Page 158 of Lock Up the Darkness

“I only managed it very late the night before the big game. I couldn’t risk informing you all right before that.”

“Why? In case it destabilized us and a massive fucking brawl broke out?” Killian said, sarcasm dripping.

“Sam’s presence blindsided us all.” He tossed the covers aside and pushed out of bed. Pulling on his jeans, he went on, “Besides, I wanted to wait until I got confirmation that I could actually take it all the way and set up a meet with this contact of Revenant’s. I didn’t want to give you all false hope. There’s been enough of that.”

Jonah nodded, accepting his explanation right off the bat as per usual.

Killian grunted. “Fine, I get it.”

I glared back at him. “You have my loyalty, the four of us are in this together, so long as you work really hard on being more transparent with information like this, this vital, Asher. This is about my dad.”

“I understand. You have my word.”

“And while we’re at it, don’t interfere in my classes again.”

“Wondered when you were finally going to bring that up,” Killian said. “I’m surprised you held it in for as long as you did, you were so pissed.” He eyed Asher. “Rightly so.”

“Well, other things took precedence. And I wanted to give this bastard some proof that I could swallow down my own shit for the greater good and what matters more.”

“Damn, she’s good,” Jonah said. “She’s got you over a barrel, Asher.”

Instead of bringing down the hammer and forcing everyone back in line, Asher smiled. “My apologies, I thought I was helping. But, I respect your need to do things your way, and I also believe in your ability to excel without any interference from me.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “Cross my heart, little beast.”

Killian and Jonah looked like they couldn’t believe what was actually happening.

Asher admitting fault, apologizing and even promising to amend his approach going forward? Yeah, that was a hell of a thing. Even being new to it, that was beyond obvious.

A chuckle escaped me. “Apology accepted.”

He grinned and snatched up his shirt and shrugged it on. He left it unbuttoned, too focused on what was coming to worry more about it. Plus, the other two were in their pajamas anyway. It was only me who was fully decked out in my street clothes still. He gestured at his laptop. “I assume you figured out I’d cracked it because an alert came in?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s see to it, shall we?”

He grabbed his laptop and took it to his desk and opened the lid, then gestured for the three of us to gather around. He brought the alert to the forefront and told us, “This is what I’d been waiting on.”

“Who is O.W.?” I asked.

He looked at us over his shoulder. “Olivia Warling. Also known as Amethyst.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jonah exclaimed. “So, she is alive like you suspected?”

“More than that, she’s the source.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

“Nicely done,” Killian said. He laid his hand on his arm. “Just like earlier. With my father.”

A moment passed between them and Asher smiled. “It was long overdue.” He gave his hand a squeeze, then focused back on what he needed to convey to us.

“In Revenant’s search for his client’s daughter, he came across Amethyst. She was his in for everything, giving him the locations of the active dollhouses, filling him in on the security setup at each, the number of victims inside each, which were close to being sent to auction and then lost forever. She used her position within the Monroe Estate as my father’s constant companion to slip into places unnoticed, gathering intel, and feeding it to Revenant. The first house Revenant took was what he refers to as Site A. It’s now an inactive house just outside a small town off the beaten track called Strenwell. It’s also the key to their contact protocol. With it being inactive the longest and now seen as a stain on the Infidels legacy, those fuckers won’t touch it. It’s safe from them. So, Revenant used that to set up a signaling system. He would set it off and Amethyst would receive an alert and get the message to contact him, that he was ready to take on another dollhouse. She would respond through code and enter through a protected backdoor access point in his system and leave a message confirming the details of a meet. I was able to replicate it, and she’s just responded.”

“Thinking you’re Revenant,” Jonah said.

Asher eyed me, then answered Jonah, “Yes.”

“Why did Carson keep Amethyst around for so long and so close?” I asked. “It was clearly a major security oversight.”

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