Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 65872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“Most likely,” I admit.
“I haven’t done much to make him proud. He will be highly upset with me.”
“You don’t think he should be?”
“I love Dom,” she whispers, the words sounding painful, making me sigh. I try to imagine what I would have felt like if Dragon hadn’t loved me like I love him. It would have killed me. I know that. With that in mind, I could almost feel sorry for her. Then, I remind myself that she tried to destroy my boys’ happiness—not to mention that she came between them.
“You don’t,” I tell her point blank.
“I do,” she insists, but I just shake my head.
“If you loved Dom, you would have never allowed things to go anywhere with Thomas. Hell, Thomas would have been off limits from the beginning. I think you are in love with the idea of being in love. Your father has taught you that you need to be the center of attention, and that’s what you crave.”
“You don’t know me,” she huffs.
“I think you don’t know yourself,” I murmur.
“I don’t—”
“Gabby, I need you to stand and block me as best you can. I don’t see cameras, but I imagine if there are any, they’d be close to the mattress where they expect us to sleep.”
She turns around to look at me like I’m insane. “How am I supposed to block you?” she asks.
“I don’t know. Pretend to stretch or something with your arms stretched out. Act like you have gone insane and begin squawking like a bird. Just be a distraction, okay?”
“Fine,” she grumbles. “You don’t think if I squawk like a bird, they’ll figure out we’re doing something we shouldn’t?”
I get down on all fours and start crawling toward the window. I look at Gabby over my shoulder and give her a dirty look. She doesn't see because she has her back turned toward me. Still, it makes me feel better. I reach the corner of the room and spot an old folding card table. Slowly pulling it down, I glance to make sure Gabby is still standing in front of me. She’s swinging her arms back and forth while looking around.
I get to work on the card table and eventually get one of the metal legs off. It won’t do a lot of damage, but it’s the best I can come up with. With some effort, I also remove the other three. Finally, I stack them up under the top of the table. Standing up, I walk back over to Gabby.
“Let’s drag the mattress over to that corner. There’s sun coming from that tiny window up top. It’s not much, but it makes me feel as if I’m not suffocating, at least.”
Gabby looks at me like I’m insane. “I don’t want to touch that filthy thing,” she says, her features curling up in distaste.
I know my eyes go wide. The feeling of needing to kick her is intense. “Gabby!” I growl, hands on my hips. I stare at her pointedly, hoping she gets the silent message.
“Fine,” she says eventually, clearly not happy.
We tug and tug. The damn thing feels like dead weight. I’m pretty sure tugging on a dead body would be easier. Eventually, we get it in place. Everything in me hurts. My back hates me right now. Gabby huffs as she lets go of her corner of the mattress, then proceeds to look at her hands in disgust.
“Stand in front of me,” I order.
“Again?” she barks. “I hate this place. I hate being here. I hate all of it. This place is disgusting. We should at least have some antibacterial wipes or something supplied to us. We could catch an infection and die. What good would we be as hostages then?”
I just stare at Gabby in disbelief and shake my head. At least she gets in front of me as I move the legs of the table, hiding them under the mattress. I know if we are being filmed, they can see some of what I’m doing, but I don’t think we truly are. I’m just being overly safe. Plus, it’s annoying Gabby and I take pleasure in that after the way she hurt my boys. Apparently, I can be a grown-up and still be petty. Who knew?
I stand up, letting my hand trail over the walls as I walk the perimeter of the room. I’m searching for anything that might help. I’m not really finding anything, but I’d kill for a secret passage right now—one that leads straight out of this hellhole and back home.
I freeze when I hear heavy footsteps heading our way. Gabby crowds in behind me as we wait for the door to open. I try to prepare myself for the worst. I don’t know what to expect, but I know I need to be ready. I need to survive this, if only to be there for Dragon. When he finds out King was part of all of this, it will kill him. He’s already raking himself over the coals over all of this. I admit, I left because I wanted him to face the mess that he created. I’m sick of him trying to keep me in the dark.