Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
I exhaled and handed Troy the joint. “I got it. Make it quick, and make sure it matters.”
“And none of that freaky shit.”
“We don’t do freaky shit.”
Troy nudged Vivian’s arm. “Remember Italy? ‘Oh Chase. You’re the lord. You’re the savior. Oh God!’”
I frowned. “I’ve never said anything like that.”
“Don’t forget what he was saying.” Laughter fled Vivian’s mouth as she changed her voice to a man’s tone. “Mine, when I want it. Mine, when I beg!”
“And then the booming started.” Troy made like he was dry heaving. “All that noise spread through the house. I didn’t know if he was beating my sister or what.”
“Or what, clearly,” I mumbled.
Vivian beat her chest with closed fists. “Mine, when I want it. Mine, when I beg!”
I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay. I get it. The proper level of mortification has been reached. New topic.”
Chapter 17
Chase
Sophia stood next to my seat. “Why do you look so scared?”
I had no reply.
The knowledge that she’d allowed this pedophile to come close to her kids, just to gain more power, it frightened me. She represented the lowest of the low. A vile human with no morals, just the cold of the wild pulsing through her wicked veins.
“Chase?” she asked again. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“You look frightened.”
Due to that horrible night, both Jasmine and Troy had changed forever. My tesoro learned fear of men, barring herself from males for years. She claimed her over-bearing brothers stopped her from dating. I doubted it. I saw some of her high school pictures. She appeared silent and uncomfortable in her own skin. That night had taught her that her body could be used against her, and she’d spent those childhood years hiding inside of it as much as possible.
And according to her, Troy transformed overnight from a funny science geek to cutting school every day and hanging out with bullies. A year later, the police arrested him for assault and threw him into a juvenile center. His criminal path continued after that.
She ruined both of their lives.
I understood Benny. Although a calculated monster, he’d had military training somehow, and thus lived by this code for humanity. It was a gray code, dotted in blood, but he still followed a framework that flew above him.
Sophia had no code or common dignity. Anyone could be her pawn. Anybody could die on her watch. The only person she cared about was her. That was the purest evil.
“What’s wrong, Chase?” Sophia glanced at the journals on the floor. “You read something that got you scared?”
“Yeah. Something shoved me off the edge.” I thought back to the Sun Tzu comment she’d made.
Sophia had widened her mouth into a mischievous grin. “To know your enemies, is to become your enemies.”
I had to learn more about Benny and Sophia if I hoped to protect Jasmine and I from her. They both had me going crazy.
As if she heard my thoughts, she said, “Benny will do that to you.”
“He sure will.”
“I don’t get why you’re even reading these journals.”
“Have you?” I asked.
“No, I don’t need to read about his life, I lived it.”
“He does talk a lot about you.”
Her expression faltered for a second, and then she recovered. “And what did he say?”
“Not many good things.”
She smirked as if I was just a little kid covered in dirt, and in need of a bath. “And how do you feel about that?”
“Nothing’s changed for me. We both want the same thing—Benny dead.”
“You’re a good boy.”
“I try.”
And this time, you didn’t even pretend like this whole mission was about Jasmine.
“Are you going to keep being a good boy?” she asked.
One of my guards stood up and walked to me. “Everything okay, sir?”
What is a good boy to you, Sophia? Was Benny a good boy? When did he stop being your version of good?
“Sir?” my guard asked again.
My focus remained on Sophia. “Yes, everything is okay.”
“You’re getting nervous.” She sat in the seat across from me, after the guard went away. “Now’s not the time to get jittery. There’s some hard days in front of us. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” She grinned. The expression made me shiver. “I’ve never been to Paris before. I bet this is your fifth time, huh? I’ve never left the country.”
I still hadn’t told her that the plane switched course to London. The less she knew, the better. “Benny never took you away?”
“No. He liked me right in the hood, where he could hide me and do what he wanted. But you never answered my question. How many times have you been to Paris?”
“About twenty.”
“Last time was when you took Jasmine?” she asked.
“That’s right. How did you know that?”
“I called her, when you both got back. I’d been calling her over and over for weeks. She’d been ignoring my calls.”
“That’s right.” I bobbed my head. “You needed money for your electricity bill.”