Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 42863 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42863 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“Was that the man with you?” he asked. When I only stared at him, he flushed the tiniest bit and cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he rasped, looking down at his lap. “I was trying to rescue Clarke.”
“Why?” I demanded. Why the fuck was a guard trying to rescue what they were supposed to consider nothing more than property? A money-hole?
He licked his dry lips. “I… I didn’t know why you were there. For all I knew, you were trying to take them for yourselves, and if you killed me… well, she would no longer have help.”
I hummed and crouched in front of him, resting my elbows on my knees. His breath hitched in his throat, his face paling the tiniest bit as he lifted his eyes to look at me. “Surely her parents would still be looking for her.” I arched a brow at him, waiting for more of an explanation.
Anger brewed in his light eyes immediately, and his scoff surprised me. “They’ve been faking every bit of their tears and sadness for the media since Clarke went missing. They do not care,” he spat, venom lacing his words. “If I hadn’t done something, she was going to die there. Never return home. Never be saved.”
“Who is she to you?” I demanded to know. The boy was singing like a canary, and I wanted to keep him talking. I had no doubt he was telling the truth, but I needed to know every detail I could get from him. My gut was telling me something bigger was going on, and my gut had yet to lead me astray. It was the only reliable thing I’d had my entire life.
“She’s my stepsister,” he rasped. I had a feeling she was a hell of a lot more to him than just his stepsister, but I wouldn’t pry that far. “I’m all she has—the only person that gives a fuck about what happens to her. I refuse to abandon her. I had plans to get us out of the country once I got her out of there. I have IDs and passports ready to go, and I have money stashed away. She can’t go back home.” His cheeks were red with his concern and anger. “She can’t. Please promise me you won’t send her back home. She’s eighteen. Legally, she can do what she wants.”
“Tell me more about your parents,” I said instead of giving him the promise he desperately wanted. I couldn’t keep Clarke here forever unless I had a reason to keep her hidden away from her parents and the public. River would never allow it, and I would never betray the man who’d given me a second chance. Who’d treated me like family from the moment we met.
My loyalty belonged to this club. Always.
Beck deflated, his shoulders slumping. Part of me hated the look of defeat written all over his body. I clenched my jaw, biting back the words I so desperately wanted to give him. But I couldn’t. Not until I’d taken this up at the table. Not until the rest of the club had given their vote on keeping Clarke here under our protection.
“They have to be involved,” he finally said. “When I was home, they never stopped doing the things they’d always done. My dad continued working. My stepmom continued shopping and attending brunches and dinners as if everything was normal. As if her daughter wasn’t missing.” He swallowed roughly, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement. “The few days I was home, people were coming and going—men and women who had personal guards. Who carried guns and knives. Everything about them made my skin crawl.”
Fuck.
I had a feeling they’d traded their daughter or sold her. No doubt in my fucking mind.
I stood back to my full height and turned on my heel, heading for the stairs. River and Sam quickly followed me. “Hey!” Beck called. I paused, glancing at him over my shoulder. River heaved a tired sigh. Beck drew in a deep breath. “You never promised me.”
“It’s not a promise I can make right now,” I told him honestly.
The look of defeat and pain on his face fucking gutted me.
“Tank interrogated the boy,” River began once we were all in the chapel later that day, his elbows braced on the table, his fingers steepled in front of him. “Clarke is his stepsister, and he thinks their parents are involved in her disappearance.”
“Well, fuck,” Gin muttered, leaning back in his chair. “That makes shit hella fuckin’ complicated.”
I silently agreed with him. We couldn’t return her home, and we also couldn’t return her to any family. Family tended to spill secrets, never wanting to believe someone in their family could be so vile and disgusting. Clarke wouldn’t be safe there. And the ring still hadn’t been torn down completely. Alejandro was still on the hunt for the big players, and while they were still at large, Clarke was in danger…