Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
From outside the car came an alarmed but feminine, “Oh, God, are you okay? I saw everything. Do you need help?”
“No.” I reached out for A.J. and he put his trembling hand in mine. I squeezed it tight, thanking God things weren’t any worse than what they were. “We’re okay.”
“Are you sure?”
Suddenly, the worry from the woman’s voice was gone and was replaced with menace, and my heart stuttered. I turned slowly, and the second I saw her, my insides shriveled.
Oh, fuck, Molly. What have you done?
Ling blinked at me through the open window and her brow lowered. “You don’t look good.”
“Back off,” I growled through gritted teeth as it hit me hard.
She was never after Twitch.
It was A.J. she wanted.
“You’re hurt,” Ling insisted as she threw open the passenger door. It all happened so quickly I had no time to react. One second, I was conscious, then next moment, I wasn’t. I fought it. God. I fought so hard, but as she continued to Taser me, I lost the battle.
And as the darkness took me, I heard her utter, “See? Not fine at all.”
***
Ling
Inwardly gloating, I watched the young woman’s body shake with the force of fifty thousand volts. I observed happily as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she shook like she was being electrocuted because, well, she was. I held the Taser to her stomach and gloried in the way she shuddered spasmodically. When she began to foam at the mouth, I stopped, rather reluctantly.
I didn’t want to kill her. I just wanted her to suffer. And suffer she would when she at last woke to find her ward snatched out from under the safety of her steeled wing.
Molly would suffer.
They would all suffer.
I had plans for this little boy, this beautiful little boy whose parents were a pair of fucking assholes. Selfish, self-absorbed assholes.
My grin was hidden under my stone-faced expression, and even though I didn’t reveal it, I felt it so damn hard I wanted to lift my head heavenward and laugh into the morning sun.
Oh, yes.
I would make them hurt in the cruelest of ways.
“Help!” I screamed as loud as I could, garnering attention from the street.
My eyes wide, I slipped out of the car and rushed to the few people surrounding the close call. “Somebody help!” I put my hands on a man, gripped his shirt tightly, and sputtered, “I know this woman. Call an ambulance!”
The man already had his phone out, dialing, and I internally smirked but rushed back over to the car, and called into the window. “Molly? Can you hear me, Molly?” I panted loudly for good measure, then uttered a wavering, “You’re going to be okay.”
Forcing tears out of my eyes, I made my lips tremble, as I yelled out to nobody in particular, “Somebody help my friend!”
A small crowd had gathered around the car, and as I opened the back door, I reached out to the little boy I had loved before he even existed. My heart full, I muttered, “Come to me, A.J.”
But he just sat there, watching me with wide eyes. He was terrified, and I did not like that. Not at all.
“I know your parents, sweetie,” I told him. “Come with me. I’ll take you home.”
When his eyes settled on the back of his guardian’s head, he turned back to me, and uttered, “Is Molly okay?”
Who gives a fuck? “Yes, sweet boy. She’ll be fine. She just fainted is all.”
He hesitated, peering down at my hand.
Come to me.
“Come here.” My voice was low, commanding, and when I saw him push himself back into the seat, away from me, I internally reprimanded myself. “Don’t you want to go home to your mummy, Alexa? And your daddy too?”
Come to me, my baby.
The little boy nodded slowly, cautiously, and I smiled softly. “Come with me, sweetie.” He put his hand in mine, and my insides uncoiled. I hadn’t known I was holding my breath until I let out the shaky exhale.
He had come.
He’d come to me willingly.
My soul ached.
How bad of a person could I be if this sweet soul came to me freely, eagerly?
This child would be my redemption. He was my chance at a better life.
My tone whisper-soft, I said, “Let’s get you home.”
As he allowed me to pull him out of the car, I lifted him in my arms, and as I settled him onto my hip, my lips began to tremble as I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me.
The feeling... oh, God.
My heartbeat slowed in that moment.
The feeling of holding your child for the very first time was nothing short of awesome.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered as I pressed my lips to his head. For the first time in my life, I felt my heart might just burst from fullness. My eyes closed at the sheer force of the emotion I felt right then. It was hard to breathe past the thickness in my throat.