AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was something panicked in his stare, like somehow he knew this was the end…for us. But I was already grabbing Ryth and dragging her backwards.
The man who was a father to me gave a slow nod and let his bodyguard drag him away. But he didn’t go quietly, unleashing one more savage roar and opened fire, downing as many of those fuckers as he could.
They scurried like cockroaches, splitting off to race across the alley. I scanned the buildings, lifting my gaze to the towering building in the distance that loomed over us behind the gunmen.
“Let’s go!” Nick grabbed Caleb by the shirt and dragged him.
Then we were moving, ducking and weaving as bullets hit the building beside us. I turned, firing over my shoulder, trying my best to cover my family as much as I could. But my gaze went to the empty building across the street where Ben Rossi had disappeared. A pang cut across my chest and this time it wasn’t a bullet wound.
Although it might well have been.
Movement came from the murky gloom beside that building. My heart lunged at the sight as a man stepped out. For a second, I thought it was Ben…for a second, I thought it was the father I’d always wanted, protecting me, caring for me, caring…for…me…
But it wasn’t.
“Dad?” Ryth jerked her gaze his way as we stumbled along. “What the fuck are you doing?You need to run!”
“Not without you, sweetheart,” he snarled as he lifted his gun and fired, taking out another one of The Order’s men.
“Fuck!”Nick jerked as a bullet narrowly missed his face. “We need to get out of here, T…now.”
We turned and ran, hauling ass toward the empty building in the distance until headlights cut through the night, blinding us.
“Jesus!”Nick snarled as a car skidded sideways and came to a stop.
And more of The Order spilled out.
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered.“Oh, fuck…”
THIRTY-SEVEN
Vivienne
My mind was reelingwhen I slipped back into my room and closed the door. I flicked off the lights and went to the bed. But I didn’t climb in between the sheets. Instead, I sat on the edge and stared into the darkness. “What the fuck was that?” I whispered to the empty room. “What theactualfuckwasthat?”
I tried to think, tried to come up with some reasonable explanation as to why London St. James might have a journal full of entries…about me.
They weren’t just handwritten, rage-filled entries, either. They were pages and pages of personal details filled with dates, photos, and details from the moment I’d been dragged into that place by my shitty foster parents, all the way to the day he’d brought me here. Some entries I found toward the back were even before that, from when the robots allowed me to attend my last years at Harlington Prep.Jesus, he evenhad an image of me with my face buried in a book while I hid in the school library.
How the fuck did he even get that?
A shudder ripped through me, then it was followed by the icy grip of panic as thethud thud thudof heavy steps echoed along the hallway, heading for my room. I jumped up and took a step backwards toward the wall. I shouldn’t have found that journal. Panic took hold. I shouldn’t have looked, shouldn’t have read. Shouldn’t have…
He was going to take me back.
My breath seized. I fixed my gaze on the murky blur of my bedroom door. He was going to take me back to The Principal and The Teacher and The Priest. I lowered my head, my shoulders curling as shudders raced through me.Oh, Jesus…no…no…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to look. I didn’t mean to find that jou—the words rose THUD THUD THUD thud thudthud…as the steps faded, then were gone, thundering down the stairs, leaving me behind.
He was leaving me?
I hated the pang that tore across my chest. Hated the way in those fleeting seconds I felt…desperate. Like I didn’t want him to leave meat all.But then the feeling was gone, just like the booming of his boots, and slowly the realization slipped in.Something was wrong.
I took a step toward the door as that thought took hold. Something wasn’t just wrong…it’d gone to shit.There was no way Mr. Stone Cold Asshole would run for anything less. I didn’t have to think too hard as the memory of what I’d witnessed on that monitor came rushing back to me.
Ryth…
And men who had to be her brothers.
Torturing Killion before they killed him.
