Page 67 of Unmasked Legacy

How does she know who I am?

“You know me?”

She shakes her head. “Not personally, but that psycho up there has made it clear to me that the reason I’m here, is because of you.”

Guilt grips my chest. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in this. Until a few days ago, I didn’t even know who Caleb was. He’s coming after me for something I had no part in. Instead, he is hoping to make me suffer for the sins of my father.”

Nia purses her lips. “Yes, well, the man is unhinged.”

A smile tugs my lips. I think I’m going to like her. “Just a little.”

Her eyes lighten and she offers me a small smile in return.

“Your family are still looking for you,” I tell her.

She looks away, her eyes flashing with something I can’t quite read. “I wish I cared.”

That doesn’t sound good.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you weren’t close with them.”

She shrugs. “It’s not your fault, you don’t know me. I guess part of me is glad for the time away from that family, even if I am trapped in a basement.”

Gosh, is it that bad?

“That doesn’t sound great,” I flop down onto my bottom.

“It isn’t. Do you think we’re going to get out of here?”

I tuck my knees to my chest and shrug. “I don’t know, I don’t even know what he has planned. All I know is that whatever it is, he is determined to crush my father and in doing that, he is going to crush me.”

“Are you afraid?” Nia asks.

I shake my head. “Of that piece of shit? No.”

She laughs, softly. “He’s a real cry baby when he doesn’t get his own way.”

We both giggle.

“Well, it’s good to know that we might be able to outsmart him,” I say, exhaling.

“I hope so. I’m ready to get out of here, even if I’m not looking forward to going home.”

That bad? I feel for her, knowing that she would rather be trapped in a dirty basement then to go back to her own family. I only experienced her mother for a second, but from what I could tell, she was intense. I thought it was simply a mother desperate to get her child back, but now I’m wondering if it’s so much deeper than that.

“Well, here’s hoping he gives us something to work with. I’ll find a way out of here, no matter what. I promise you that.”

Nia studies me. “You’re really his daughter, the Shadow Butcher?”

I shrug and nod. “Yes, unfortunately. I wish I wasn’t, but there is no changing it now.”

“What was he like, as a father?”

I shift, leaning against the wall beside her. “Believe it or not, he was a great father. I think that’s what makes it worse.”

Nia nods in understanding. “I can only imagine. What do you think it is that breaks in someone so badly that they can murder people yet come home and be good to their families?”

“I wish I knew,” I tell her, honestly. “Until recently, I never saw any kind of mental health issues in my father. If you had asked me back then, I would have said he was the most stable person I knew. Obviously that wasn’t the case.”

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