Page 77 of The Player
“Because he’s back.”
I saw her eyes widen, rabid fear making her pupils dilate and her breath falter.
“Wh… what do you mean, he’s back?” Her body was rigid, and her grip on the puppy tightened as she processed what I’d said.
“I mean, he left a fucking calling card on our doorstep outside the chapel yesterday.” I paused, contemplating whether it’d be wise to tell her everything. But I couldn’t keep secrets, not from her. “A bag of hands, which I’m guessing belong to the people we, or rather,Ikilled.”
She swallowed, and I could see her shaking as she settled Tiny onto her lap and stared at the pup, avoiding my gaze.
“My dad,” was all she said, and I nodded.
“Yeah, I think so. Which means I need to tell the others what happened, and you need to speak to Shelley. It’d be better coming from you.”
She petted the dog, then let out a slow breath. “You’re right. I need to speak to her today. It isn’t fair.”
“This won’t be over until we find him and end this,” I stated. “Once I tell everyone what happened to us, we’re going to head back to the forest and try again, scour that fucking place until we find that door in the ground.”
Her head shot up. “And then what?”
“Then… I kill him.”
She bit her lip, shaking her head. “Because it’s that easy.”
“It is when you’ve got a fucking army of soldiers behind you.”
“But you’re not an army, are you? You’re five guys with big balls and even bigger egos. What makes you think he won’t have an army of his own?”
“He might have.” I shrugged. “But we won’t back down. We never do. It’s him or us. And my money is on us.”
“I’m not even gonna try to talk you out of it. I know better than that.” She reached for her phone on the bedside table. “Just be careful, please. I’ll call Shelley and ask her if she’s free to meet me. I’ll sort it.”
* * *
I headed into The Sanctuary and took the steps two at a time to make my way up to the second floor, where our private rooms and living area were. When I pushed through the door into the living room moments later, I found all four of them sitting on the sofas, staring right at me.
“You took your time,” Tyler snarked.
“Whatever, he’s here now,” Adam snapped, leaning forward to tap on the laptop on the coffee table in front of him.
I sat down opposite Adam and waited, but when he twisted the laptop around to show me the screen, I wasn’t surprised at what I saw.
“Tom got an ID on the hands.” Adam pointed at the first photo on the screen. “This is Fred Wilson, a sixty-two-year-old book shop owner.” He moved to point to the next one. “This one is Harold Fraser, a sixty-eight-year-old retired residential support worker. And this one is Mario Cane, sixty-five, a retired cleaner.” He glanced at Colton before pointing at the next photo from the montage on the screen. “And this is Paul Masters.” He ran his hand over his face and sighed, sitting back before adding in a quieter tone, “He’s Shelley, Kate, and Bryony’s dad.”
Colton hung his head, muttering, “I don’t know how I’m gonna tell her.” Then he peered up at me. “What the hell do we say to them?”
I knew I had to come clean. Tell them every last detail about what’d happened to us when we’d been taken. I wasn’t sure how they’d react, but I had to give them all the facts.
“You don’t need to tell her,” I replied. “Bryony’s doing that today. And there’s something I need to tell you. All of you.” I threaded my fingers together, apprehensive about coming clean and telling our story. But Adam knew I was hiding something. I could tell by the way he gave a slight nod and sat forward. I guess they all knew deep down that I was hiding something. They just didn’t know what it was.
“Bryony and me, we didn’t go away for time alone.” I took a breath, trying to figure out how best to word it.
“Go on,” Tyler urged, his forehead pinched as he waited for what I had to say.
“We were taken.”
* * *
After I’d explained every sordid detail, they sat in stunned silence.
