Page 71 of Puck Blocked
“She was going to sacrifice you for the cause,” he says, putting extra emphasis on the last words.
“Sacrifice me? How?” I ask him.
“A blood ritual. The youngest child from each of the leaders is supposed to be sacrificed in some ritual. They believe it will give them eternal life or some bullshit.”
“How do you know this?”
“We went to the house with some of the Monroe men—the one where we found Andrew or rather his twin,” Dante explains. “I found a laptop there. And, well, there’s not much I can’t hack into when it comes to computers. I managed to get into Adam’s emails.”
“Adam? Who’s Adam?” I feel like my head is spinning.
“Andrew’s twin, also the son of your mother’s new husband,” Enzo says.
I shake my head. “I don’t know how… I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t Andrew tell me that?”
“From what I read, Andrew was supposed to collect you and bring you to the farm. You were both supposed to be sacrificed. I guess he got cold feet. Decided to keep you for himself and hid you away instead.” Dante shrugs. “It’s all in the email printouts I included in the file, exchanges between Adam and his father.”
“My mom?” I look at Luke. “My mother wants to kill me?”
“That’s not going to happen,” Luke grinds out. Then he turns his attention to Liliana’s cousins. “Where is she? Montana’s mother?”
“On a farm, about four hours west,” Enzo replies. “We found something else, at that property.” He looks at me and then at Luke. “Andrew’s body was shoved into a deep freezer, his blood drained and stored in bags around him.”
“Andrew’s dead?” I choke on my words.
“He is.”
“Okay.” I nod.
That’s good, right? He can’t come for me now. He can’t hurt me anymore. I thought I would feel something the moment I heard he was dead. I thought I’d feel more… free. But I’m not free, am I? I won’t be free until this entire nightmare is over.
However, it does make sense. Why Sean was warning me to stay away from our mother. “Why would Sean have killed himself?” I ask Luke. “What am I missing?”
“We don’t know, but I’d hazard a guess that he thought if he offered himself up, you’d be spared? Maybe,” Dante suggests.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Montana hasn’t said much. It’s a lot to take in, I’m sure. It’s not every day you find out your mother is planning to sacrifice your life for her cult. No one ever really knew what happened to Mrs. Baker, where or why she left. Just that it had to do with some new boyfriend. I guess, when you’re living in a cult off the grid, it’s easy to stay hidden. The woman I knew as a child never would have sacrificed her children, though. Then again, the woman I knew never would have left them either.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Montana, handing her a cup of tea.
“Thanks. I’m… I don’t know how I feel,” she says. “How do you feel?”
“Me? Besides the fact I want to find your mother and tear her limb from limb, see how she feels about being a goddamn fucking sacrifice?”
“Yeah, besides that.” Montana sighs.
“I’m scared. I’m worried about you.” I run a hand through my hair. “You know this is not a reflection of you, what your mother is trying to do.”
I know Montana. She takes things personally, and the fact that her mother wants to kill her means she’s going to think either she did something wrong or that if her own mother can’t love her, then why would anybody else?
“I don’t know,” Montana says. “Why wouldn’t Sean just tell me?”
“Sean would have wanted to protect you no matter the cost, Tanna. He loved you.” I cup her cheek in my hand. “I love you.” I lean in and press my lips to hers.
“I love you too. But this is a lot, Luke. You didn’t sign up for this level of crazy when you married me.”
“What I signed up for was a lifetime with the most beautiful, the most kind, the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. And I already told you there are no take backs, Tanna. I’m keeping you as long as I possibly can. This life and the next, remember?”
