Page 23 of Castle

I suddenly noticed that my good leg had a round black anklet around it. “What is that?” I couldn’t keep the fear out of my voice.

“The staff here all wear it. It’s a tracker.”

“How does it come off?” I asked, even though chances were he wouldn’t tell me about it.

“It doesn’t, that’s the point. Unless you die or cut off your foot.” His tone was deadpan.

Then it just hit me.

“Greg? Why was he limping? Was it because?—”

“You’re smarter than I thought. Gregory tried to take off several times too and kept getting tracked down, so he cut off his foot with a hacksaw. Didn’t make it too far, and he would have bled to death anyway, but Devin saved his life and now he has a fake foot implant or some shit like that.”

“That’s pretty fucked up. Devin is the one who put him in that situation, so technically that’s not called saving his life. If he was actually saving lives, he would let Gregory go.”

“I’m not telling you this to scare you, but I’m hoping you would think before you plan another escape. If you get the tracker off, Devin will still find you, and bring you back here, and the next time around, it’ll be worse.”

“So I’m not just a caregiver in this house.”

Theo chuckled, “You’re a prisoner.” He planted his foot on the bed in front of me. “Just like me.”

He was wearing the anklet tracker, too.

NINE

I staredat the tracker on his anklet, which was identical to the one I was wearing.

“Why are you wearing that? I thought you said only staff wear it.”

“I’m an exception, I guess?” He said, looking at the closed door again. “I have a rebellious streak.”

Of course. Rebellious must be Theo’s middle name.

“I got into trouble because I tried to bring the Montgomery’s secrets out and ended up being imprisoned by my own family,” Theo explained. “The only difference is that if I tried to escape, I won’t end up dead. As for the staff, I can’t say the same thing. I also get to go to school and do my thing.”

“That means whoever tries to get out of here dies?”

“You didn’t hear that from me.” He laughed.

“I heard nothing.”

“Think of this as a chess game. Devin, Dayana, and Castle are the key players. The rest of us are pawns. There are things I can’t talk to you about, things that Castle can’t remember because of his accident, so I would suggest you to not get involved in this mess. The lesser you know, the safer you will be, trust me.”

“You just admitted to people dying in this house because they want to get out! How am I supposed to trust anybody after that?” I whispered, “Why should I trust you?”

“Well, I’m not asking you to, but I won’t bullshit you. I’m not Devin. You’ve been through enough and the least I could do is give you a heads up.” He said simply, picking up his gadget. “My family is craaaayyyy.”

“This is kidnapping!” I threw the blanket off my body and tried to climb out of bed when a jolt of unbearable pain stopped me.

“Yeah, the Montgomerys could have a rap sheet if the cops around here weren’t so fucking corrupt and actually did their job.”

“Wait, the cops know about this?”

Theo gave me a slow smile. His honey-golden eyes were strikingly similar to Castle’s. Castle had a serious look most of the time, while Theo’s entire demeanor was mischievous.

“The cops know everything, but they choose to look the other way. They don’t want to lose their jobs and they also get paid a lot for keeping their mouth shut. We are the most powerful family in the country for nothing.” He concluded without taking his eyes off the game he was playing, aggressively punching the gadget.

“So, what do you want me to do? Stay here under captivity and play caregiver?” I was fuming. All I wanted was to get away from the mess that was my uncle and maybe get a good job and start over.

---