Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
He slams me down on him, rocking his hips.
I claw his back, shouting as I splinter into a thousand tiny pieces and scatter to the winds.
"I love you," he whispers, following me into light.
Chapter Eleven
Gideon
"What is that?" Kenna cries, jolting upright as the window alarm beings to wail from the bedroom.
"Shit." I vault over the back of the couch, sprinting into the bedroom. I rip the curtains open, fury churning through me when I see the handle of the knife still sticking out of the window where someone tried to use it to jostle it open.
I grab my phone and sprint out of the room. "Go in the bathroom and lock the door," I order Kenna, tossing the phone to her. "Call Kane and don't come out until he or I come and get you."
"Gideon!" she cries. "Don't go out there."
"Lock yourself in the bathroom, Sparrow. Now."
Distressed tears well in her eyes, but she scurries to obey this time. I wait only long enough to ensure she's on her way and then race out of the apartment, eyes peeled for anyone who doesn't belong.
It's overcast out, the moon hiding behind thick cloud cover. Even the lights in the parking lot seem dim. I do a quick scan but don't see anything moving. I sprint around the side of the building just in time to see a thick shadow slip into an alley across the street.
I take off after it, vaulting over a bush. I land on the sidewalk, damn near rolling my ankle. I don't stop running, my feet pounding against the pavement as I race across the street and then slip into the alley. It's pitch black, not a fucking thing visible.
"Fuck," I mutter, slowing my steps. I scan the shadows, trying to pick them out. The entire damn alley smells like an unwashed asshole and cat piss. If I find this fucker, I'm kicking his ass for dragging me back here. And then I'm killing him. Painfully.
My head is on a swivel the entire time I'm in the alley, but if he's hiding in there, he doesn't make a sound, and he doesn't move. I come out the other side and jog down the block, checking every shadow. But there are houses everywhere. He could be hiding anywhere.
Motherfucker.
I spend another few minutes looking and then circle back to the alleyway. I lurk in the shadows for a few minutes, watching to see if anyone comes out of hiding further down the street, but no one does.
Whoever slipped into the alley is gone now.
I fucking missed him by seconds.
I fight the urge to put my fist through the wall and jog back toward the apartment.
I stop at the window long enough to retrieve the knife. Hopefully my contact at the PD will have better luck with it than he's had with anything else I've given him. And then I circle back to the front door.
I freeze halfway there, my blood running cold.
The door is standing open. I know I closed it.
"Kenna!" I roar, racing forward with my heart in my throat. I don't take a breath. I'm too goddamn afraid to breathe. Jesus Christ. I left her in there alone. If he touched her. If he hurt her… "Kenna!"
I pound on the bathroom door, praying to God she locked herself inside. Praying she's safe. Please God, let her be safe.
"G-Gideon?" she says.
My knees go weak. I damn near sink to the floor as relief surges through me.
She fumbles with the lock, trying to open it.
"Don't open it yet, Sparrow. Someone was in the apartment."
"What?" she cries.
"Just stay in there and let me check the apartment, okay?"
"Okay."
I drag myself away from the door, quickly moving to the bedroom. I check the closest and then silence the window alarm before moving back into the living room. I'm halfway across the damn room when I see the fucking box sitting on the couch.
I stride toward it, pissed all over again. I use the edge of a blanket to knock the top of it off.
Cold rage rips through me.
There's a dead sparrow lying at the bottom, surrounded by photos of the two of us.
There's also a note.
Amidst the triumph of the sparrow's flight,
Its voice now still, ended in the dead of night.
There's a date typed beneath the note. Two days from now…the day of the charity event.
Jesus Christ.
This motherfucker is threatening to kill her in front of thousands of people.
Five minutes later, I've wrapped the fucked-up box in a blanket and hid it in the back of my truck so she doesn't see it. Some things, she doesn't ever need to know. Some things, I'll never let her see. This is one of those things.
I check the rest of the apartment to make sure there are no other nasty surprises and then rap on the bathroom door again.