Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Only one new message waits for me, and it happens to have come from my brother. Who else? Video call ASAP.
He prefers to keep things as simple as possible over email in case one of us is ever hacked. I strongly doubt the possibility, but he doesn’t trust Xander. After two years of nobody hacking me or coming anywhere near me, I have to doubt it will ever happen.
Before placing the call, I practically tiptoe to the bedroom door and close it quietly, leaving it open no more than a crack before going to the kitchen table and opening my laptop. It’s barely past three in the morning, but I know how River thinks. He’ll be waiting—even if he managed to fall asleep, his Zoom account will be up and running.
It takes no time for him to answer, telling me he’s waited up. This has to be good.
“What took you so long?” The dark circles that ring his eyes tell me he’s been pulling long hours. Researching and doing recon. Always working toward our shared goal.
Though that doesn’t mean I appreciate the attitude. “Sorry. I thought I’d sleep a few hours. I sort of developed a habit.”
He snorts, brushing hair away from his forehead as he leans in closer. “I got a new lead. You know I hate waiting to give you news like this.”
My pulse picks up speed, the promise in his announcement sending a shiver up my spine. The hair on the back of my neck lifts in anticipation. “Tell me.”
“Guess who’s been hiding in the middle of nowhere all this time—her and her son?”
I don’t need to guess. Only one woman is in our crosshairs. “Rebecca.” Nausea threatens to overwhelm me at the mere mention of her name. I see her in my mind’s eye just as fresh and clear as she looked the last day I saw her: groomed impeccably, without so much as a speck of lint or dust on her perfectly smooth, fitted dress. The women always wore dresses, that much I remember. They had to be feminine at all times, and that was Joseph’s unimaginative version of femininity.
She could be standing in front of me now, hands folded before her, a bland expression on her equally bland face. She always carried herself like a queen, though, didn’t she? A queen who controlled all of us even as she pretended to defer to her narcissistic asshole of a husband.
“We knew she and William would be together,” I murmur, glancing at the bedroom door to ensure we aren’t overheard. She hasn’t moved, though. I would’ve heard the bed creaking if she had. “What are they doing? Can we confirm—”
“There’s been a rash of disappearances in Reno over the past few months,” he offers before I finish my question. “Three runaway teens in the last two weeks alone. Not a sign of them anywhere. Other kids they’re known to hang around with all told stories of a guy in his late teens or early twenties seen around the areas these kids tend to frequent. One night, he handed out bottled water and blankets and shit.”
“Pulling the old benevolent leader act,” I mutter. We were young, sure, but I remember that much about Joseph. Making sure everybody knew all he wanted was to see to their physical needs.
That was how he hooked them. How he hooked our parents and everybody else who were a part of our lives in those days. Provide for people, pretend to understand them in a way no one else ever has, and they’re yours. Especially when the victims in question are too young to identify the stench of your bullshit.
It isn’t difficult to imagine Rebecca raising William in his father’s image.
“That’s where they’re building New Haven,” I muse, staring over the laptop screen into the darkened living room. New Haven, what a joke. There’s nothing new about it. It’s Safe Haven with an updated name and a fresh coat of paint to hide the ugly past.
How far have they gotten? How many people have they suckered in already? How long has this been going on?
“It’s as strong a lead as any we’ve gotten so far,” River agrees, excitement in his voice. He’s more animated than I’ve seen him in ages—when we aren’t fighting over Scarlet, at least.
This is different. This is hopeful.
And grim. So damn grim. I mean, it’s not like we’re planning on having a tea party with these evil, twisted fucks once we track them down.
“Reno’s a big place,” I murmur, looking at my brother in time to watch his face fall.
“You’re not doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Backing down now when what we need is to take action.”
I hold a finger to my lips before plugging in my earbuds, which I should’ve done in the first place. There was no way he’d keep his excitement in check, regardless of the late hour. “We can’t go off half-cocked,” I whisper into the microphone.