Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I wanted to get to know this man who already knew me so well. One Starling stole eighteen years from us. The next Starling would not get any more.
My part of town fell away before East Regalia. I didn’t spend much time in this part of Regalia, though not for the same reason the Royals didn’t. Every part of Regalia was a wealthy town for wealthy people, but not all money was the same money. Or something stupid like that.
Old money like the Wilsons and the Burkhardts claimed West Regalia. That left East Regalia to the new-money families like Dean’s. Having new money still made you a Dreg because, like I said, this town is stupid.
I weaved through eclectic neighborhoods with modern homes, game board cafés, clubs, and the infamous Hometown Country Fried. This part of town had less beach and more woods. Likely why the old-money Regalians claimed the west for themselves. They went to bed every night watching the sunset on the ocean while they sipped chamomile tea on the balcony. East Regalians watched crows shit on their lawn.
“I’ll take the car in as close as I can,” I said, ending the quiet. “Then we’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”
Cato nodded. “Yes.”
I eyed him out of the corner of my eye. “You know that, in all likelihood, this is the correct cabin, right? If I was a two-bit piece of trash in hiding while I tried to kill my former best friend, I’d pick a hideout that wasn’t in his backyard.”
“Yes.”
My voice hardened. “And if I’m right and Everleigh is in this cabin, we’re not waiting around for the other guys to get here.”
“Yes.”
“Flaming wrecking ball?”
Cato turned to me, smirk curling his lips. I didn’t notice until then his favorite skull lighter flipped between his fingers. “Yes.”
“I love you so much right now.”
He laughed. A rich, wild sound that made me feel a little crazy. A little dangerous. “Surprise, bitch!”
And then we were both laughing—loud and unhinged as our car disappeared through the trees.
As promised, I drove in as far as I could, then pulled off on the side of the road. The house I thought was Everleigh’s didn’t have any security, but her real one might. To be safe, I followed the dirt road as far as I dared. We’d walk the rest of the way to the dim lights in the distance.
Cato was a stalking panther beside me—so silent it was easy to forget he was there. His breaths were whispers on the wind. His steps so light twigs didn’t dare break.
The complete opposite to the stumbling, heavy-footed oaf beside him. My foot caught on something and I went flying. Cato reacted fast—catching me before I hit the ground. But not before that something screeched and went tearing off into the bushes.
“I don’t want to know what that was,” I huffed. “Goodness. Is it your father’s Rogue training that makes you so good at all of this? Makes me wonder how different I’d be if Alistair raised me. I’d be a lethal weapon too.”
“You are.” Cato set me on my feet. “One thing would be different. You’d have been mine sooner.”
A smile played at my lips. “I would’ve, wouldn’t I? If we all went to school together, guys like Owen and Levi would’ve skeeved me out with their superiority complexes. Even in Catholic school, I found myself running with the outcasts.” I hugged his arm, trying to find his lips in the dark. “Guess we’ll have to make up for stolen time.”
“There.”
The ragged hiss snapped my head around. There in the distance, hazy glows took form, revealing a one-story mansion.
My lips parted. I was deluded the night before. How in the world did I think that rinky-dink pile of logs was the grand mansion worthy of Everton Starling? That place wasn’t grand. The vast, gorgeous home of polished stone, columns, twelve-foot windows, and sloped ceilings was where the word grand came from.
“This is the place.”
Cato slouched off his backpack. My skin tingled at his smile as he held up a torch and matches.
“It’d be fitting,” I whispered, mesmerized by the glittering flame. “Burn down her home like she burned down ours. We can end it all right here. Right now. No more plotting, waiting, hoping, fighting. Just a hollow building with a roasted corpse. The exact end that she planned for me.”
I let out a breath. “But we can’t. Not yet, at least. First, we have to make sure this is the right cabin. I won’t risk destroying the home of an innocent person. Again. Also, we can’t torch the place before we find her laptop.”
His brows drew together in the glow of the fire—asking without asking.
“It’s not just Everleigh we have to destroy. We’ve got to bury the T.O.D. Club too. They were her murder weapon. Fuck’s sake, they were my murder weapon.” I squeezed his forearm. “It’s terrifying what someone with enough malice and money can make the members do. Wolf blocked my access to the site...” My gaze drifted to the cabin. “But he didn’t block hers.