Total pages in book: 189
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
Rolling to the side while simultaneously trying to catch the fleeing person darting out of the room, Moon collapsed on the floor, completely out of oxygen.
“Reaper!” Viper yelled out to his brother when his attempt to catch the fleeing figure bolted out of the room was just as ineffective.
Viper managed to get to his feet first. Moon consoled himself that it was only because the air hadn’t been knocked out of him.
Gasping, he used the crib to heave himself into a sitting position. Slowly, the oxygen started to return to his lungs.
“Wha …?” he gasped. “What in … the fuck was that?”
Viper was bent over, holding his thigh. “I think it was a girl.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Larissa was about to use her crutch to make the man blocking her move.
“I really don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t move—”
A tall man stepped out of the door, holding Eryn.
“We need to get her to the hospital.”
Larissa looked around, searching for a vehicle they could use. “Someone find the keys for one of the trucks!”
The man holding Eryn laid her down on the porch then took off.
“She needs the hospital!” Larissa ordered, lowering herself to the ground.
“Who has the key for the tan truck?” Knox’s sharp voice rang out.
“They’re in Tanner’s pocket,” one of the men sitting on the ground in a group spoke up.
Larissa started examining Eryn, finding her pulse dangerously low.
“Eryn, can you hear me? Eryn?”
Her eyes opened. “Larissa?” she whispered.
“I’m here. We’re going to get you to the hospital. Are you in pain?”
“No, I’m just cold … I tried to get Tanner to turn the heat on, but he said we’re out of oil.”
“We’ll get you warmed up.” Larissa took off her coat to place it over her.
“I’ve got the keys,” Knox said, bending down to lift Eryn into his arms. “Shade, you drive them.”
Larissa hobbled after Knox and Shade toward the large tan truck. Shade opened the back seat door for Knox then hurried to the other side to help slide Eryn along the seat. Before he could shut the door, Larissa tried to climb up.
“Oof.” Larissa found herself sitting in the back seat and the door slammed shut next to her before she could draw another breath. Immediately, she began examining Eryn as best as she could while being jostled when the truck started moving.
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
“You’re not going to die,” Larissa assured Eryn, despite her doubts.
“I screwed up so bad. Dusty found out I was having an affair with Tanner, that the kids weren’t his, and he left me. He and Tanner were friends. He swore he’d never tell Dusty, but they got drunk, and Tanner let it slip. I don’t even know why it mattered to him. He didn’t care about them even when he thought they were his.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about any of that now. Just think about holding this precious baby.”
“Don’t. I’m not stupid. They won’t let me keep any of my kids when Knox tells them what Tanner was doing in my house. Once Dusty left, Tanner moved in with his buddies and turned my home into a lab. I didn’t try to stop him. I didn’t want him leaving me like Dusty.”
“Was that why Tanner wouldn’t let you come into your appointment yesterday?”
“No, he wouldn’t let me leave because he knew I would have called the sheriff on him for not letting that woman leave.”
“The woman in the house?” Shade asked from the front seat.
“Dusty quit making house rent payments. Tanner wouldn’t give me the money to pay it because he was waiting for a buyer to come today to buy his merchandise. He said we would clean the house out after the buyer left, and he would buy me my own house. The woman showed up yesterday, said she had bought the property and would give me time to pay the rent.” Eryn gave a sobbing cry, clutching her stomach. “I guess I felt that, huh?”
Larissa swallowed hard, seeing tears slip out of the corners of Eryn’s eyes.
“It won’t be much longer. We’re almost at the hospital.”
“Tanner was high and thought the buyer had sent her to scope out how many men he had. He was always paranoid about someone stealing his stash. He wouldn’t let her leave and locked her in one of the bedrooms upstairs. He promised me he’d let her go today after the buyer came.
“Last night, I was in bed when I woke up to hearing her screaming and went to the room where she was locked inside. Tanner was trying to rape her. I started hitting him, and she got loose and started running down the stairs. I got away from him and went to the kids’ room to get my baby. He caught up with me at the top of the stairs, and we started fighting. He didn’t mean to make me fall down. His buddies caught the woman and brought her back before she could get out of the house. Benie told her if she tried to escape again, he’d kill me and my babies. She stayed even when the shooting started, despite me not calling the police when Tanner wouldn’t let her leave.” Eryn started crying harder. “I hurt so bad …”