Nothing but fucking silence.
There’s no way he’d be that stupid.
There’s no way he’d lie to me for this long.
“Eden!” I scream. “I will fucking kill you if you just said his name!”
I hear something slap in the background.
I can’t feel my hands. My feet.
I’ve never known rage like this.
“I know I’ve been on speaker. Jin! Are you there!?”
I raise my hand, already in a fist, and punch the open locker door. The sound echoes in the small room, and when it bounces back open, I punch it again.
The back room door slides open. “What are you doing back here?”
I stare at Carey with murder in my eyes.
My vision starts to blur, narrowing to a pinpoint of white hot rage.
Jin… Jin…
Fucking Eden!
I can’t speak. Can’t breathe.
Two months. Two fucking months of working myself to death. Two months of worrying, of calling hospitals, morgues and police stations. Two months of Eden’s shit piling up while I kept the business running.
Two months of lies.
My best friend and my brother.
The irony means nothing to me. Carey is in his twenties, he’s been on his own for years. Jintae is a kid. Nineteen. He’s sheltered and vulnerable, and Eden fucking van der Hart has had him locked up in that tiny cabin doing god knows what to him. Manipulating him. Touching him. Corrupting him. I texted them both every day. Called all the time. Every fucking time I was on the phone to Eden, pleading with him for help, he knew exactly where Jintae was.
That picture… That fucking picture.
Sickness rises in my throat. I heave over the sink, coughing and spluttering, but nothing comes out.
Carey steps towards me with his hands out. “Fuck, Tek. What’s wrong?” But nothing in the entire universe would be able to quash my outrage.
“Your brother, he’s… I’m gonna kill him.”
My fist connects with the locker again. The metal caves in. The skin across my knuckles splits but I don’t feel it.
“Tek, stop!” Carey grabs my arms but I shake him off violently.
“Talk to me. What’s Eden done?”
Ignoring him, I grab onto the locker door and pry it back open. With my truck keys in hand, I barge past him.
“Enough!” He slaps his hand against my chest, pushing me back.
“He’s with Jin!” I yell, and the words taste like poison in my mouth. “Your cunt of a brother has been with Jin this whole fucking time!”
Carey’s face pales. “Jin?”
