It’s the most pitiful thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Henry steps forward, and all three of us raise our weapons. “Don’t even think about it, old man,” I order. “You take one step closer, and this needle is going right into your eyeball.”
“Please, please just let us go,” Pierce pleads from his corner, cowering like a dog who’s just been chastised. His voice is high-pitched and grating like the pathetic joke of a man he truly is. “We won’t say anything. I promise. Just don’t kill us.”
Henry glowers at me before turning on his son and kicking him hard in the ribs. “I said shut up! You’re worthless! You are no son of mine!”
Teagan uses the chaos to step behind Henry, and she places the dagger to his throat. “Don’t touch him again.”
Henry’s laugh echoes through the small space, giving me goosebumps. He sounds insane. The red light doesn’t help as it morphs his features into something sinister.
“You’re really going to protect him?” Henry asks incredulously. “Are you that big of a fool? I know the three of you are obsessed with his books, but would you still defend him if you knew his darkest secret?”
Teagan’s brows knit as she looks from us to Pierce, her blade still sitting against Henry’s bare throat. “What are you talking about?”
“Father, please, don’t.” Pierce gets to his knees and pleads with his father.
Henry lets out a mocking snort. “Come on, son. Why don’t you tell them about how their favorite author is a sham?”
Pierce pales and rubs his hands through his dark hair, leaving it in disarray.
“Nothing to say there, huh, boy?” Henry instigates, pushing himself close enough to the blade to draw blood. He doesn’t seem to feel it, though. He’s too engrossed in making his son feel small. “Well, let me fill your biggest fans in on the truth. After all, didn’t you force them to share their darkest secrets to escape this little room? I do love a full circle moment.”
Capri points the gun at Pierce. “Explain. Now!”
Pierce whimpers and throws himself back into his corner.
“What is he talking about?” I ask, walking closer to Pierce. I bend down so we’re on the same level. A part of my heart softens when I see the genuine fear in his eyes. “It’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you anymore. You can tell us.”
Henry scoffs loudly, then yelps when Teagan digs the blade in deeper.
Pierce looks to his father, then his bright eyes flit back to mine as his breath quickens. “I’m not a real author.” He shifts back to his knees, biting at his nails while he looks at each of us. “Quinn is my ghost writer.We forced him to write the stories so we could get a big enough fan base to lure enough of you here.” He looks down at his shoes with shame.
“It was my idea, brilliant, wasn’t it? Quinn was always a talented kid; he takes after his father,” Henry says with pride. “But I couldn’t risk letting him leave. I couldn’t trust the boy to come back like Josh always did. And Atlas here was being trained to take over,” he snaps at Pierce before continuing. “So we traded Quinn’s mother’s safety for new stories. She was allowed to stay and raise Skye while he wrote. Saying that out loud makes it seem foolishly unbelievable, but it worked. It got the lot of you here, didn’t it?”
Pierce sobs loudly into his hands.
“Is that true?” Teagan asks. “Did Quinn really write all the books for you?”
“Yes,” Pierce concedes. “All but the last one. He refused to write it after realizing we planned to bring more people here. He thought that if he stopped writing, nobody would want to meet him. Father had me write it instead.”
Well, it makes sense why the last book was absolute trash. What kind of ridiculous idea is that? Every time I think this family can’t get any crazier, they drop some crap like this on us.
“You realize how insane this is?” Capri says to Henry. “You forced all your children to do your bidding for this?” She gestures at the walls of Windermere. “Because you wanted free labor to take care of your pretentious castle? Why?”
All Henry does is shrug, before his lips twist into a sardonic grin. “Because I can.”
“You’re completely deranged,” I quip. “It’s a wonder your children didn’t murder you in your sleep.”
This elicits a reaction from him. The smile disappears, replaced by a grimace. He glares at me, his nostrils flaring with anger. “My childrenwouldn’t dare. They are weak and useless.” Henry spits at Pierce. “Besides, I no longer have any children. I refuse to claim this useless trash as my own kin.”
Pierce lunges at me, catching me off guard and wrestles the syringe out of my hand with a grunt before hopping to his feet. I scream and wait for the enviable pierce of pain, but it never comes.
Instead, we all watch in shock as Pierce shoves the needle into Henry’s eye and empties the contents with a furious shout. “YOU ARE NO FATHER OF MINE!”
Henry’s body goes limp and hits the ground within seconds. Teagan moves faster than I’ve ever seen before and is at my side a moment later, helping me to my feet. Capri’s mouth is open in shock, but she shakes it off quickly and points the rifle barrel at Pierce.
He raises his hands in surrender and falls to the floor next to his father’s body. “Just make it quick.” His voice is empty and emotionless.
