Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
My eyes widen. “Fuck.”
Suddenly, a doctor comes into the waiting area. “Nathan Reed?”
“Yes!” Nathan turns around, all frazzled and running his fingers through his hair. “Is he awake?”
“Yes, you’re free to visit him if you want. He’s in room 15.”
Nathan shoots past the doctor, racing up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, and we follow suit. He bursts into Milo’s room, but the beeping machine immediately stops him.
“Milo …” Nathan mutters as he sinks into his bed and grips his hand. “I’m here.”
Milo’s eyes flutter open, and he coughs. “Hi …” His voice is all crackled from the tubes.
Lana approaches his bed too from the other side and grabs his hand to squeeze. “Hi, Milo.”
“Am I dreaming?” Milo muses. “Or am I seeing angels now?”
She grins. “Still got your charms, I see.”
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Well, for someone who just got shot five times … pretty good.”
Both Lana and I snort from his comment. Always the jokester, even when he’s on the brink of death.
“They sutured me up?” he asks, looking at the bandages.
“The doc said you were quite a mess to fix,” Nathan says, pushing some of the bloodied hairs off Milo’s face. “But he did a good job.”
“I’m sorry, Nathan,” Milo mutters. “I’m sorry, Rory—”
Nathan plants a finger on his lips. “No more. It’s not your fault. I just wish I could’ve gotten there sooner.”
“Did you see what they looked like?” I ask.
“I don’t know. They were wearing long coats and skull-shaped masks.” Milo points at his chest. “There was an emblem, there. I could only vaguely catch a word before the guy shot me … Bones.”
A shiver runs up and down my spine.
“Fuck.” Nathan looks up at me and immediately fishes his phone from his pocket.
“What is it?” Lana asks.
“Bones can only mean one thing,” I say.
“Bones Brotherhood,” Nathan grits as he types into his phone. “And they’ve obviously been hired by someone to take care of my parents’ debt, no matter the cost.”
“Bones Brotherhood?” Lana chimes. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“They work under the radar. Notorious for accepting only the dirtiest jobs for the richest among us. They do anything for money, and they operate in several cities. Our parents would never work with scum like that.”
“So like assassins?”
“Not just that,” Nathan says through gritted teeth, still holding Milo’s hand for dear life. “Trafficking.”
I swallow as I watch Lana’s face go as white as snow.
“Fuck! No wonder I couldn’t get rid of these fuckers,” Nathan says.
“They don’t play by the book,” I say.
Nathan’s messages land on deaf ears, so he opts to call the guy who extorted him instead. When he picks up, Nathan puts the phone on speaker and yells, “You son of a motherfucking bitch, give me back my sister!”
The guy on the other end laughs. “And you think that’s going to work?”
Nathan clutches the phone so tight I can hear it crack. “Listen, you little bitch, I paid off my parents’ debt. I gave you the money. Our deal is finished!”
“No, I don’t think so. You see, we only got the money owed to our contractor,” the voice mumbles, clearly amused. “But you failed to provide the added interest.”
Nathan’s pupils dilate. “Interest?”
“Yes …” The voice on the phone is downright malicious. “But don’t worry, we’ll take care of it. You get to live. Your parents get to enjoy prison. And your sister? Well … you’ll never see her again.”
“Oh God,” Lana mutters, covering her mouth with her hand. “They intend to sell her.”
Nathan’s patience breaks. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
But the conversation is cut off before he can finish his tirade, and Nathan throws his phone.
I catch it just before it hits the wall. We need the information more than he needs an outlet for his rage.
“FUCK!” Nathan yells, almost ripping his hair out of his head. “Rory, I can’t leave her there. They’re going to hurt her. Sell her off to God knows what kind of pervert. Oh God.”
Lana fishes her phone from her pocket and texts someone.
“I’m sorry,” Milo says, coughing again. “I wish I could go out there and fight them.”
“What are you doing?” I ask Lana.
“Shh,” she mutters, still texting.
“You’re staying here. You need to rest,” Nathan tells Milo.
“Do you even know their location?” I ask.
Nathan shakes his head. “All I had was a phone number. That’s it.”
“I do.” Lana holds up her phone, showing an address.
“How’d you get that?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Penelope’s parents are notorious for hunting criminal groups like these. I just asked her if she knew anything about it, and she gave me one of their hideouts in the city.” A smug smile forms on her face. “Along with a warning of course, which I intend to ignore.”
She walks to the door.
Milo asks with a raspy voice, “Where are you going?”
“To save Rory,” she says, her face cold-hearted, vindictive. “And to kill those sons of bitches.” Then she focuses on both me and Nathan. “Now are you two coming with me or not?”