Page 178 of Creep

“Is there something you want to ask me?” Theo didn’t sound angry. Or curious. He didn’t sound to be anything. Theo was good at looking and sounding neutral, and I realized that was just how he was most of the time, making it hard to gauge his emotions. I didn’t know which was more unnerving, the charming mask Mael could so easily put on in front of other people or Theo’s apathy.

“I was just thinking about how you and Mael don’t look all that much alike.” I could be imagining it, but I thought I saw a ghost of a smile touch his lips briefly.

“We don’t have the same mom.”

“No?” I asked, surprised. Mael had said he spent some years in foster care. I assumed Theo was right there with him. Maybe that wasn’t the case.

Theo shook his head. “No. We didn’t meet until I was put into foster care after my mom’s death. Mael was there first. I didn’t get put into the system until I was five. We hadn’t known at the time, but Leo had set it up.”

“He set it up?”

Theo nodded. “He staged our mother’s death. While he had been in the skin trade for a while, he hadn’t branched out to more than women. Mael and I were a part of the first group of…childrenhe used.”

His breath caught when he saidchildren, and I closed my eyes briefly, my heart hurting.

“He needed to put us in a place where he could easily find us later once he had everything set up.”

And I was sure my dad had been aware of all this at the time. I was sure my dad had joined Leo in his sickbusiness, if not from the start, then close to it. Dad had always been close to Leo, and I had noticed that even as a child. And I was beginning to see that he would have followed Leo to the depths of hell if that was what it took to remain by his side.

I looked down at my lap. “I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.” Theo shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. He and Mael were similar in that regard. They both pushed their pasts so far deep inside them that they were able to convince themselves it was just one of those things that happened.

“It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt or that you’re no longer impacted by it.”

“Perhaps,” he said, and that was all. I didn’t ask him any more questions after that. I looked out the side window, lost in thought, which was why I was so surprised when Theo pulled up to the huge corporate building where Victoria worked.

He parked on the side of the building and got out to pay the meter. I got out, too, taking in the sight. I had always been jealous that Victoria had so easily pushed herself into this job. It had felt so grown-up at the time, while I had remained hopelessly lost, working one dead-end job after the next, and had finally just settled for working at the coffee shop.

But now, I didn’t want to compare myself to Victoria anymore. I didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore. Not when she had so easily broken off our friendship.

But my conscience wouldn’t let me rest until I warned her about Leo.

I pulled out my phone and called her work number. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hello.”

“I’m at your work. Can you come down so we can talk?”

“What the hell? Why are you here?” she asked. I tried to ignore the venom in her voice.

“Please. Just a quick chat. I’m not leaving until I see you. I have something to say to you, and it’s important.”

She didn’t respond right away.

“Victoria.”

“Fine.”

I flinched when the line cut off. This was already headed in the wrong direction. I could have texted her everything about Leo, but I was afraid she might not read it or, worse, not take it seriously.

Ten minutes later, I saw her walking out of the building. She was dressed to the nines, her outfit as expensive and in style as most of the women walking around us. Her long, red hair glinted in the sunlight as she walked further away from the building, her blue eyes searching around until she found me. Victoria had always been beautiful, but how could I not have noticed just how mean she looked?

Or perhaps she only looked mean now because that warmth I had gotten from her was long gone. And I still didn’t know where it all went wrong.

She stopped when she was about a foot away from me, her eyes shifting from me to Theo standing close by. He never got back in the car. Instead, he leaned against it, his arms crossed over his chest casually.

She turned back to me. “What do you want?”

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