Page 85 of Back In the Shadows

“Yeah.” I didn’t want to say too much to encourage Xavier to continue.

“The man he killed wasn’t his pa-paaaa,” he said again with the crow-like pronunciation.

“We.” He tapped his chest. “We were …”

“You were what? You can tell me, Xavier.”

His gaze narrowed on me. “But if I do, you’ll run to tell Death. Boss says it’s not my story to share.”

I gritted my teeth together in an attempt to gather my words and not blurt out what I really wanted to say. “Is this the entire picture or just a tiny detail?” Working in law had helped me rephrase questions and form a loophole or skirt the truth. Maybe it would serve me now.

He held up his first finger and thumb a little bit apart. “Just a dollop.”

“Then you’re not going against what your boss has asked of you, right?”

He leaned against the wall, pondering what I’d said. “You’re a smart one, Ella. But are you smart enough?”

“Are you?” I fired back at him, furious at his nonsense.

He sneered at me. “I’m not the one in question here. Are you smart enough to play the game and walk away with your mind intact?”

I refused to answer him. Stepping backward, I spun on my heel to leave him alone with his pathetic thoughts.

“Sebastian Fletcher was …”

43

DEATH

“Night after night, darkness polished the lamb's bones with velvet promises until its wool grew black as dreams.” ~ Anonymous

I groaned, my neck fucking killing me. Reaching up to rub it, I tugged on restraints and realized my hands were bound behind my back. The rough material over my face stifled my breathing. Where the hell was I, and how the fuck did I get here?

Kidnapped. Fucking kidnapped.

“You stupid prick, you got us kidnapped?” I muttered to Sebastian.

Footsteps caught my attention, and I slowly lifted my head and attempted to peer through the potato sack, but it was useless.

“So happy you’ve joined me this evening,” a man’s voice said while he abruptly jerked the bag off my head.

I squinted at the bright light as it assaulted my vision. My gaze landed on his black dress shoes and slowly traveled up his black slacks and white dress shirt. His short dark hair waspeppered with grey, and it matched his well-trimmed beard. He rolled up his sleeves, smiling as if I were a long-lost relative.

“Who the fuck are you?” I growled.

He chuckled. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“I’m waiting.”

“I’ll untie you if you give me your word that you won’t kill me. I just want to talk. When we’re finished, I’ll make sure you return alive and unharmed to the abandoned building we tracked you to.”

I suppressed my grin. Of course I would promise not to kill him. And, since I was a man of my word, I wouldn’t kill him … tonight. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

“Well, I just offered to untie you so you could walk around and take a piss if you need to. I’m not interested in harming you.”

My attention scanned the room, and my pulse kicked up a notch as I laid eyes on a Chucky doll sitting on a coffee table … holding a bloody knife.

That’s the damn doll that was in our house! What is this fucker up to?

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