“That’s not true. I’ll be upset with myself.” I reach for the door handle to let her know I’m going to go through with this.
Sighing, she turns the keys and shuts off the engine. “Just so you know, I’m going to be there, too. I already told Detective Rannali that I’m not going to let you do this unless I can be close.”
“All right.” I push the door open and climb out of the car.
She gets out, too, and meets me at the front of the car. Then we walk into the diner. The hostess seats us in a booth, tucked away in the corner of the room where the lighting is low. The place has a total of five customers, which is probably why the detective picked this place to meet.
“Anyone hungry?” he asks after the waitress places menus in front of us and leaves.
I shake my head. “Not really.”
Lila reaches over and flips open the menu. “You’re going to eat. I don’t want you doing this on an empty stomach. You need your strength.”
Giving her what she wants, I order a plate of fries and a soda. She orders nothing for herself, and the detective asks for a glass of water.
“So, I first want to assure you that the location of the dock couldn’t be any better,” the detective starts after our drinks have been delivered. “There are trees and bushes surrounding it, and there’s also an old, vacant building nearby. My team has already scoped out the place and set everything up. Nothing appeared suspicious, so I have no reason to believe this won’t go smoothly.”
“The note said to come alone, though,” Lila reminds him. “Aren’t you worried that’s going to cause problems?”
“The only problem I foresee is that no one shows up.” He reaches for his water and takes a sip. “There was no threat to the note, though, which I found a little odd. I’m guessing they assume Ayden will just listen to them.”
“But I don’t even get why they want him to meet them,” Lila says, folding her arms on the table. “What exactly is the point of making him come out here to meet them?”
The detective exchanges a look with me from across the table. I can tell he’s thinking the same thing.
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear”—he leans back in the booth—“but we believe it’s their way of coaxing Ayden out to a desolate place so they can try to take him without making a scene.” When Lila’s eyes widen, he adds, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to allow that to happen. I have ten of my best men all surrounding the dock.”
“You better not mess this up,” Lila says, being all hardcore. “If anything happens at all, I’ll track you down and cut off your balls.”
The detective appears highly amused by the threat. “Duly noted.” He turns to me. “I need to go over a few things with you. First and most importantly, under no circumstances are you to get into a vehicle with anyone.”
“You think they’re going to ask me to do that?” I ask, stirring my soda with my straw.
“It’s a possibility, yes.”
“Can’t you just arrest them when they show up?” Lila absentmindedly steals a fry off my plate and pops it into her mouth.
He puts his hands out in front of him being very down-to-business. “We will arrest them, but we have to be careful and move slowly so we don’t spook them. We want to make sure that this ends with us getting Sadie back. You have to understand, these people aren’t your typical criminals. They have heavy beliefs that bind them to each other. Cracking down on them and trying to get them to out the rest of the group isn’t something that’s going to easily happen. In fact, from all the information I’ve collected on them throughout the case, more than likely, they’d easily go to jail to keep their secrets.”
Lila swallows hard. “All right, I’ll trust your judgment, then.”
“Thank you,” he says. “Now, Ayden, I want you to listen carefully.”
He gives me rule after rule: no acting spooked, keep calm, no trying to take matters into my own hands. He acts as though I’m going to flip out when the person shows up and try to kill them. While I briefly ponder the idea, I would never do something like that.
By the time he’s given me the rundown, there’s ten minutes left before go time. I’ve eaten probably a total of five fries and feel sick to my stomach.
“Are you ready for this?” he asks me after he pays the bill.
I shrug and then nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
The detective and Lila leave the diner first, getting in his unmarked car and driving down to the location. I climb in Lila’s car and remain in the parking lot for five more minutes before backing out. Then it takes me three minutes to get to Golden Center Docks and another two to get out of the car.
I reach the dock that stretches out over the water with no time to spare, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The last thing I want is to be standing out here in the open, terrified to fucking death.
The water laps under the wooden dock I’m standing on, and the trees enclosing the area sway with the wind. The sky is dark, the moon full, and the stars bright. In the distance, I spot the building the detective mentioned. Every now and then, I hear a noise and wonder if it’s the person meeting me here or if it’s the police. I can’t really tell. In fact, I can’t really tell much of anything other than I’m edgy as shit.
Finally, at around a quarter after ten, I spot movement from the path that leads down to the dock. I turn and watch as the figure descends the shallow hill and heads straight for me. My muscles seize up, and I want to run, but force myself to stay put.
When the person reaches the edge of the dock, I realize I’m cornered. The only place for me to go is in the water. Whoever it is has all the control, which instantly makes me think it’s someone from the Soulless Mileas.
They slowly make their way toward me, each step premeditated. As they get closer, the moonlight casts across them, and my jaw drops. They’re wearing a red raincoat with the hood pulled over their head and black rain boots.
She stops halfway down the dock, leaving at least ten to fifteen feet between us.
“Hello, Ayden.”
“You’re the person who was at that house,” I say with my eyes trained on her. “The one who warned me the place wasn’t safe.”
“It wasn’t safe,” she answers calmly in the same gruff voice she used that day. “It wasn’t time for you to go yet.”
A chill slithers up my spine.
“What do you want?” I ask, daring to take a step toward her. “Why did you ask me to come here?”
“I didn’t ask you to come,” she replies, taking a step back. “You were chosen to come.”
“You were chosen, Ayden,” she whispers in my ear. “You were chosen for this since the day you were born.”
I blink from the memory and step toward her, my legs shaking. “It was you . . .”
“Close your eyes,” she says. “This is going to hurt.”
I stop in the middle of the dock. “You were there.”
She shakes her head. “No, I wasn’t. I’m here now, though.”
She speaks like everyone else in my memories, her words wrapped in riddles.
“Tell me why I’m here,” I demand, my voice echoing around us.
She glances at the water behind me, and then her gaze slides to the trees. “Ayden, you’ve been a bad boy.” Her eyes land back on me. “You were supposed to come alone.”
Shit.
She turns and races off down the path toward the direction she came. I run after her without thinking, refusing to let her get away. Tree branches whip at my face as I keep my eyes on her, tracking her as she swings left then right before veering into the trees.
I dive in after her, the leaves and branches thick around my face. I know somewhere in the midst of the trees there are officers, but I can’t hear or see anything other than the woman laughing from somewhere.
“You want to know why we picked you?” she asks, her voice sounding as if it’s coming at me in every direction. “You want to know why?”
&n
bsp; “No.” I whirl left then right, scanning the area for her. “I want to know what you’ve done with my sister.”
“Your sister?” she asks with a cackle. “I don’t think I know who you’re talking about.”
“You’re lying,” I growl, stumbling deeper into the trees. “Tell me where she is.”
“Hmmm . . . Let me think. Locked in a house, swallowed by the darkness, where no one has ever killed, yet blood stains the floors and the walls.”
“Fuck you!” I shout, lunging in the direction of where it sounds like her voice is coming from. Instead, I end up bumping into a tree.
I hear the sound of officers yelling my name from somewhere close by and shout out, “I’m over here!”
“And here’s another little secret I’ll let you in on.” Her voice floats from the trees ahead of me. “Your blood is tied to us, Ayden. And not because your mother gave us to you. Your blood has tied you to us from the moment you were conceived.” Footsteps dance around me. “Ever wonder who your real father is?”
“No.” I cover my ears with my hands as I sink to my knees.
“Ever wonder why we chose you?” she whispers in my ear. “Ever wonder why your mother gave you up so easily?”
“No. No. No.” Rage crashes through me as I jump to my feet. “I’m not going to let you get away with this.”
“We already have,” she whispers from right behind me. Then something hits me hard on the back of the head.
Love, love, love.
I never got a chance to say I love her.
My eyes slip shut as I begin to fall.
Then everything goes black.
SOMETHING’S WRONG. I COULD TELL from the moment Ayden sent me the text this morning. The worry only magnifies when I step foot into my house. For starters, both my parents are home, and Ethan is here along with the three youngest of the Gregorys. When I ask them what’s up, they give me a vague, “We’re just hanging out” answer.
Ayden also didn’t show up for school. He said he was sick, but I’m not buying it. Something’s definitely up.
“So, when are you guys going to fess up?” I announce while everyone’s sitting around the table, eating pizza.
“Fess up to what?” my dad replies, acting all breezy.
“Whatever’s going on with Ayden.” I pick a pepperoni off a slice and drop it back into the box.
“Nothing’s going on,” Ethan says, staring distractedly at his pizza slice.
“You’re lying. I can tell.” My eyes travel across him, my dad, then land on my mom.
She shakes her head. “Lyric, nothing’s wrong. Ayden’s just sick and went to the doctor.” She checks the time on the microwave. “Lila did say she had to run a few errands, and they were going to be a little late.”
“Whatever. Don’t tell me, then.” I finish off my pizza then chill in the living room for a while with my sketchbook.
I work on a drawing of a tattoo I’m thinking about getting until around nine thirty or so when Fiona and Everson walk in. They have backpacks in their hands and frowns on their faces.
“Something’s definitely up,” Everson says as he drops his pack on the floor and sinks back in the chair. “It’s too late for them to be gone.”
I thrum my fingers on the top of my thighs. “Did Ayden seem sick this morning?”
Fiona shakes her head as she unzips her backpack. “No, he seemed fine.” She pulls out a thick textbook. “My parents seemed freaked out, though. My dad was acting like a weirdo the entire drive to school, and he gave us this huge lecture about being careful and keeping an eye out for anything weird today.”
“It probably has something to do with the fact that the police were at our house this morning.” Kale appears in the doorway with a slice of pizza in his hand.
I turn the volume of the stereo down. “How do you know the police were at your house?”
He shrugs, sinking down into a chair. “I was hanging out at one of my friend’s houses across the street, and his mom asked me about it.”
I bite down on my lip and pull out my phone to send Ayden a text.
Me: When r u going to b home?
When he doesn’t answer, an uneasy feeling gnaws in the pit of my stomach. I know he’s told me time and time again not to worry about him, but I can’t help it. I love him, and not knowing where he is drives me crazy.
I get lost in my thoughts as I flip through songs while everyone works on their homework. I’ve always had a rather overactive imagination, and it conjures up a thousand different horrible scenarios of what could be going on.
When my mother walks into the room and motions me to come over, I suddenly realize that maybe my imagination was right. Perhaps something terrible has happened.
She points at Fiona, Kale, and Everson, then puts her fingers to her lips, indicating for me to be quiet before leaving the room. I causally get up and wind around the sofa.
“Where are you going?” Fiona asks, glancing up from the textbook.
“To get a snack,” I reply, hoping I sound calm.
“Grab me something, too, would ya?”
I nod. “Sure.”
She smiles and returns to her homework while I hurry and sneak out of the room. When I get into the kitchen, my mother is sitting at the table with her phone clutched in her hand, and my dad and Uncle Ethan are hurrying for the back door.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
My dad motions for me to come with them. “We need to go to the hospital.”
I feel as though someone has punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me. “What happened?”
Worry is written all over his face as he grabs the car keys off the counter. “There’s been an accident. I’ll explain on the way. We need to go.”
Bile burns at the back of my throat as I slip on my shoes and follow them out the door. We climb into my dad’s 1969 Chevelle, and he breaks almost every traffic law as he flies down the street and onto the freeway.
“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” I finally say after ten very long minutes go by.
My dad glances at Ethan who looks as though he’s about to be sick.
“Go ahead and tell her.” He grabs his phone out of his pocket and sends a text. “She’s going to find out eventually.”
Sighing, my dad focuses on the road and begins telling me a horrible story about a letter and a meeting and basically a plan that consisted of Ayden risking his life.
By the time he’s finished, I almost ask him to pull over so I can throw up.
“But he’s all right?” I ask Ethan, sliding forward in the seat to look at him.
“I’m not sure. Lila . . . her text said . . .” He shakes his head. “I never should have let him do it.”
“Knowing Ayden, he would have done it without you,” I tell him. “I think he believes it’s his job to save his sister.”
“I know.” Ethan’s phone vibrates in his hand, and he glances down at the screen. When he sighs in relief, I know it has to be good news. “I just got an update from Lila. Ayden’s okay. He hurt his head and had to get stitches, but other than that, he’s going to be fine.”
I breathe freely for the first time as I lean back in the seat. I hadn’t realized how worried I was until now. Worried more than I ever have been.
Love, it’s like a drug
I can’t live without.
I thought I was stronger.
But love, it owns me now.
Without him, I feel so lost.
Without him, I don’t feel whole.
Love, love, love,
What have you done to me?
DESPITE LILA’S MANY PROTESTS, AFTER I get the stitches put in my head, I talked to Detective Rannali who has been waiting in the emergency room with us. She watches him like a hawk from the corner of the room, ready to yell at him the moment he says something that pisses her off even more.
“Are you sure you didn’t get a positive ID on the woman?” He pulls the curtain shut to give
us some privacy.
I shake my head. “All I know is that she was wearing a red raincoat and black rain boots. She had a voice like a heavy smoker.” I reach up to scratch my head then remember I can’t because of the stitches. “I know she was the woman who was at the house, though. The one who warned me about being there.”
“Can you recount what was said by her?” he asks, grabbing his pen and notebook from his pocket.
I replay everything I can remember her saying, and he writes it all down.
“I don’t get how you guys didn’t catch her, though,” I say after I’m finished. “She was right there with me in the trees.”
“We still have a team out searching the area,” he says. “But I have a theory that she might have had a boat nearby. We have some people out on the water, searching, and we did find a red raincoat tossed in the bushes near the shoreline.”
“You said he was going to be safe,” Lila interrupts, crossing her arms and staring him down. “And that nothing bad was going to happen, yet the woman got away, and my son’s in the hospital.”
“And I’m greatly sorry about that.” He clicks his pen and tucks it away. “But I also told you that I couldn’t predict everything that was going to happen, only what I hoped would happen.”
She shakes her head, enraged. “You lied.”
“Why do you think she said that thing about my real father?” I slide off the bed and plant my feet on the ground, steadying myself as the world starts to spin underneath me.
“Take it easy, Ayden.” Lila holds onto my arm. “The doctor said you need to move slowly for a little while.”
“I’m not sure,” the detective answers, stuffing his notepad back into his pocket. “Do you know who your real father is?”
“I thought I did.” I lean against the bed for support. “But my mom was the kind of woman who might have lied about stuff like that.”
He mulls over something, and I know what he’s thinking, because it’s probably the same thing I am. That my real father might have something to do with this. He might be part of the Soulless Mileas.
“I’m going to do a little searching into you,” he says, drawing the curtain back. “I’ll keep you updated, but in the meantime, I’m going to send a detective to keep an eye on Ayden.”
Unraveling You Series: The Complete Set Page 42
