He shrugged. “I sometimes still have to do odd jobs for him. I wish I didn’t, but there are certain people you can’t say no to.”
I nodded, silence settling over the room once more, apart from the hum of the computer and the distant crash of waves against the shoreline.
One thing was certain. I now saw Blake Ford in a completely different light. Never in a million years would I have expected to learn he’d gone through something like this. I knew he’d been through some shit. You don’t end up in our line of work without going through something. But I never could have predicted this.
“Shit. That’s him,” Blake said, his determined voice ripping me out of my thoughts.
I snapped my eyes back to the monitor where a Florida driver’s license was currently displayed on the screen. I studied the information contained on the license, but it couldn’t be. The age didn’t add up.
“Are you sure? This guy’s only ten years older than me. You made it sound like Isaac was much older.”
Blake vehemently shook his head as he pushed himself to his feet. “Not Isaac,” he said, limping toward me. “That’s Josiah.”
“Josiah?” I glanced at the license once more. “Says here his name is Corbin Black.”
“That may have been who he was before, but I knew him as Josiah. He was like me. Some kid Isaac pulled off the streets to ‘redeem’. But he was one of the people Isaac got to. Who started to believe in the bullshit.”
His jaw flexed, his fists clenching in anger. I got the distinct impression he wasn’t seeing the photo anymore. He was seeing the past.
“In some ways, Josiah was even worse than Isaac. More disturbed and brutal, especially as he got older and Isaac gave him more privileges. More authority. More opportunities to hurt people.”
“Do you think he’d form his own following after Isaac died?” I asked, my mind spinning. “Take over from his predecessor?”
“With how Isaac brainwashed everyone, I think anything’s possible.” He moved closer, resting a hand on the corner of the table for support as he leaned over my shoulder. “Can you pull up that address? See what it looks like?”
I typed in the address. Seconds later, satellite imagery popped up of a large, remote property about thirty miles east of Fort Myers. It looked to be fairly isolated, mostly hidden by dense tree cover. The main house looked like an actual castle with a moat around it. Set farther back were a series of nondescript buildings, thin and long. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it could have been a boarding school or some other educational institution.
But based on the look on Blake’s face, his expression growing pale, I had a feeling that wasn’t it at all. He barely resembled the intimidating man who’d become my closest confidant. Instead, he looked like the terrified boy who’d been forced to do unspeakable things.
The boy who sacrificed himself for his sister, then spent every day for the next thirty years trying to find her.
“Is it…?” I began.
“That’s it,” he interjected. “That’s where he kept us.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ariana
The sound of the door opening jolted me awake.
For a second, I didn’t know where I was.
My heart slammed against my ribs as I jerked upright.
The instant I did, pain flared through me, reminding me exactly where I was.
And what I’d endured.
The brand.
The belt.
The mindfuck.
I must have fallen asleep at some point. I hadn’t intended to. Didn’t think I could with the pain consuming me. But eventually, exhaustion must have won out.
A part of me wished I hadn’t fallen asleep. Because in sleep I wasn’t here.
