Page 68 of Twisted Empire

19

Elias

“Got it!”

My father gloated as his rifle dropped to his side. Directly ahead of us, a smashed clay target hit the ground, spraying black shards all over the grass.

He glanced at me. “Your turn.”

I shot him a fake smile of enthusiasm and lifted my shotgun. Another clay target shot out of the trap thrower. As I pressed my finger down on the trigger a second later, I let my aim veer off in the wrong direction, deliberately missing the target.

“Another miss,” Dad said with a sigh. “I hope all those drugs haven’t fried your brain so that you can never shoot properly again.”

“It’s just my hands,” I said, holding one up to demonstrate. “They’ll stop being this shaky when I’m clean again.”

I was still faking the after-effects of a lengthy pill and coke binge, and missing every second target on the Lodge shooting range as part of that performance had the added effect of building up my father’s mood. He loved winning. Not only that, he loved winning by miles and beating other people right into the dirt. So the worse I performed at this, the better his temperament would get.

After parading Tatum’s bloodstained body through the house and ‘burying’ her in the Catacombs, I’d suggested we head out to the range to talk while we shot a few rounds. Clay target shooting had always been one of my father’s favorite father-son bonding activities (probably because it reminded him of hunting), so I hoped it would appeal to his paternal instincts and keep him content while I tried to distract him.

It was the perfect way to avoid being close to the mansion. Also, due to the fact we had to pause our conversation every couple of minutes to aim and shoot at the flying targets, I could easily drag out a half-hour discussion into a two-hour one. That was a bonus because the longer we stayed out here, the better.

So far, I’d kept him on the range with me for over two and a half hours while we hashed out the details of our cover-up plan. An emergency meeting with the Crown and Dagger council had apparently been scheduled for tomorrow morning to discuss my recent actions, and my father seemed to have most of the excuses worked out so far. I almost had to admire him for his ability to lie so smoothly and thoroughly.

“Oh, I forgot to mention,” he said, glancing at me. “I called Towne while you were in the bathroom earlier. He’s agreed to tell the others he was in on the whole scheme and that he wasn’t really stabbed. So that’s a win for us.”

“What did he ask for in return?”

He paused to take aim at another target, shooting it out of the sky before responding. “Not much, actually. A million dollars and a position at one of my companies for his youngest son once he graduates college. I also had to pay off the guards who found him bleeding out in the forest that night. Fifty grand apiece. Not too bad, all in all.”

“Nice.”

I purposefully missed another shot. He scoffed and shook his head, a smirk curling up his thin lips. While he took aim at yet another target and hit it perfectly, I swallowed two capsules from my pocket and surreptitiously glanced at my phone. It was ten to six. Tatum should’ve woken up from her sedated slumber over an hour ago, but I hadn’t heard anything from her yet.

I’d already been on edge this whole time, for obvious reasons, but now I was seriously getting worried. What if something had happened to her? What if she’d been caught sneaking into my father’s study? The logical part of my brain knew we would’ve heard all about it if anyone had seen her, let alone caught her, but still, I was concerned. I wouldn’t be able to keep my father out here for much longer.

“So do you remember everything you need to say tomorrow morning?” he asked, turning to me again a moment later.

I looked over at him. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Our story needs to be rock solid,” he said in a warning tone. “You know the council members can’t just be paid off like regular members. Both Davenport and Van der Veer have been eyeing the position of society president for years now, so if they can prove you actually left with Tatum and tried to murder Towne, they’ll kill you and try to seize leadership from me.”

“I know.”

“As you can imagine, they’re already beyond suspicious. Seeing Tatum’s body today wasn’t enough for them. They’ll want details on how and why we came up with this alleged scheme for you to have your own hunt. They’ll also demand to know why we wasted so many resources looking for you when I supposedly knew where you were the whole time. Not to mention Henry Davenport’s execution.” He sighed deeply, then tilted his head in an inquisitive manner. “Where the hell were you, anyway?”

“Staying at a friend’s place.”

I didn’t want to tell him the truth about the shelter. If this all went horribly awry and Tatum and I had to escape again, we needed somewhere safe to head to.

His face was hard and unyielding as a statue. “That can’t possibly be true. We contacted every single friend you’ve ever had and searched all their places with a fine-toothed comb.”

I waved a hand. “Well, I guess the society isn’t as great at finding people as you think. I was at a vacation cabin down in New York. It doesn’t actually belong to my friend, but I know about it because I went there with him years ago. He was dating some girl whose family owns it. I remembered the alarm codes and knew it would be empty this time of year, so I headed there.”

“Ah. So your friend wasn’t even aware.”

“Nope.” I took aim at a target. This time I hit it right in the center, making it explode into a thousand pieces.

As I lowered my gun, my father shot me a quizzical look. “I’m curious about what you said earlier. What exactly did Tatum say to you to convince you to go against me?”

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