Page 50 of Unlocked

“So you didn’t send him anything?” Jamison asks suddenly.

Eve looks at him with sad eyes. “No, I never would have done that. I knew how horrible he was when we were younger and although I couldn’t have known how bad he was now, I never would have wanted to put you both anywhere near him.”

Jamison dips his head to her, in an acknowledgment of what she says. I can tell he believes her.

“So Lockhart is really gone?” Corrine asks, from beside Xavier.

“He’s dead, Butterfly. He won’t be able to hurt any of us ever again,” Xavier replies, hugging her close to him. I see Sebastian hug Riley tight to him as well. The room is silent while we all revel in the fact that Lockhart can no longer hurt us.

“I know I don’t deserve it,” Eve says, breaking the silence. “But, if you could find it in your hearts to forgive me for not finding a way to you both sooner, I would really like to be a part of your lives. I want to get to know you.” She looks from Jamison to Jonathan, before settling on me and finishing her sentence. “All of you.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say, barely above a whisper. I glance at the men on either side of me, squeezing their hands. They both look at each other before nodding and turning to stare at their mother.

“I think Jamison and I can both agree, we would like that as well, Jonathan states, squeezing my hand back. I look at Jamison, waiting for him to say something, anything, in this moment and when he does, my heart fills with excitement.

“We would,” are the only words that escape from his lips but it’s enough to know he means them.

The sound of a phone ringing jolts the entire room. Jamison pulls a cell phone out of his pocket and peers at the screen, his eyebrow furrowed.

“It’s Lockhart’s phone. The caller ID says T3.”

Chapter 41

Jamison

“Yes,” I say, answering the call and placing it on speaker. I motion for everyone else to be silent.

“Cellar,” a voice states before a second voice repeats him.

“Who the fuck is this?” I ask, irritably.

“Who are you?” Voice two asks.

Voice one cuts him off with a growl. “Don’t answer that fucking question. The Triad do not reveal themselves.”

“Is he dead?” Voice two asks.

“If you're asking if Lockhart is dead,” I reply in a bored tone. “I blew his head off earlier today.”

Somebody hisses over the line while the other chuckles.

“Do you know of the Triad? Do you know of the rules? You kill one of us, you take our place.”

“And if I refuse?” I ask, casually leaning back into the couch.

“Refusal isn’t an option.” Voice one states.

“The way I see it, you don’t know me, so refusal doesn’t sound so bad. I want nothing to do with The Cellar,” I grit out.

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” Voice two exclaims. “You will disrupt The Triad. There must always be three. You are putting many others in jeopardy.”

“I don’t give a fuck. Lockhart is dead. If you call this number again, I will make sure your so-called Triad dies too. Iwill make my way back to The Cellar, and this time, I will make sure the entire place burns to the ground.”

“So you refuse?” Voice one asks.

I look around the room to see everyone staring at me, anticipating what I will say next before speaking back into the phone. “I refuse.”

“You have no idea what you have just done,” voice two responds before the line goes dead.

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