Page 45 of Devil's Riches

Annalise let out another pitiful wail. “What’s happening?”

“They know about the Golden Circle,” Greg muttered, stroking her head.

Annalise’s chin trembled as she looked up at us. “How… how much do you know?”

“Enough,” Nate replied, eyes narrowing.

“He’s lying. They only know what I told them,” Greg said. “We can’t tell them any names. They’ll kill us as soon as we do.”

Annalise sniffed as a fat tear rolled down her cheek. “Oh, Nate,” she whispered. “Why did you have to do this?”

His upper lip curled with disgust. “Why do you think?”

“You aren’t going to expose us, are you?” she asked in a pitiful murmur, as if the Lockwoods losing their esteemed reputation was the worst possible thing that could happen.

“Of course we are,” I said, folding my arms. “Your scheme cost thousands of innocent lives, and my father was one of them. So was Nate’s father. You’re fucking deranged if you think we’re going to let that slide.”

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” she sobbed. “You can’t. Please, Nate. For your own sake.”

“What do you mean?” Nate asked, eyes narrowing.

Annalise swallowed hard. “The others will kill you if they find out you’re trying to expose them,” she murmured. “I can’t let that happen.”

“You mean they’ll kill me the same way you and Greg killed Dad?” he said in a low voice, crouching next to her. “Tell me something, Mom. Did you ever love him?”

“Of course I did! He was a wonderful man, and he gave me you!” she replied, eyes widening. “I never wanted to hurt him. I swear.”

“But you did. Greg told me every nasty little detail.”

“You don’t understand. He was going to ruin everything. He… he forced my hand.”

Nate rose to his full height and stared down at her, eyes flashing with animosity. “Tell me their names,” he said. “Every other member of the Golden Circle.”

“No. I can’t let you go after them.”

“Tell me their fucking names.”

“Please, Nate. They have eyes and ears everywhere. They’ll find out you two are going after them, and then they’ll kill you!”

“So you won’t tell me anything?”

Annalise shook her head and pursed her lips.

Nate looked at me. I nodded, and we headed over to the far side of the bunker, toward the food storage cupboard.

Nate reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out several rolled-up plastic bags. I took one from him and started filling it with packets and cans.

“What are you doing?” Greg barked.

I glanced at him over my shoulder. “You’ve both made it clear you won’t talk now,” I said. “But we’ll see how talkative you are once you’ve been starved for three days.”

Annalise wriggled on the concrete as fresh tears spilled from her red, puffy eyes. “You can’t do this!”

“Are you going to stop us?” I asked, lips curving into a sardonic smile.

She glared at me before turning her attention back to Nate. “Please, Nate. We can work this out.”

He narrowed his eyes. “No, we can’t.”

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