Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Ivy
Heath helps Mrs. Schwartz up from the floor. She groans but abruptly stops the second she spots all his muscles. “Oooh. Now, who are you, Mr. Handsome?”
Heath laughs. “Maybe we need to get that head wound checked out.”
“Oh no, I’m fine. Perfectly fine,” Mrs. Schwartz replies. “But if you want to check me out, I have a bathroom to the left and plenty of fun stuff in there.”
“I take it back. No amen for you,” Max mutters, making us all laugh.
Cora hugs me tight, and the tears roll down our cheeks, not from fear but from happiness of finally being free.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter to her.
“Is it over?” she asks.
I nod. “Your dad … he’s …”
I can’t bring myself to say the words out loud.
“I don’t want him to be my daddy. He hurt Mom,” she says, hiccupping. “And he hurt you.”
I hug her tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Cora. I wish I could make it all disappear from your memories.”
We cry a little more, and after a while, she breathes out a sigh and says, “I love you. You’re my big sister.”
“I love you too, sweetie. And I promise I will never, ever let anyone hurt you again. No matter what happens, I will always be there for you.” She hugs me so tightly that it hurts, but the pain is worth it.
“This is too beautiful,” Max mutters, coughing before wiping away a tear.
“Are you getting all emotional on us now?” Heath snorts before he slaps Max on the thigh. “Enough crying for today.”
“I got shot. Twice. I think I deserve a few tears,” Max retorts.
“No, Heath’s right,” I say, standing up. “Stefano’s drained enough happiness from our lives as is. We’ve given him enough.”
“True,” Max says, eyeing the body. “Is he even dead?”
While we’re all still staring at Stefano’s body, waiting for him to spring back to life to try to attack us again, Bagel casually prances out of the cluttered bedroom and hops onto the couch to sniff at him.
Then he sprays him …
Literally sprays him with piss.
And Stefano still doesn’t react.
“Guess he’s as dead as a Dodo,” Max says.
Heath checks his pulse. “Yup. Dead.”
Mr. Squiggles, her wiener dog, prances out of the bedroom like it’s no one’s business but stops when he sees the cat. Mrs. Schwartz picks him up and hugs him tight. “Ivy, why the fuck did you bring this stinky cat into my house?!” Mrs. Schwartz says, wafting her hand in front of her wrinkly nose. “Even Mr. Squiggles is scared of him.”
I laugh so loudly that the whole building could probably hear, but I don’t care.
I haven’t laughed so freely in a long time, and the feeling overwhelms me with joy.
“Good job, Donut,” Silas says, clapping his hands before cringing from the pain in his bullet wound.
I abruptly stop laughing and glare at him with a raised brow. “Donut? His name is Bagel.”
Silas awkwardly stares back with a stupid grin on his face. “Not anymore.”
“Uh-oh,” Max mutters while Heath begins to snigger.
My brows furrow suspiciously when Bagel jumps down onto the floor and begins to curl his tail against Silas. “What have I missed?”
CHAPTER 60
Silas
“This should be tighter,” Mom says, tugging at my bandage.
“Ow!” I yelp, swatting her hand aside. “Stop.”
“I wouldn’t have to do this if you didn’t get knifed in the first place, Silas,” my mom growls.
“It’s just a flesh wound,” I retort.
“Stay still.” She retapes the bandage onto my skin. “There. Better.”
“You really think you can do it better than the nurses?” Dad asks, leaning back in the plastic chair in the corner of my room.
“Yes.” Mom folds her arms. “They do a piss-poor job here compared to a real hospital.”
“A real hospital. Where they will be asking questions about why our son was shot,” my dad grits.
Mom rolls her eyes and throws her purple hair over her shoulder.
“It’s fine,” I say, leaning back in the bed. “It’ll heal.”
“My heart won’t,” she says. “Do you know how worried I was when you called your dad? You should’ve told me you were going to go on a goddamn hunt for the Bones Brotherhood Mafia.”
“She’s right. When you’re out of here, you’re in a fuck ton of trouble,” Dad hisses. “Do you even know what the Bones Brotherhood is?”
“Whatever,” I reply. “The guy was a piece of shit who sent his men to drag a girl off the streets. He hurt his wife and her kid, and almost killed her. He deserved it.”
“I can’t believe you went out there on your own,” Mom rages. “Why?”
But I’m not sure I’m ready to say the words out loud yet, so I let the silence speak for itself.
“Twenty corpses, Silas. Twenty. Maybe more. That’s how many my men had to clean up. Do you know how much blood there was left?”
“Mom …” I sigh.