times, and I was fairly sure I had a loose tooth, but I wasn’t going to contemplate that until the time was right.
“He thought he could help you,” Kevin grinned. “Didn’t like seeing his friend’s aunt locked up. Was caught. We wanted to see if he’d do his duty to the Hollows. Complete his task.”
My stomach tightened.
“But he failed, and now he’s going to be used as an example,” Kevin continued. “And how convenient that you’re awake. We’ll finish what we started with an audience. Then we’ll finish you off next.”
The guy holding me hostage stiffened when Kevin went to reach for his brother, and he hissed in a breath.
“The cops are outside,” the man at my back said.
I turned, just now realizing that there was a window at my back, and surveyed the area.
We were at my apartment complex. Just on the opposite side of my own apartment, and possible one floor up, but I couldn’t be for certain since it was on the back corner compared to mine on the front corner.
But there were definitely no cops.
“Two just entered the building. The car drove around to the front,” the man at my back continued to lie.