Page 12 of Havoc

“Oh, you’ll do it,” his weird voice threatened.

“Why should I?” I felt anger replace the fear, and I raised my chin at him.

“Oh, you wanna know why?” He smirked, and I waited for another blow that might finally burst my kidney. “Because I know.” He leaned so close to my face I almost choked on his breath. “I know what you did.”

I froze in pure fear. How could he?

“Hey, bitch, bring it here,” he called to the Linda woman. She glanced at me and kept her distance as she reached way out to hand him a pink phone case. Hello Kitties waved at me from their liquid home on the back. He turned it around, and I felt my knees give out as I watched.

“This is my favorite part right here.” He pointed at the phone, and I watched in horror. “When will people learn that there’s always someone with a phone, watching?”

“Like right now?” the woman huffed, but he ignored her. He tossed the phone at her, and she cursed when she missed the catch and it clattered under a car. “All I need to do is leak that tape, and the world as you know it is over.”

“Please, I won’t do it.” I gasped. “You can’t.”

“Oh, can’t I?” He gave a crazy, mechanical laugh. “That little tidbit all by itself would make Daddio see his little girl in a whole new light. That his own daughter is a murderer.” As he let that settle into my consciousness, I stared into his eyes through the cutouts in the mask. The creepy white contacts he wore made my mouth go dry. “You got balls, baby girl. I’ll give you that.”

“Let’s get out of here,” the woman begged as she looked around.

“Listen for that call, Kenna, or kiss your world goodbye.” He suddenly dropped me like a rag doll, and I watched helplessly as he and the woman hopped in a car. As it peeled out of the parking lot, I tried to see a plate, but there wasn’t one. I sagged into the wall. The pain in my side helped to ground me as my world spun.

I heard a car door slam and knew I had to get out of there. My phone pinged in my purse, and I somehow dug it out.

Unknown: Get inside, Kenna. There’s a lot of dangerous people out here tonight.

I snapped out of the vivid memory and stared at Grim, who seemed to be stuck in his own trance.

“Say something,” I whispered.

“Was that why you’ve been avoiding the meetings?”

“Yes.”

“Why you’ve been avoiding me?”

“If I don’t know anything, how can I share anything?”

“And the call you made at the car? Was that to him?”

“Yes. I had to make a decision to do it, or…”

“What are they blackmailing you with?” His angry gaze held mine. I knew he was a breath away from losing his shit. “Is it the same thing you’ve been keeping from everyone, even your friends in the DR?”

“Grim, please, it’s so much more complicated?—”

“No, it’s not!” he yelled, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. He stood and pointed a finger at me. “Stop lying!”

“I’m not lying!” I matched his temper because it felt good to be mad. “I just shared all this with you, and now you’re here yelling at me—no, demanding I tell you something that I just can’t share.”

“Why?” He stepped closer. “You’ve seen things I’ve done. Shit, you watched me kill a man in front of you. So why can’t I know this?”

“Grim, stop!”

“Why can’t you tell me?”

“Because! Because I’m starting to see what I did is connected to so much more than I thought. I’m terrified to see the truth, and now someone else is holding it over my head. I’m totally fucked.” I dropped my heavy arms and head. “God knows what will happen now that I’ve told you. I’ll probably end up in some ditch somewhere.” Shit, I’d welcome a ditch right now.

“I just want to sleep, but when I’m alone, I relive that moment. If I so much as close my eyes, that moment comes to my mind. I came up here because he just called and mentioned I wasn’t safe in my suite.”

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