Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 110664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“We’re in this together, Marcus,” Rafe said. “It was decided fourteen years ago, and we’re sticking to the plan.”
“Five years,” Marcus said. “If all goes well with me, we meet again in five years and Aiden changes another if you still wish it.”
“No,” Beltran said, surprising Marcus with the hardness of his tone. “We do this together tonight, or we don’t do it at all.”
Rafe plucked the strings of his violin, sending several discordant notes winging through the room. “Looks like that’s three-to-one, old man. You’re outvoted.”
Marcus shook his head, an odd mix of warmth and sadness stirring in his chest. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
He couldn’t say he was entirely surprised. Despite their constant bickering, they had always been close and eager to protect one another. No matter who or what they faced, no brother ever stood alone.
A hand landed on his shoulder, and Marcus looked over to see Beltran standing beside him, his expression resolute. “It does.”
“It’s decided, then.”
They all looked up at the new, deeper voice to find Aiden standing in the open doorway. Marcus was sure there had been no sound of him entering the house or walking across the hardwood floor of the entrance. The man moved as silently as a shadow. He was handsome with thick brown hair and rich brown eyes that seemed to catch and reflect the light the same way as Winter’s gold coin.
Sadness clung to Aiden like a damp fog. When they’d first met years earlier, he’d been so joyous and quick to laugh when he was around their mother, but with her declining health and then his unfortunate attempt to save her life, the sadness had become a permanent part of Aiden. Marcus knew Aiden blamed himself for their mother’s current erratic state, but neither he nor his brothers blamed Aiden. He’d tried to save their mother. That was more than they could say for the dour parade of doctors that had marched in and out of her bedchambers.
Now, fourteen years later, they were finally able to pursue a solution to their problem. And if this didn’t work, there was only one option left for their beloved mother and the four brothers.
“We’re ready,” Marcus said.
Aiden reached behind him, grabbed the doorknob, and pulled the door closed as he stepped fully into the room. He looked up at Marcus, his eyes taking on an eerie copperish glow in the dim light of the library. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely over a whisper, “but this is going to hurt.”
Chapter Two
October 17, 2003
The first scream had Ethan jumping from the bathroom door. That was his mother. He knew his mother’s voice. He’d never heard her scream like that, but he knew her voice. Stark terror had him frozen, staring at the back of the bathroom door. He couldn’t go out there. But someone had hurt his mother.
It was late. Middle of the night. He’d woken and stumbled from his bed to the bathroom to relieve his bladder. Been just about to shuffle to his room and warm bed again. It was a school day. He had a spelling test.
His father was shouting. Angry, but also in pain. Heartbroken. What had happened to his mother?
And then his father was screaming too.
Oh God, he had to hide.
Ethan turned toward the bathroom, his eyes skimming over old yellow tile and faded white walls. There was nowhere to hide. The shower curtain over the bathtub was clear, and there was no cabinet under the sink like at Kevin’s house.
His eyes finally hit on the linen closet. It was tucked behind the bathroom door and was a tiny cupboard, but the back of it was made of boards rather than a regular wall like the rest of the apartment. One of the boards had come loose; his little sister, Macy, had discovered it and tucked herself into that opening when they’d played hide and seek one time. It took them over an hour to find her, and his parents had been so worried they’d almost called the cops.
Ethan silently jerked open the door and started shoving aside their various colored towels. It took a little work, but he managed to crawl into the opening. He forced his mind away from the fact that he was inside the wall. Mice and bugs crawled inside the wall. Never in his life had he ever been so grateful to be the smallest kid in his fifth grade class. It was the only reason he was able to fit in the hole.
Once in place, he pulled the stacks of towels back in front of the hole, further concealing himself. The last thing he did was carefully reach out and grab the edge of the closet door, pulling it closed as much as possible, plunging his little world into darkness.