Page 1 of The Reckoning
ONE
ARIES
The first thing I notice is Drew’s stupid fucking grin, like he’s stumbled onto a practical joke instead of a hostage situation. He leans against the doorframe arrogantly, twirling the key card between his fingers like it’s a poker chip, taking his sweet time while my mind races with a thousand and one questions.
How the fuck did he find us?
Has he known all along where I was but didn’t tell anyone else?
Does he know anything about Lilian?
“Well, isn’t this awkward?” Drew says, whistling low as his gaze bounces between us. “Two Aries for the price of one.”
“Where’s Lilian?” Arson demands, ignoring his bullshit.
Drew’s expression shifts from smug amusement to a flicker of concern. “Lilian? I don’t know where the hell she is. I came looking for you.” He points at me. “None of us has heard from you in weeks, except for Lee, and even that’s been sporadic. Every phone call goes straight to voicemail. I finally got fed up and tracked your car to this shithole.”
“You tracked my car?” I squint at him. “How the fuck did you track my car?”
“I have trackers on everyone’s car. After all the shit we’ve been through, I felt like it was a baseline security measure.” His eyes skim the facility that we’re in before returning to land on me. “And I wasn’t wrong.”
I’m forced to admit he wasn’t, but I don’t concede graciously.
“It’s fucking great that you finally noticed I wasn’t around or acting like myself and decided to do some investigating, but it’s a little late now. We have bigger issues to worry about. So you haven’t seen Lilian at all?” I pull against my restraints, the metal biting into my already aching flesh.
“No,” Drew speaks slowly, his eyes narrowing as he properly takes in the scene. “What the fuck is going on? Why are there two of you? I thought you said your brother died? Like when we were in our midteens, right?”
“He’s obviously my twin brother,” I say, struggling to keep my voice steady despite the fresh wave of nausea at the abject betrayal. Drew utters a soft, “Duh,” that I ignore. “His name is Arson. The family kept him locked away for years. I thought he was dead, too, until he kidnapped me to get revenge. You met him when we were kids. You don’t remember?”
Drew’s eyes widen, and he blinks as if he’s trying to pull up the memory. “You have to be shitting me.” He shakes his head as if he can’t believe it. He turns to Arson, his smile charming. “Well, I guess, nice to see you again. Weird you’re not actually dead, though.”
All I can do is roll my eyes as he continues with a grin directed at me now. “Damn, your life is like daytime soap opera gold.”
“Sure it is, but you’re missing the point. None of this is important right now. Lilian’s been gone for over twelve hours, and she locked us both in here and didn’t return.”
“We’ve had no contact with her since then,” Arson says impatiently, finally deciding to join the conversation.
“This just keeps getting better,” Drew says. “Lilian. That little five-foot-nothing, blond-haired walking heart condition locked youbothup? Why would she do that? Better yet,howdid she do that?”
I exchange a glance with Arson, silently asking how much we should reveal. The shame of what happened between the three of us still hangs heavy in the air, and I don’t know that we need to air all of our dirty laundry.
“It’s complicated,” I finally say. “Emotions were running high, some things were said, she got upset, and then left.”
“Ohh, so you’re both in the doghouse, then.” He chuckles, and his gaze sweeps the room again. “Or better yet, the dogcage.”
“Seriously?”Is he really making a joke out of this situation?
“Okay, I’m sorry. So you made her upset enough to lock you both up and leave you to rot together?”
Drew sounds genuinely concerned now, though I can’t tell how much is real and how much is acting. You never can tell with him. So even now, I have no idea if he’s actually concerned about Lilian or simply playing the part he thinks we want to see. That could also be the betrayal talking. I’m beyond angry with him and my other friends, and the fact that it took them this fucking long to realize something might be wrong. I’ve been trapped for months, and they just now started asking questions.
“She was upset, but she wouldn’t have left us here for this long,” Arson insists. “Something’s happened to her. Now are you going to help us or waste more time acting like an entitled dick?”
Drew studies us both, his gaze lingering on me for a half-second longer than necessary. There’s a lingering question in his eyes that I don’t want to answer. “Say I let you out,” he says carefully. “How do I know you won’t just kill each other? Clearly, you two need to sort out some serious shit.”
I blink. How is this even a question?
“Finding Lilian comes first,” Arson says, and the certainty in his voice surprises me. “Everything else can wait.”
