Page 54 of Seducer

“Show me what?” I glanced from one man to the other.

Christopher pulled out his phone, scrolling to something. When he handed it to me, my first instinct was to laugh until I noticed the quote used only two paragraphs down in the article.

“Fear the sins that you commit in secret, because the witness of those sins is the judge himself.”

The same famous quote that I’d received personally days before. “What is this?”

“An article in a St. Louis newspaper. My cousin lives there and sent it to me.” Christopher wasn’t happy.

“St. Louis,” Wilder chortled. “Mega gaming city.” It wasn’t, but that didn’t matter.

I read the article and sighed. “The reporter received the quote and used it?” The question was rhetorical since the man who’d written the article had mentioned he’d been sent the quote via anonymous email with a note to look into the family. Not the company. The brothers themselves. He’d even alluded to the fact our pasts were linked together by reprehensible events.

Whatever the fuck that meant. We didn’t grow up in the same cities let alone in the same foster families. I tossed the phone back at Christopher and laughed.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Xander said.

“I’m not. I received a threat from a visitor at my house the other night. He used the same quote.”

All three men sat up in their seats. “And you’re just telling us this?” Wilder tossed out.

Shrugging, I took a few slow sips of my drink. “Isn’t there a drawer full of threats we’ve received since the company started?”

“Yes, but very few of them came in person. Only a few were planted across newspapers.” Xander also didn’t seem as worried as Wilder did.

“One newspaper doesn’t mean this has been broadcast around the country. Someone is fishing for information about our pasts,” I told all three of them.

“What will they find?” Christopher asked. He knew only the summation of how Xander had found Wilder and me, reaching out long after we’d left the system and the tyranny we’d faced in foster care.

However, he certainly didn’t and wouldn’t learn the details of our suffering. The three of us had agreed what had occurred in the past should remain locked away. If anyone discovered our acts of survival, we’d be crucified whether in the press or literally, rotting away in some prison cell.

“There’s nothing to find,” Xander insisted. “We’re foster kids. So the fuck what? Our parents died and there was no one else to take us in. That means nothing in this world.”

“The reporter alluded to something explosive coming in a future piece.” Christopher was fishing. Why? Yes, he had as much to lose as the rest of us as far as money was concerned. However, the article bothered him more than the extortion had.

“He’s trying to sell newspapers, buddy. Good God. You of all people know how reporters are,” Wilder said, although I couldtell by the look in his eyes that he remained troubled by the threat being made personally. “Do you have any idea who threatened you?”

“None. The person was careful to hide their true identity. I’ve analyzed my videos and there’s nothing to help me decipher if my visitor was male or female including footsteps.” My mind was churning through the incidents from the last few days. Including Jerry’s murder.

What I didn’t want to happen was to have Sara’s world linked to mine. At least not yet.

“That happened one time?” Xander asked.

I nodded. “A scare tactic. You didn’t ask us to come here because of any threat. What’s up?”

Xander leaned forward. “It would appear the production company is serious about producing a movie using Dark Nights as a backdrop. A contemporary thriller. They’re talking a top-notch screen writer and director.”

“They need our consent first,” I reminded him. “And a contract that won’t exploit the game in any way. We don’t need our competitors getting any ideas based on a goddamn movie.” I wasn’t thrilled with the idea in the first place.

Christopher glanced in my direction. “I have the contract hot in my hands. I’ve gone over it a couple times. Nothing wrong with what they sent, although I need to have a conversation with the man in charge before I bring it to the three of you.”

“Things move fast,” I muttered.

“You were AWOL,” Xander reminded me.

“Working, not playing like you do.”

He laughed. “I have reasons. Finding a mate would do the two of you some good. Right, Chris?”

---