Page 99 of Blood Ties
He’s a murderer. A rapist. A psychopath.
He’s my brother.
“Knox,” I whisper.
No response.
I drag myself closer. It’s getting harder to move, harder to breathe too. I have to fight for every gasp of air, like there’s a great pressure atop my chest.
My body gives out entirely when I’m a few feet away. My chin hits the floor, and I groan, more in defeat than pain. I’m somewhere beyond pain. But I force myself to stretch my arm out with the last of my strength, and touch Knox’s hand. He doesn’t move as I wrap my fingers around his and let myself sink into the floor.
“I’m here,” I say. Or maybe I just say it in my own head. Everything’s awfully murky right now.
With my free hand, I reach into my pocket and take out my lighter. It takes me a couple times to get the flame to catch. Then I toss it across the room, onto the gasoline soaked carpet.
My eyes drift shut as the fire flares. But right beforehand, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Not Knox, but Uncle Frank, lifting his head.
I don’t have any fight left in me. I let go and drift into the black. But right as I’m on the verge of unconsciousness, I swear I hear something familiar but out of place. A low rumble of a sound that I can’t... quite... place...
Darkness swallows me.
?Chapter Forty-Nine
Riley
Awareness returns,slowly and painfully.
It takes me a second to realize where I am. Splintered wood digging into my back, a dirty porch light up above. I’m still outside the house, where Knox dropped me and left me.
I sit up as quickly as I can manage, biting back a groan of pain. Everything hurts. But... I’m alive.
And the world is strangely quiet. It’s weird that Knox didn’t come back for me. And... neither did Kai. I remember the sound that sent Knox running inside, that agonized scream, and my stomach twists.
It’s awfully quiet now.
The front door looms up above me. Kai could be inside... but so could Knox. Their monster of a father, their dead-eyed uncle. I back away from it on my hands and knees before grabbing onto the porch railing and pulling myself to my feet. The wood groans beneath my grip as I stand, swaying.
