Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
My limbs turned to stone then began to tremor as if an earthquake were shaking my very foundation.
“Petal.”
His voice was no longer gentle. It was a cold and sharp blade cutting through my haze, the heavy memory of—minutes? Hours?—ago that caused my heart to thunder like a racehorse through the delicate cavern of my chest.
I blinked him into harsh focus. His face was etched in harsh lines, his eyes electric, nostrils flaring, a crease in the center of his brow. A picture of cold fury.
He didn’t say anything, just let me hold onto his form, his face, his scent like a port in a storm. All I could pull in were shallow breaths.
“Hands on my shoulders,” he ordered, his voice a strange mix of tender and brutal that I’d never heard from him.
Confused for a second, I realized what he meant when he knelt at my feet, a bunched-up pair of sweats in his hands—my sweats, I noticed dazedly. I did as he asked, balanced unsteadily on one foot then the other as he threaded my feet into holes like I was a child before pulling the pants up my bare legs.
He did it slowly, his eyes homed in on my inner thighs, where there were small but unmissable fingerprints from Groves trying to hold my legs open.
His hands had stuttered, just for a second, but I’d felt the world tilt as the energy of his body completely changed.
He was robotic as he settled the sweats onto my hips.
Knox thought I’d been raped. He’d found me chained to a sink, beaten and in my underwear, with fingerprints on my thighs. It made sense.
“Knox,” I began, wanting to reassure him that that didn’t happen, since he looked like he was a man unhinged. Beyond anything I’d ever seen.
“Go to the next room,” he ordered the person I totally forgot was in the room, the one who hadn’t uttered a single word during our exchange nor made a single sound. “They’ll be coming back, so I want you to alert me if it’s before I can tend to Piper.”
Though it seemed impossible for me to be able to tear my gaze away from Knox, I had to see who he had trusted enough to bring with him.
I frowned as I took in Joey’s face, pale and serious.
That tore me completely out of my haze.
“Daisy!” I yelled, or I tried to project my voice as loud as possible, cold dread clutching at my windpipe. My voice was scratchy and hoarse.
I watched his jaw harden and fury paint his face. “She’s alive,” he told me quickly. “But they have her.”
“Then you go get her,” I ordered through gritted teeth.
“Petal,” Knox murmured.
My gaze darted to him, my heart skipping a beat again, seeing that he was alive and there. My joy held fast, but it didn’t win in the battle over my concern for my sister. Who was currently completely unprotected. “Don’t Petal me,” I snapped. “You’re here to presumably kill his men—”
“Not presumably,” he interrupted, his words harsh as a lashing.
I recoiled at how … unstable Knox was. Upon first glance, he had seemed placid, in control. But I could feel the fury radiating off him. See the way he held his limbs, the tic in his jaw, hear the feral edge to his tone, no longer smooth like a honed blade but serrated, and sharp enough to do damage, to shred.
“Okay, you’re here to kill them in a horrible, painful way,” I relented, not showing my unease at his raw emotions. “But that means that Stone will eventually get word of that and Daisy...” I sucked in a sharp breath, wincing as the simple motion sent spears of pain through my injured ribs.
Seeing my discomfort, Knox’s hands flexed as he lifted them toward my ribs, curling and unfurling them into fists as he set them there for a second before ever so soothingly pulling up my shirt to expose the mottling of redness.
He didn’t make a sound. He didn’t need to. His wrath was a physical thing, curling around my injuries, featherlight across my skin.
I yanked my shirt down. We didn’t have time for this. I didn’t look at Knox. “You need to go get her,” I repeated to Joey. “Since I’m guessing your presence means you do actually love her and are against Stone using her life as a bargaining chip.”
“Nothing is going to happen to Daisy,” he vowed, suddenly seeming older and more badass than he had during our previous meetings. Him being a badass in front of Knox was akin to a puppy growling in front of a roaring bear, but I got the energy.
He loved her.
That was good.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” I ground out, pain making my voice catch. I’d used up a lot of my strength doing so much yelling. “You’re going to get her.”