Page 37 of Twisted Games of Revenge

I open the book, flipping through the pages. Sure enough, it’s a handwritten journal. Parts of it have been highlighted, and when I notice a name that keeps repeating, I quickly look up at him. “Enzo? Whose journal is this?”

“Ricky’s mom’s. We found it stashed in the attic of the safe house. I have been trying to decipher what happened between her and Enzo all those years ago. After you told us what your ma went through, I had this sickening feeling. My memory of the night she died is so blurred with the brutality of it all. Ricky is the same, we were both so young. I knew my father was there, and I remember him fighting with her, but according to this he was the man protecting her from Enzo, he wouldn’t have killed her. All her entries in the weeks leading up to her murder, she talked about how scared she was that her past would catch up with her. She talks about Ricky and me. All she wanted to do was protect us from Enzo, but she knew he was coming for her and for us. She knew he would eventually turn on her and end her life because she had witnessed him doing it before. She was so scared.”

His eyes meet mine, and I know he wishes he’d done something to stop what happened to her, but he was just a kid. “The last entry is her deciding it’s time to do something, and from what I can work out, it looks like they were about to take off with us. Go someplace safe. She talks of this man Chambly, who was a detective at the time, who had a safe house for all of us to go to.”

A shiver runs down my spine, making my skin all cold and clammy. “As in Mayor Chambly? And the safe house we all stayed in together?”

His sad eyes meet mine. “Exactly.”

“But he’s in with Enzo, I saw the two of them having a meeting just the other day.” He doesn’t look shocked, I’m not telling him anything he doesn’t already know.

“Take a look at all the other highlighted names as well.” He motions back to the small book.

He’s right, every highlighted name I recognize. Palmer has to be the now police commissioner, Chambly is the mayor, Hops and Carillon would be the two detectives I met at the party the Morettis threw. “She believed all these people were going to help her, but they all work for him,” I say sadly. Ricky’s poor mother never stood a chance.

“Or did work for him after the night she was killed. It’s not a coincidence they all ended up with massive promotions. And look at this, it was the detectives who called in your mother’s overdose. Hops and Carillon again. Your ma and Ricky’s died or were murdered less than twelve months apart, and these same people were all involved in the cover-up.”

Our eyes lock again. This is what he’s scared of. He knows the power these assholes all have in their positions with Enzo at the lead.

“That’s not all we found. The hospital records for my birth mother say she died giving birth to me, but look who the doctor is.” He shows me his birth certificate. “Northgate.”

Northgate? I think on it for a bit, trying to remember where I know that name from. Then it all clicks, the charming doctor I met at Valentina and Enzo’s garden party. He’s one of them as well. “You think her death was suspicious as well? But your mother was Enzo’s sister. Why would he have her killed?”

“I’m not sure, but this is all too much of a coincidence.”

“Oh, it’s no coincidence. I met all of them at your parents’ party the other night. They’re all in on this. And have been for years, I’m sure of it.”

He stiffens as I say it. “You met them all.”

I nod, remembering the little green slip of paper I collected off the street after I watched Mayor Chambly get in his car the other day. I pull it from the protective case on my phone and handit to Maddox. “What is this place? Is this something to do with Sinners’ Paradise? I found it on the road after I watched Mayor Chambly enter a back alleyway door. He stayed there for an hour then took off up the street. It was right after he met Enzo for lunch.”

He looks over the paper. “I have never seen a ticket like this before. It’s not from the casino. Where did you say this place was?”

“Behind the florist on Main Street. It doesn’t show on Google Maps; it’s like it doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah, that’s what they want you to believe.” He types something into his phone and zooms in to pull up the location on Google Maps. “This place?”

“Yeah, it was down that side street, the door at the back.”

“It’s a strip club, one of Enzo’s. I’m not sure what the stub is for, it’s been years since I’ve been in the place.”

I take his hand in mine. “So now you believe me about all of this.”

“There was never any doubt about any of it. We just wanted to keep you out of it to protect you. Enzo has a pattern, Harley, with young beautiful women. He uses them up then kills them or makes them disappear. We have seen it before too many times. Alex has been working for years to try and stop him, but it’s not that simple when there are so many big players involved. These men run this town. Even with Alex in charge.”

“The women, they discard them in one of his auctions?”

He looks me over, like how the fuck do I know that, but I know a lot more than he thinks. “We have our suspicion that’s how they’re disappearing, but we haven’t got any evidence to prove it.”

“That’s why you need me. I have a way in that none of you can access.” I squeeze his hand. “We all have our reasons for wanting to take him and this whole fucked-up thing down. Let me playmy part.” I reach up and run a hand through his stubble, staring into his sad eyes. He looks more broken than usual. “I’m not going to end up like one of them. I know what I’m doing, and I have you three and an army of Strykers looking out for me as well.”

He pulls me toward him, kissing my lips more softly this time. “It’s not worth the risk,” he whispers.

I pull back from him, meeting his gaze. “It is. You can put that damn tracker back in me, bug my apartment, my car, whatever you need to so you know I’m safe. I don’t care, Maddox, I just need to do this. Okay? I have to make him pay for what he did to my family and these other poor girls he’s still ruining the lives of.”

“She’s right,” comes Alessandro’s voice from the doorway. I glance at him, grateful to finally have his backing. Ricky stands by his side, and I can see he’s on board as well. “But you’re going to wear this.” He holds up the engagement ring he gave me when I first came here.

I stand in a rush, moving toward him, knowing that ring was in my bathroom vanity. “What the hell, Alex?”

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