Page 71 of Haunted

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about being an editor.”

“It’s okay. I kept the fact I was homeless a secret, so I don’t have room to judge.”

“My parents were shitty human beings.” She sighed. “They liked to talk with their fists rather than use words.”

From what little she’d said previously, I knew they were abusive, but having her confirm that her childhood was worse than my imagination had conjured was heartbreaking. No child should ever have to suffer at the hands of the people who were supposed to love them unconditionally. I swore when we got out of here, I was going to do everything in my power to find those pricks and make them pay.

“I’m sorry, Jade.”

“They didn’t touch Jett. I made sure of it.”

“You’re a great sister.”

The door flew open without warning, and the overhead light flickered to life, causing black spots to appear in my vision. Camden stood in the threshold holding a tray of some sort. Terror seized my veins, turning them to ice as I watched him edge closer.

“Dinnertime,” he announced. “Wouldn’t want you two thinking I’m a terrible host.”

“Why are you doing this?” I tried to hide the fact I was terrified, but the shaking of my voice was a dead giveaway.

“To you or to Calvin?” At Jade’s look of confusion, he amended. “That’s right, he goes by Keaton now.”

“Both, I guess?”

He sat the tray down on an old wooden dresser, then came back to stand in front of us. The backhand came out of nowhere. Jade screamed, struggling furiously in her seat, while I sat stunned with the left side of my face feeling like it was on fire.

“I’m in charge here.” Spittle flew from his mouth, coating my cheeks with the disgusting droplets as he yelled, “Shut up!” He turned to Jade, wrapping his hand around her throat, cutting off her cries and her oxygen supply.

“Please, stop,” I begged, yanking at the straps holding me down until my wrists were slippery with blood.

Jade fought against his hold, her face turning bright red. She kicked out, connecting with his shin which only made his grip tighten. He was going to kill her, I could see it in his cold, black eyes.

Suddenly it all stopped. Camden backed away, running his hand through his hair.

“Tricky little whores,” he tsked. “It’s not playtime yet.”

Reaching in his pocket, he withdrew a knife and flicked it open. Thinking this was it, I doubled my efforts to get free, pulling hard against the unforgiving hard plastic. Pain lanced up my arm as the edge of the restraint cut deeper into my flesh, but I wasn’t going down without a fight. Jade mirrored my determination with some of her own, twisting and turning in her seat.

“Knock it off. Both of you.” Camden’s booted feet slammed into each of our ankles in turn. “You’re not gonna make me kill you before I’m ready. If you want to know why you’re here, you’ll settle the fuck down and listen.”

Holding my bloodied wrist down, he slid the knife under the zip tie and sliced it off. “There. Now I don’t have to feed you like a child.” He repeated the process with Jade, then laid the knife on the tray before retrieving two sandwiches, holding them out to us.

Once we’d each taken a small bite, he began talking and we never took another.

“Keaton is my nephew.” He smiled when I nearly choked on the piece of bread in my mouth. “His old man, Simon, and I had the same cheating mother. Of course, we had no idea about each other until we were much older. Simon said we needed to keep our kinship a secret, which as it turned out, was the best idea he ever had.”

Camden went on to tell us—in great, sickening detail—how he and his half brother used to kidnap women fromtruck stops and bring them to the very cabin he was holding us in. They’d torture and rape them repeatedly before strangling them.

“It was Simon’s idea to cut off their ring finger as a trophy.” He chuckled. The sick bastard actually laughed about mutilating their victims. “Sort of a final ‘fuck you’ to his dead whore of a wife.”

He stood, snatching the uneaten sandwiches out of our hands, tossing them on the tray and pulling two new zip ties from his back pocket. “Storytime’s over.”

I brushed a loose piece of hair, which had fallen in my eyes, behind my ear and stilled when my fingers brushed over the emerald earring.Keaton.Tears flooded my eyes for a whole new reason.

We still had hope.

15GREEN

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