Page 174 of Devious Knight

The man gets out first, then we follow.

“Come on.” He beckons us to go with him.

We do, following him right inside the house.

He switches on the light and proceeds to open the cupboards where he pulls out three shotguns and lays then down on the table.

“I think it’s time you started talking,” Kade demands , scanning over the guns.

“Yes, of course.” The man sighs and hangs his head down for a few beats then he lifts his head and takes off his mask.

I see his face and my stomach plummets through the earth.

I do know him. That’s why his voice sounded familiar.

“You,” I rasp out.

“What is it Isabelle?” Kade asks.

I keep my eyes trained on the man before me on those cold, blue eyes. “He’s the hacker, Kade. The man I met at the gallery who tricked me.”

Kade pulls his gun from his back pocket and points it at the hacker. “You’re working for Nikoli? You killed my parents.”

The man raises his hand and shakes his head. “No. You have it all wrong, both of you. I’m not working for Nikoli. And your parents aren’t dead. They’ve been taken captive.”

Those words come at me like shards of lightning and I feel like thrown on one of those crazy carnival rides where your head spins and your stomach goes up and down in your body.

“What?” Kade mumbles, his hands shaking.

“Your parents are alive, Kade. They’re alive.”

They’re alive.

So I didn’t kill them.

Chapter 40

Kade

My mother and father are alive...

I want to believe what this man is telling me so badly it hurts.

For the first time in forever the fog of darkness surrounding my life clears and I see a light I desperately want to reach.

How many people would love to be in my shoes right now and hear those magical words? At one point I wished for this every day.

“Damn you if this is a lie,” I husk through gritted teeth.

“It’s not a lie. Up until the other day I thought your parents were dead, but they’ve been taken captive by the Malina.”

“Where? Where are they?”

The gleam in his eyes fades. “I don’t know yet. But I will find them.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Tobias Lenovach. One of your father’s best friends. You wouldn’t remember me. I moved to Denmark when you were about eight.”

---