Page 99 of Pretty Monsters

Resolution. Every decision we can make is fraught with horrible consequences, all of them bad. Either we continue to run, and eventually get caught unaware, or we stand and fight. Both roads have the potential to end in death. Hell, there's already been blood spilled, I just hope it continues to belong to those loyal to my father.

Since there's not much time left before we need to check out, Sin and my brother head out to secure the gym. The rest of us set out to pack our things and erase any evidence of ourselves from the hotel. I'm not sure if my father's men are searching for us already, after the blow we delivered, but it's better if they don't have concrete proof we remained close by.

Teddy waits a few minutes after they leave. Once he's sure they're not hanging around the property he dangles some keys. There were too many of us to fit in one car.

"We've got an appointment."

Ford steps in front of the door. "Ted, this isn't a good idea."

Teddy unfurls from the bed. His countenance is similar to Sin's. There's a lethal edge to him I'm still getting used to. Yet, I don't hesitate to follow him down to his car.

"Where are we going?" I ask when we're away from everyone. I get the sense he doesn't want them to know what we're up to.

"I lied earlier. Agent Holbrook wants to meet with me first. I know you're scared about what will happen, so I thought you'd like to come with me?"

I squeeze his arm. "Thank you."

He drives outside of Playa Pacifica to a small truck stop diner off the freeway. A man in his late thirties sits at a table nursing a cup of coffee. The bell over the door alerts him to our presence, and he gives Teddy a nod to greet him.

Teddy encourages me to slide into the booth, then scoots in next to me. "Holbrook, been a long time."

"Trouble seems to follow you kid. I should be thanking you though. Breaking up the O'Brian family made my career, but what you've handed me might put me at the head of the FBI."

He reaches next to him and pulls a thick file out of his satchel and lays it on the table. "I followed the money as we discussed. Blackthorne is a devious bastard, but he's grown complacent."

He flips through the papers and shows us some photos. The first are of the men I saw in my father's house. Some of them show a couple of the men entering a bank. I see bank statements on the top of the pile, probably coordinating to the dates and times of coordinating deposits in my father's accounts.

I tap one of the men in the photos. "I've seen him. I don't know his name, but after I graduated and was brought to Devil's Crossing he was the one who kept me locked in my room. The others I'm pretty sure I saw around the house. I can't be positive though.

Holbrook raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean he locked you in your room. How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen." I didn't know how to answer the rest of his question.

"Did you want to return home?" he pushes forward.

Shaking my head, I answer his question. "That was never my home. I've lived with nannies or in boarding school my entire life. After graduation I was put in a car and brought to my father's home. I'd applied to several colleges and was accepted to three of them. I'd even gotten scholarships so I wouldn't have to rely on my father to pay for my school."

I smile, but it's not a happy look. It probably looks like more of a grimace. "I was so close to being free. Truly and completely free for the first time in my life. No one to tell me where I could go, who I could speak to. That ended when the car door closed behind me. Of course, I had no idea for the first week why I'd been brought back."

Teddy looked at me with pity. I didn't need it. Never again would I be under my father's thumb, even if I had to burn his world down around him.

Glancing at Holbrook, I see he's got a tight grip on his mug. His face doesn't radiate pity, but there's an empathy in his gaze I wasn't expecting.

"What did he plan to do with you?" His voice is quiet, as if not to alarm me.

I lick my lips and stare at my fingers. "He plans to marry me to George Campbell. Damien made an agreement with his father to get his political backing in exchange for me marrying his son. Lucien and Sin were afraid of me being at the father's mercy, and we ran that night."

Holbrook slumps back against the bench. "This is worse than I thought."

Teddy leans forward. "Explain," he demands.

"I've heard of George Campbell, Sr. He's been married three times, and all of his wives have died under mysterious circumstances. There's never been enough evidence to charge him with their murders. Not only that, but he's been under investigation for racketeering for years, but the witnesses always disappear."

I swallow hard. Sin and Lucien already explained all of this to me, but hearing it from a federal agent somehow makes it more real.

"You're very lucky they took you away. I don't know about the son, but women don't last long in their world. As far as the connection to your father, I doubt politics is their end goal. Campbell and Blackthorne have been working together for years, but the connections made by criminals can be flimsy. Having a family tie gives them more of a binding agreement."

"Always great to hear you're nothing but a commodity to trade," I grumble.

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