Page 133 of Wicked Little Nightmare

It was the girl. Blonde hair. Lakey's eyes. The kid was tied to a chair, looking scared shitless but very much alive.

"Holy shit," I breathed. "Is that...?"

Before I could finish the thought, Sarah's voice cut through the tension like a knife. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded, her tone sharp enough to draw our attention away from the photo. "Kyle? Lakey? Someone better start talking, right fucking now. Cam?"

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the photo. Lakey’s daughter. So, whoever shot that dart, knew we were here, and knew what we were trying to do.

Lakey's voice cut through my spinning thoughts, suddenly cool as a cucumber despite the bombshell. "Oh, Sarah, darling. Did you really think I was just some run-of-the-mill psycho?"She let out a laugh that sent chills down my spine. "Surprise! I'm a mommy too. Cam is the daddy, so don’t go worrying about some ex with a death wish.”

I watched Sarah and Rose's jaws practically hit the floor. Rose's eyes darted between Lakey and me. Sarah looked like she might hurl.

"Jesus Christ," I muttered, running a hand through my hair. "She’s mine? Our kid? Fuck me up the ass, Lakey. How did that happen? When were you planning on dropping that little tidbit?"

Lakey just shrugged, a hint of her usual smirk playing at her lips. "Later tonight when we were alone. But here we are."

I couldn't help but bark out a laugh. It was fucked, but I guess it tracked. We never had the normal conversations that other couples had. Certainly never had the opportunity to have private ones of this magnitude. "Still doesn’t explain how. I would have remembered if we had a kid."

“Yeah, about that. We had our memories wiped. It all came out during hypnosis.”

The room fell into a stunned silence. I could practically hear the gears grinding in everyone's heads. Sarah looked like she was trying to solve a Rubik's cube with her eyes closed. Rose was doing a great impression of a statue. Kyle was twitching his lip as he stood in the living room, just staring at us.

My mind was racing a mile a minute.My daughter.We had a fucking daughter together. She hadn’t been raped. She hadn’t been forced. That little girl was part of me. And now she was in the hands of those Chimera bastards. The demons stirred in my gut, a violent urge I usually welcomed. This time, though, it was mixed with concern. And fear.

"So," I said, breaking the silence. "Who's up for a little family rescue mission?"

Kyle's jaw clenched as he slammed his fist against the wall, the sound echoing through our stunned silence. His movementswere slow, deliberate, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. When he turned back to face us, his eyes were hard, his voice low and urgent.

"We need to move. Now. This place isn't safe anymore."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "No shit, Sherlock. Got any other brilliant observations?"

But before Kyle could bite back, Lakey's voice cut through the tension. Her tone was sharp, demanding, with that hint of playful malice.

"How exactly did Chimera find our little hideaway, Kyle?" She cocked her head, blue eyes glinting dangerously. "Seems awfully convenient, doesn't it? Almost like someone might have let something slip."

I watched Kyle's face, waiting for him to crack under Lakey's accusation. But the bastard held firm, his jaw set in that annoyingly heroic way of his.

"I don't know," he growled. "But right now, that's not our biggest problem."

I snorted. "Yeah, our biggest problem is apparently our big bundle of joy being held hostage by a bunch of nuts. No offense, babe," I added, winking at Lakey.

She blew me a kiss. "None taken, darling."

The room crackled with emotion. Sarah, ever the voice of reason, piped up, "Wait, we can't just rush in blindly. Kyle is right. It’s not safe here anymore. When the fuck were you going to tell us, Lakey? We should have known this ages ago. Was this your plan all along? String us along so you could go on a solo mission?"

I rolled my eyes, but Lakey spoke first. "Yeah, actually. Something a lot like that."

Her hand found mine, her fingers intertwining with mine. To anyone else, it might've looked like a gesture of comfort. But it was a silent promise of mayhem to come.

“That’s fucked, Lakey.” Rose said quietly. “I thought we were family.”

For a moment, Lakey’s face fell, but then it was gone just as quick as it came. “Yeah. We are. But this is my daughter, Rose. There’s nothing that will stand in my way. I was going to say something, eventually. But I didn’t trust our hosts. I’m still not sure if I do, considering Chimera fucking found us here.”

Kyle cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "We need to focus. They are watching us, which means we're compromised. We need to move, and fast."

I leaned back in my chair, studying Kyle's tense posture. "Alright, Boy Scout. What's your grand plan?"

As Kyle started outlining a midnight move to another cabin that he had somewhere north, my mind drifted. What had started out as a birthday present had morphed into a mountain. We had a kid. I don’t know how to explain the shift that happened when Lakey said she was mine. Before… before now, I’d wanted to get the girl to soothe Lakes, but now… that was MY child. My girl. And finally, I understood why she couldn’t let it go like I had for weeks, because the same feeling had finally settled over me. A quiet rage, building, swirling and changing into a mass that was teetering on eruption.

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