My cheeks puff as I blow out a breath. “It started with the memory of when I found a dead body in the living room of my fake parents’ house.”
“You found a dead body,” Finn repeats slowly, as if he believes he misheard me. When I nod, the color drains from his face. “How old were you?”
“Eleven.” My voice is barely a whisper. “It wasn’t the first time I saw a dead body. But I’d never seen one in my house before.” I stare at the ceiling as I speak. “The person overdosed, and they had a needle in their arm. I had gotten home from school when I found them on the floor. I could tell right away they were dead. There were also other people in the house, but they were all too high to notice. I called the police, but then I had a panic attack and ended up hiding in the closet until my aunt Ellie, or well, my mother, came and took me to her place for a few weeks.”
“Did the police call child protective services?”
I snort a disdainful laugh. “I’m sure they did, but no one gives a shit about kids on northside. I’ve been smacked around, left at stores, been in the middle of a drug raid, and I still always ended up back at that house.” My lips quiver as I seal them firmly together, trying to get a grasp on my emotions. “I know my mother was trying to protect me from my real identity falling into the wrong hands, but I’m still having a difficult time wrapping my head around why she thought me living in that hellhole was any better.”
He absentmindedly twists a strand of my hair around his finger. “Did she know how bad it was?”
“Yes. She visited me all the time, but always left. It’s why I learned to take care of myself from an early age and to never trust anyone.”
He cups my cheek and angles my face toward him. “You can trust me. I know it might take a while for you to believe me, but I promise you can. We’re in this together.”
I revolve to my side, so I’m facing him. “I’m going to work on my trust issues. I kind of have to, considering the situationthat we’re in, because if we are going to get out of here, our trust needs to be solid.”
“Agreed.” He strokes my cheek with his hand.
I’m not positive why I’m letting him touch me like this, other than I’m tired. That’s the reason I attempt to convince myself anyway. The brutal truth is that I find comfort in his touch as we lie in this bed, trapped in this room, with fresh wounds of traumatic memories haunting the space around us.
“I remembered more, too. Right after that happened, after I found that body, and I went to live with Ellie, something happened where she was freaking out and made me hide in a closet. I heard a lot of yelling, then gunshots.” I force down a tremulous breath. “And then when she opened the door again, she had blood all over her.”
Finn goes rigid, and his fingers, which are tangled in my hair, freeze. “Did she shoot someone?”
I elevate a shoulder. “I’m not sure, but I think so. And I’m wondering if she did it to protect me because she’s not a killer.”
A crease forms between his brows. “How do you think she didn’t get caught? I mean, if she shot someone?”
“I have no idea, but at this point, anything is probably possible. Maybe she had someone help her cover it up. I don’t know… All I know is that with the amount of blood that was on her, I really doubt whoever was on the receiving end of that came out of it alive.”
Finn mulls this over, his fingers leaving my hair and skimming down my arm. “Maybe my mom helped her cover it up,” he says, inching closer to me to keep our conversation as private as possible. “She’s helping her right now, right? So maybe she helped her cover up the deaths back then.”
My brows draw together. “Why would your mom do that, though?”
He skims the pad of his thumb along my jawline. “I’m not sure, other than she didn’t want my father getting his hands on you.”
“What do you think is the point of him keeping us here? Do you think he’s going to keep me here until I… Until I have a baby?” I ask as he trails his fingers along my shoulder, down my arm, and to my hand.
He tangles his fingers with mine. “We’re going to get you out of here before that. I said you can trust me. Well, trust me with this. We’re getting out of here. I promise.”
I wish I could say I wholly believe him. But while I do think he means his words, I’m not so convinced we’ll be able to find a way out of this prison of a bedroom.
CHAPTER 19
NOAH
I usedto not be such a loner, but after the whole affair thing between my mom and Finn and River’s dad, I pretty much lost all my friends. Part of it was because of Finn and River being total assholes, but I’ll admit, I isolated myself not just because of the affair. Part of it had to do with being blackmailed by one of the city's most frightening men.
James Averson is a scary ass motherfucker, who does all sorts of awful things. In fact, I doubt that man has any limits to what he’ll do to get what he wants. And what he wants is money and power, which is why I’m not surprised he’s taken Maddy in the hopes of getting reign over the entire world. What I am shocked about, though, is the actual idea that the blood pumping through Maddy’s veins means she is supposed to be ruling over the world.
After we left the airport, River and I headed to the Academy so I could collect my computer, that I do most of my tracking on. It’s the one with the program that connects to James’ phone and lets me track his location. I installed the program on it a while ago for collateral purposes, in the hopes that I could collect enough dirt on him to blackmail him back. So far, I haven’tgotten anything substantial, but at least the app is coming in handy for helping us find Maddy and Finn.
I swallow hard as I think about Maddy. She’s probably the sweetest person I’ve ever met, even with her spitfire personality. She’s genuine, and it’s hard not to be magnetized toward him. I’ve been fighting the pull I felt toward her from the instant we met, especially after I realized she was friends with Finn and River. But she was so persistent on helping me, so much so that I almost got her into trouble.
Thank god, I didn’t.
I just wish I could’ve put two and two together and realized what James was up to. I’ve been tracking his movements. Why didn’t I realize something was going on?
