Page 96 of Cup of Lies

“I’m Romy. I can help you. How did you get here?”

He scowls. “The old dude adopted me. I was just happy to get out of that group home I was in. I didn’t know he was going to lock me away.” He jabs a finger at the window. “There’s no escape. It’s so fucked up, lady.”

“Trust me, I know. Come on.”

Filter’s eyes are wide when I exit the room with the teenager in tow. “Who the hell is this?”

“Evan,” the kid says. “Who the hell are you?”

“Apparently your savior,” Filter grunts. “We’ll get you out of here, but we’re looking for some people first.”

I leave the kid in Filter’s capable hands to continue my search. To my dismay, we find two more boys of varying ages. One looks to be about thirteen and the other ten or eleven.

Was Orion simply going to replace his sons with newly trained ones?

I’m disgusted by this man. He’s a monster and now he has my future husband in his grasp. Will he kill Caius?

When I turn down yet another hallway, I hear it. Faint yelling. A man’s voice.

Caius.

With tears in my eyes, I race toward his room. His voice is clearer when I arrive and I’m grateful to have found him. I unlock the bolts and before I can open the door, he flings it open.

“Romy.”

His eyes are hooded and he’s swaying. I choke on a sob, flinging myself into his arms. “Oh my God, you’re okay. What did he do to you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he hisses, hugging me so tight I’m afraid my ribs will crack. “He has LuLu.”

I freeze in his arms, jerking away to stare at him. “What? How? We just spoke to her the other day. Everything was fine.”

“I don’t know,” Caius admits, defeat in his voice. “She keeps calling—”

On cue, the phone rings again. This time, I rush over and answer it.

“Save me,” LuLu begs. “Please.”

Something clatters and she cries out, her voice echoing. Then a man’s voice comes on the line.

“I knew I could eventually draw you out, my dear Romy. All I wanted to do was make my son happy—to give him the girl he always wanted. And this is the thanks I get? You two team up together and try to destroy my entire life’s work?” He pauses to yell at LuLu to quit her crying. “My son was killed because of you. Now I’m going to have to end the other two.”

“Let her go,” I say calmly. “We can discuss this. Me, you, Theo, and Caius. You don’t need to involve LuLu. I can send the bikers away.”

“You won’t find me,” Orion says. “And you won’t be leaving this place alive. Neither will your friends. Nice try, though.”

“What do you want?” I demand. “To kill us? How do you plan to do that? Are you going to look your sons in their eyes when you pull the trigger? Do they mean nothing to you?”

“Goodbye, Romy. I’ll make sure my men deal with you soon. They’ll make you suffer a little first. It’s the least I can do for everything you’ve done to ruin my life.”

He hangs up without another word.

I whip my head toward Caius and grin. “I know where he is.”

“How? Did he tell you?”

Turning on my heel, I bolt from the room and head down the hallway to a place I’ve been before. When I reach the trash chute that once claimed a child’s life, and almost my own, I fling open the door.

“Romy, no!” Caius bellows.

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