Page 50 of Silent Betrayal

Simon.

Holy moly, is he the killer?He could be, he’s a psychopath and definitely capable of murder. He follows us around, but as far as I know, doesn’t actually live with us. He would have plenty of opportunities to commit those murders. But why was he targeting girls who looked like me? He had plenty of chances to kill me over the years.

I sigh, leaning my forehead against the cool glass as I watch the rain fall heavily outside. My head hurts, but my heart… it feels broken. I close my eyes and let the sound of the rain wash over me as I drift off to sleep.

I slowly blink my eyes open, unsure of what woke me. I lift my head and find myself still leaning against the window. But now there’s a fuzzy blackblanket wrapped around me. I press my nose to it and inhale the pleasant smell.

“Atlas,” I whisper. My eyes notice a small tray on the bench in front of me, containing a bottle of Tylenol, a glass of water, and a couple of cookies. I remember telling Gideon once that they were the superior snack, did he put these here for me?

I grab the Tylenol and take two pills with the glass of water to help my headache, and my eyes catch on TJ, my stuffed cow, placed by my feet. I take a peek to make sure nobody’s in the room with me, before I pick him up and hug him to my chest, resting my chin on his fluffy head.

Cookies from Gideon, a blanket from Atlas, and TJ from Tucker. Why do they all have to be so nice to me all the time? At least if they were jerks, it’d be easier to take them lying to me. I understand why they didn’t tell me about their PI business, but pretending they were getting to know me because they cared, and not because I was a mission, is hard to stomach.

Did they ever really consider me a suspect? At what point did they rule me out? Did they purposely wait until after I’d slept with most of them before they sprung this on me? Or did they seriously think they hadn’t done anything wrong? The looks they gave me as I realized the truth were definitely filled with guilt. But was it guilt that I figured it out, or guilt that they’d done it? Did it matter?

The rain starts hitting the window harder, making me shiver as I watch the trees sway back and forth.

How was I supposed to move on from this? How was I supposed to live here and help them with the case when I was so angry at them? Not angry… disappointed. I don’t think I can trust their words anymore. They pretended to be my friend when they were really just using me. I don’t know what to do.

Lightning streaks across the sky, followed ten seconds later by a small crack of thunder, making me shiver. The sound of the rain pelting the window gets louder and louder until suddenly I’m flashing back to a memory of being wrapped in a shower curtain by Simon as water pours over my face, threatening to drown me.

Thunder cracks heavily in the sky and I jump up and run to my door, yanking it opening and stepping into the hall. Then I freeze.Where am I running to?My instincts are telling me to find one of my guys, but I can’t face them yet. Thunder cracks again above me, making me whimper as I stand frozen, unsure of where to go.

Looking over my shoulder, I glance back in my room and see my giant bed… and the space underneath. I run back in and crawl underneath as another blast of thunder cracks above. It sounds so close I swear the whole house shakes. Then the lights go out.

I whimper and realize I’m still holding TJ, so I clutch him to my chest and curl up into a ball, and try to think of anything but the memories that are pushing forward. But the only other memories are those of the guys, and they hurt my heart, so I push those away, and the memories of Simon come floodingback in.

Chapter twenty

Just as I’m finishing my tenth mile on the treadmill, the power suddenly cuts out.

“What the hell?” Max asks, from his spot at the punching bag.

“Is it a security breach?” Gideon asks as we all pull out our phones and turn on the flashlights. It’s still daytime, but our home gym is in the basement, with no windows. With no power, it’s pitch black down here.

I use my light to guide me to the door, and the others follow behind me. As I jog up the stairs, the whole house is dark. And when I look out the living room window, I can see why. There is a torrential downpour going on out there. Thunder cracks above us, making the whole house shake.

“I’m going to check on Mina,” I tell the others, wanting to make sure she’s okay in the dark. The sound of the storm probably woke her from where she’s been sleeping in her window nook for the past few hours.

I didn’t blame her for running and needing time away from us. It never even occurred to me that we had done something wrong by getting to know her at the same time we were trying to figure out if she had info for the case. But ever since I saw her heartbroken face, asking if any of it was real, I’ve realized how stupid we were.

Of course, that would hurt her feelings. How wouldIfeel if she got close to me to get info on another person? I’d be crushed.

I just wasn’t sure how to fix it. When she asked Max and me if it was part of our job to get to know her, it was on the tip of my tongue to lie, but I couldn’t. I love my little Angel, I couldn’t lie to her, not anymore.

When I get to her room, her door is already open. The storm casts the rooms in shadows, but I can still see. Quickly, notice she’s not at the window anymore. The blanket Atlas placed over her is lying on the floor like she got up quickly. I double check the chairs and bed before looking in the bathroom and closet, but there’s no sign of her.

Jogging out into the hall, I stop at the landing at the top of the stairs. “Hey, guys?” I yell loudly down to where I overlook the second floor.

“What is it, is she okay?” Max asks as they all move closer, standing underneath me.

“She’s not in her room, I can’t find her.” Everyone is silent for three seconds before they all start moving for the stairs.

“Wait!” Atlas yells. “Let’s check the cameras, it’ll be faster.” We all follow him as he jogs down the hall to his office. Luckily, the security systems have a backup generator, so the cameras and his setup still work. He has four large tvs on the wall, each showing a different feed. On one tv he brings up an image of her bedroom, on another, the hallway outside it, and on the third, a shot of the inside of the front door.

We watch as he moves the footage back to start playing when we all went downstairs to the gym to let off some steam. I can see Mina curled up against the window with the blanket on her, sleeping. He fast forwards the footage until she starts moving.

I watch as she takes some Tylenol and water and quickly pulls her stuffed cow under the blanket with her, making me giveTucker a small smile. That must make him feel good to know she still wants to hold her gift from him. She stays seated but doesn’t seem to do much, so Atlas slightly speeds up the video.

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