Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I gave him a disbelieving look. “You hate my father more than anything in the world. You said it yourself. You would have done anything to get revenge on him. What do you care about a lost earlobe and an insulting tattoo for the daughter of your worst enemy?”
“Sometimes priorities shift. You don’t have to believe me but it is the goddamn truth.”
I walked closer to him. The wind picked up, touching my aching back. “And what are your priorities now, Maddox?”
Maddox stretched out a tattooed arm, his palm upward, waiting for me to take it.
I didn’t budge.
“I betrayed my brothers for you. Maybe I’ll die for you once your father gets his hands on me.”
“You brought this upon yourself, not me.”
“If someone had killed your father right before your eyes, wouldn’t your brother have wanted revenge?”
“Not just my brother,” I admitted.
Maddox nodded grimly.
I put my hand in his and his fingers closed around mine. “You want to kill my father. As long as that’s the case, we’re lost.”
“I’ve lived for revenge for so long, it’s difficult to let go of something like that. But if there’s anyone I’d do it for, then it’s you, Snow White. I’d do anything for you.”
I wanted to believe him. But after everything that had happened, I wasn’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Attack!” someone screamed.
Maddox’s hand around mine tightened. “Your father is here to save you and kill me, Snow White.”
“Unless one of your biker brothers kills me first,” I said.
He tugged me toward him, his eyes burning with emotion. “I’m going to make sure you’ll get to your father safely. Now give a dying man his last kiss.”
I allowed him to pull me even closer until my lips touched his through the bars. He deepened the kiss, filling it with longing and desire. I sunk into him even as more screams rang out, as the world around us exploded into war. Shots cut through the yelling. The quick-fire of machine guns. Like a drowning man coming up for air, Maddox ripped away from me and released me. “Press against the wall until I tell you to move or you see your father. Now!”
I did what he asked and stumbled toward the back of the kennel.
Maddox and I looked at each other again, and this felt like a goodbye. One of us would likely die, maybe even the both of us. My heart clenched thinking this was the end for us, for a love that was never meant to be, a love without a chance at a happy end.
I needed to make sure Marcella got out of this alive. I’d die either way, either by the hands of my club brothers or by her father. There was a strange sense of relief in the knowledge of certain death.
I scanned our surroundings, hoping for Gray to dash past. He was our only hope. None of the other men, not even Gunnar would help me escape. I wasn’t even sure if Gray would do it. The rift between us had grown in the past weeks. Gunfire sounded down at the fence. Our gun power would keep Vitiello and his army back for a while. I wouldn’t wait here like a mouse in the trap.
I tried not to glance at Marcella who was pressed to the wall of her kennel. I wanted her out of harm’s way. The chances of being hit by a stray bullet were just way too high. Not to mention that Earl might still kill her to punish Vitiello.
I cast a cautious glance at the dog. It hadn’t moved from its place, but it was watching me. I hoped it had forgotten Earl’s orders. Being torn apart by teeth wasn’t my wish for death. Not that death at Luca’s hands would be much better. Satan was still breathing but blood had gathered under her hind leg. I doubted she’d make it.
And then I spotted a flash of bright blond hair and the matching cut. “Gray!” I shouted.
His eyes darted to me, wide with disorientation and anxiety. He bowed down to escape the bullets.
“Gray! Come here!”
He glanced my way once more, conflict reflecting on his face. When Earl had been off with his club brothers, getting drunk or pussy, and Mom had been down with a bout of depression, I had taken care of him, had held him at night when he’d been scared of the monsters of the dark.
Then he dashed toward me, his head low. I wasn’t sure if Luca and his men had breached the fence yet, but I suspected they had. A wire-mesh fence wouldn’t hold them back for long but getting past our armed guards would take longer.
When Gray finally arrived in front of my cage, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“What happened to the dogs?”