Page 175 of Creep

I nodded, hating that he even had to experience that, and at such a young age. Theo too.

“There was a small window in the cell they kept us in. Theo and I would take turns looking out sometimes when things got to be too much. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, the only scenery was the mountains and trees a good distance away. I just remember thinking how peaceful it looked. I made a promise to myself that if we ever left that hellhole, we would go hiking. We did just that a few years down the line when things were better for us, and we didn’t have to worry so much about watching our backs. By then, we had grown enough—changed enough—that if Leo ever saw us on the street, he wouldn’t have recognized us. Theo didn’t much care for it—the hiking. But I liked it.”

I looked back down at my sandwich, feeling sadness wash over me for all that he had to endure and the childhood he had lost.

He pressed his fingers under my chin and tipped my head up so that I was looking at him. “I didn’t say all this to make you sad.”

I shook my head, letting him cup my cheek, then turned my face to the side and kissed the inside of his palm. He didn’t react much to the touch, but I could see in the way his eyes moved that he was affected by me.

He had to love me. There was just no way around that.

“I’m just glad you were able to escape with Theo.”

“Me too.”

“I’m surprised Leo didn’t get caught after that,” I said.

He shook his head. “About a week after we escaped, we came back and burned the damn thing to the ground. Leo managed to escape and destroyed a lot of the evidence against him. Most of the people who had been held captive were able to escape, but they couldn’t identify the men who had kept them there. This all happened when you were about eleven. You probably wouldn’t have kept up with the news, but this shit was big enough that it made national news.”

“Eleven,” I repeated. “The year my mom died?”

Was it all a coincidence, then?

“About a month before,” Mael said.

“You know when she died?”

He nodded, and something about his eyes gave me pause.

“Do you know who caused the accident?” I asked.

It had been a hit-and-run. The man who crashed into the side of my mom’s car had fled the scene. And it took a while before someone drove by and reported the accident. It took a while before we were found… I knew that much.

“I don’t.”

“But you have a suspicion?” I asked.

He didn’t answer me right away. “Yes.”

“Who?” I asked, my voice soft. So much for not letting all the bad shit touch us on our day.

“Leo.”

My sandwich fell out of my grip and onto the ground. I barely registered that.

“Why would he do that?”

“I honestly don’t know. Perhaps she found out something she wasn’t supposed to know. You and Caden were in the car with her, right?”

I nodded.

“Do you think she was running away?”

My heart stalled for one long second before picking back up again. She found out the truth and tried to run away… I shook my head.

“My brother knew about all this,” I said. I looked off to the side. It never made sense that everyone kept pushing the accidental overdose autopsy on me. Caden had been careful. I wasn’t excusing his bad habit, but I knew him.

Did… Dad and Leo kill my little brother because he found the book?

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