Page 108 of Unveiled

I text Ophelia again.

I’m here. Where are you?

Why does Ophelia have news about my brother?

"There she is."

The low, dark Irish drawl behind me sends shivers down my spine.

I spin around to see a man wearing a mask, sitting on a bench, and someone is bound to him. I can't see in the moonlight. I take a step forward.

"Ophelia!" I yell into the darkness, but the man sitting there shakes his head and chuckles. His laughter sends a shiver down my spine.

"What did you do with Ophelia?" I put steel in my voice but can't help that it shakes.

"Your friend is safe and sound in her bed," he says with a smile I can see through the mask. "She did what she wastold, like a good little girl. Unlike some other people I know."

I glare at him and take another step closer, even as everything in me tells me not to.

"Don't worry, your husband isn't coming to get you. He has no idea where you are. He's probably running around looking for you.” The man leans forward on his forearms, his eyes meeting mine.

"And your brother is going to fucking love watching that footage I got from the bakery."

My stomach twists into knots.

"You're disgusting," I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand when I realize it is my brother sitting next to him. He's unconscious, his head tilted to the side.

Is he dead?

"What did you do to my brother?"

"He's been sedated," the man drawls. He laughs. "You recognize him, don’t you?"

I stare, disbelieving.

Why is my brother here?

"You see, lass," he continues, "your brother and your father had a lot more to do with this than you thought, didn't they?"

He shakes his head.

"Your father signed you away as easily as he signedoff your mother's diamond ring. Tragic what people will do for money, isn’t it?”

We've all been played. Every fucking one of us.

"What do you want from me?" I demand.

“Oh, just the same thing your brother and father gave me," he says with a smile. "You're gonna go back to your man," he says in that drawl. "You’ll pretend that none of this ever happened. You’ll run in crying for help and say that your brother is here.” He leans forward, his eyes glittering. “Aren't you, lass?"

I stare, unblinking. He wants me to spy?

They’ll kill me.

"And then when I ask questions, you give me answers."

“I am not going to be a spy for you!" I shake my head. There has to be another way.

The man clicks his tongue and takes out a gun. He points it at my brother's head.

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