Page 8 of Mind Maze

“What is the future?” Theo asks, biting on Dad’s bait.

Dad leans back in his chair, sharp gray eyes locking on mine. “We’re going to use our connections wisely.”

I lift a brown in question. “Care to elaborate?”

“Your girlfriend,” he says, eyes narrowing as if to watch my features for even the slightest of reactions. I give him none. “She’s to see her family soon for Christmas.”

“I’ll accompany her and keep her in line.”

Theo tenses at that, but I ignore him. I know he has feelings for Romy—feelings he’ll never get to act on. As long as she’s in this game with us, she’ll be mine to utilize. I cleaned up his mess and claimed her. He can lust after her all he wants.

“I figure with Gareth’s death, we should all get away. I’d like for us to meet up with the Langstons. It’s been ages since I’ve spoken to Gideon. I hear his son is learning the ropes to take over one day. I think it’ll be good for us to connect.” He smirks at me. “Who knows. Perhaps one day we’ll even be family.”

The thought of being forced to marry Romy as a strategic move isn’t horrible, but it’s not desirable either. I have my own agenda to further. She’s proven to impede that, not help it.

“Perhaps,” I agree with indifference. “So you and Theo are going with us?”

“We’ll bring Kaitlyn too,” Dad says. “She’ll need a change of scenery after losing her father.”

My chest tightens at the mention of my niece. Just another casualty of this war I’m constantly in. The child lost her father, but was it really a loss?

Fuck no.

Gareth hurt Emma. She wouldn’t come out and say it, but my intuition told me so. I’d seen the dark circles under her eyes, the continuous, defeated slump of her shoulders, and the terrified glint that flashed in her gaze anytime Gareth was around. And,later, the footage that was found on the security tapes right before her death.

His efforts to utilize CUP methods to wipe her young mind didn’t work. All it did was fracture it. In her desperation to escape him, she went headfirst down the same chute Romy went in, but unlike Romy, Emma didn’t survive.

I thought it was over after that heartbreaking event.

But then he got Kaitlyn.

My stomach churns with disgust. At least my advocating for her to have a live-in nanny may have saved Kaitlyn for whatever he had planned, though the jury’s still out on that one.

Dad and Theo find themselves in another conversation, one I’m easily able to tune out. My phone buzzes in my pocket, jarring me from my inner thoughts.

Unknown Number: I know where she is.

I stare at the message, trying to determine what it means. Rather than replying to the person, I open up an app I use for finding the source and location of a phone number. It only takes a few seconds before the search results populate.

Generated number used on untraceable PC.

I scratch at the facial hair growth on my jawline. I’m in desperate need of a shave.

Whoever texted me is a tech person like myself. If they’re hiding themselves this way, it’ll be difficult for me to uncover the source. That means I need to respond.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown Number: Someone you can trust.

Doubtful.

Me: I don’t believe that.

Unknown Number: Call me S.

Me: Okay, S. Is this a threat?

I save the number to my phone.

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