Page 16 of Destroyed

“It was like suddenly, Eve went from being lighthearted and carefree, to… not. It was like the light had gone out in her.”

“Did you and Eve have something going on?” I ask my mom.

“I still feel like I should have fought harder to let her know she was a friend, and maybe more than a friend,” my mom says. “Before she left.”

“That’s sad,” I say. I reach for my mom’s hand. “You ok?”

“Oh,” she says. “I’m being silly. I really came in here to check on you. Your dad and I are worried about you. Riley has Sebastian, and that psycho ex of hers is out of the picture. But what if you need protection too?”

“I have protection mom. Plus, I think that all that stuff happened to Riley because Nate was tied up in sketchy ass shit. Not me.”

“Well, your father was briefly tied up in some stupid stuff alongside Nate’s dad,” she says quietly. “And quite frankly, I’ve never forgiven him for that time.”

I look up at her questioningly. “You mean his gambling?”

“I just wonder if some of the things that happened recently are happening because Dad is being punished for stupid decisions in his past. At one point we lost everything. We lived with your grandma and grandpa to save money when you were just a baby.”

“But it all worked out, Mom,” I say. I pull her in to hug her. She’s trying to process something with me, but I don’t think I want to know the whole story.

“Is it ok if I rest for a bit, Mom?” I ask. She nods, wiping her nose, and stands.

“Yes, you rest. I’ll check on you in a bit.” She smiles and walks out.

I lie back and close my eyes, wondering what just transpired.

Chapter 11

Xavier

“Is there a reason why we are painting our faces like it’s Halloween?” I grunt out as a middle-aged woman dabs some sort of slick makeup on my face under my eyes.

“It's to keep everyone's faces concealed,” Antonio responds from across the room. “It’s how the Triad like it.”

“Who the fuck are the Triad?’ I ask.

I hear something drop beside me and look over to see that the girl painting Jamison’s face has dropped one of her brushes. I look back up to see the most perfectly drawn skull I have ever seen. The details and shadowing are nothing short of perfection. Damn, that girl did a phenomenal job. I glance around the room to see that both Andre and Antonio are sporting matching skull faces as well.

A mirror is pushed up in front of me, showing the same skull looking back at me when I hear Andre respond. “The Triad owns The Cellar; before you ask, no one knows who all three are. I’m 99.9% positive Lockhart is one of them but the other two remain a mystery. As a matter of fact, they are always hooded and masked. I’m not even suretheyknow who their counterparts are. I believe that’s how they keep their secrecy so well.”

Jamison cuts in before I can respond. “It’s said that if you kill a member of the Triad, you take their place.”

“Good luck getting close enough to kill any of them,” Antonio laughs. “They have more security than the fucking president of the United States. I don't think they even shit alone.”

“Whatever,” I say, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Twenty minutes later we pull up to The Cellar where we are dropped off out front by a taxi. He didn’t ask us about our face paint and we didn’t divulge any information. Twenty damn minutes of complete silence and I might be at my breaking point. Thankfully we exit the cab and Antonio breaks it by finally speaking. “We will enter through the casino and split up in twos. We meet back in an hour if we don’t hear back from one another by text. Andre, you go with Xavier and I’ll stick with Jamison.”

We all nod and head inside where I’m met with the distinct smell of smoke and alcohol. The place isn’t fancy yet it somehow oozes money. The lights are dim, and betting tables are spread out. Both men and women are parading around in next to nothing, serving drinks and taking bets. This place looks pretty normal and that’s what worries me. Andre heads towards a set of double doors towards the back and I follow, pretending I know where we are going. I don’t look at either guard standing on the sides of the doors. I simply stare straight ahead as Andre swipes a black keycard and both doors swing open, revealing an even darker hallway with a cloaked man standing there. He says nothing as he hands us both identical black cloaks and motions us to keep going.

“What is this place?” I whisper to Andre as we pass a few doors. The sounds of moaning, crying and even screaming echo through the hall, making me cringe.

“I’m not sure. I only know what Antonio told me and he was pretty vague. He made it abundantly clear to not walk into any other doors except the ones he pointed out on the map. The rest are private and by invite only.”

“Well, how the fuck are we supposed to know…” My voice trails off as we turn the corner and are met with another large set of double doors. The carving above the door is a simple upside-down triangle engraved in thick gold. Andre looks at me and nods his head before swiping the keycard again. The doors open and a large room is laid out before us. There are five roulette tables arranged in a circle with a very tiny stage in the center of all of them. The entire room is lit only by red light except the stage. It has white spotlights directly on it. My brows crinkle in confusion as Andre steers me towards a roulette table. There’s what looks like a pillory on the stage where someone would have their hands and head locked in but there is another board running along the bottom with a 3rd board parallel to the first. The third board has a much larger hole in it. I don't have time to process how the contraption will work before another door opens and a screaming girl is carried through by three men.

My entire body tenses and I proceed to move towards her but Andre grabs my arm. “Don’t.” He grits out under his breath before placing a bet at our table.

“First time?” A man beside me asks while chuckling. “Eager to get your hands on that pussy eh? You gotta place at least $500 in bets on less than five numbers before you can touch that hot piece of ass.”

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