Page 52 of Back In the Shadows

I looked at Ryan. “His name is Xavier, but he wasn’t the one that took me off our front porch. He was my gatekeeper, so to speak. Apparently, his boss wants Death, and I was bait … and promised to Xavier as a reward.” My skin crawled with thewords. “I never learned who his boss was or what he wanted with you.” I hesitated with my slip up, but Sebastian didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Maybe he and Death had finally met and come to terms with sharing a space. It was too soon to tell.

“Did he?” Fear twisted Sebastian’s features. “Did hehurtyou?”

25

ELLA

My insides shook with his question. Thank god Xavier hadn’t violated me, but I wasn’t sure how much longer he would have waited since he was planning our wedding night.

“Are you asking if he raped me?

He nodded.

”No.”

A pinched expression twisted my husband’s face as he tugged on his handcuffed wrist. “You promise me he didn’t? No one raped you, baby?” As hard as he tried, Sebastian couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice.

“You have my word, Sebastian. He did kiss me a few times and touched my breast, but the abuse was mostly psychological. I was locked in a glass cage, and there were spiders everywhere. They were like his pets.” I slammed my eyes closed, but images of the disgusting creatures bombarded my mind, and I quickly opened them again. “He also.” I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the clean air I’d missed so much. “He killed his family, but he kept them with him at the dinner table. I sat next to stuffed, dead people.”

“Shit, that’s fucked up,” Ryan said. “I’ve seen some messed up stuff, but that’s on an entirely different level.”

“As I said, there was more psychological abuse than physical.”

“Do you know where you were held?” Ryan asked.

“It was a basement of some sort, but … even though I had my suspicions I wasn’t able to put it all together. There was a little kitchen and living room. I think there was a bedroom, but I never saw it. It was dark and musty. What was really odd were all the stuffed animals. It was like the place was staged and not real, but I can’t explain why I felt that way.”

“What kind of stuffed animals?” Sebastian asked, his voice low with a sharp edge of anger.

“Mostly clowns. Although, there was one that resembled a Chucky doll, which didn’t bother me as much as the spiders did.” An involuntary shudder racked my body. “I tried to tell you that over the phone that day, but Xavier hit me the second I started to give you clues.”

A growl worked its way up Sebastian’s throat. Maybe he would allow Death to handle Xavier and his men after all.

“Did the doll have anything in its hand?”

I didn’t miss the anxiety in Sebastian’s voice.

“A bloody knife.”

Sebastian sucked in a breath. “I never told anyone, but a Chucky doll clutching a bloody knife showed up in my bedroom a few days before my parents were murdered.”

“What?” Ryan hissed. “Like you never told Kip, Dope, or the cops? No one?”

Sebastian shook his head. “No one. I thought Mom or Dad was playing a joke on me, then I forgot about it. Losing my parents took precedence over a damn doll. Again, I figured they were messing with me. Dad was a practical joker at the time, so I just assumed … but something is telling me it wasn’t them.”

I looked at Ryan, then my husband. “Did you have stuffed clowns too?”

His shoulders slumped forward. “It was a collection from my grandpa, but all the clowns except for a few terrified me when I was little. Mom moved most of them to the basement.” He swallowed and then said, “The downstairs had a kitchen table and sink. There was an old, dirty white refrigerator that Mom kept extra food in when we ran out of space upstairs. Dad liked to go down there sometimes and watch television on an old beat-up couch. He joked it was his man cave. It literally was since most of the room was underground except for a few tiny windows at the top.”

I could feel the blood drain from my cheeks as the puzzle pieces started to fit together. “Sebastian, I think I was kept in your childhood basement.”

“Not possible since Sebastian’s home is no longer standing. Death and I went to visit after whoever called and gave us those riddles.”

I nodded. “It was Xavier. He loves riddles and fucking with people.” I leaned back against the pillow, trying to sort through the conversation.

“Bass, man, I’m starting to think that with the setup of where Ella was held and the riddles, that maybe the man that killed your parents wants your attention.”

Sebastian grabbed the side of his head, the phone jostling as he moved.

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