Page 85 of Edge of Control

“You know what? Let’s take off the blindfold.”

Footsteps behind me preceded a flash of bright light. I winced at the sudden shift. My eyes adjusted, blinking until the blurry shapes began to sharpen.

I was in some kind of back room. Two red velvet couches were pushed up against the brick wall, boxes of wine and beer stacked on top of them. There was acluttered desk with a computer that had “Marielle’s” as the screensaver.

Marielle. That was Theo’s sister’s name.

“There. Now, smile with your eyes.”

Leo held up the camera. I dropped my head.

“I said—” He punched me hard across my face. My head spun. “—smile.”

I glared at him. I could taste blood in my mouth mixing with the scratchy fabric and whatever detergent they had used on the shirt stuffed in my mouth.

“Close enough.” Theo’s father took the picture. An unsubtle rage filled me. It rose up inside me like magma through a volcano only moments away from exploding. I had to get free somehow. I continued to struggle against the ropes. I wasn’t sure if I was being hopeful and delusional, but I thought I could feel it beginning to loosen.

“You know, for a detective, you really fucked this job up, didn’t you?” Theo’s father laughed and leaned against the computer desk. He wore a uniform of all black. Like his black jeans, black shirt, black watch, black necklace were all foreshadowing the arrival of the grim reaper himself. He looked like Theo, too. They had the same icy blue eyes and even the same slight crookedness in their noses. But his father looked more like a predatory cat than Theo did. He had a snake tattoo wrapping around his forearm and a couple of skulls tattooed on his neck.

“Were you even close to figuring this all out? I think I managed to put the pieces together before you did. Granted, my son made some critical errors in his crusade for revenge, but I still would have expected someone likeyou to at least figure out who was behind the blackmail ring.”

I tried to speak around the cloth but couldn’t get a word out.

“Gio, take that out of his mouth.”

Someone behind me untied the cloth and let it drop to the floor. I sucked in a gasping breath. My jaw was sore, both from being held open and from the punch. I flexed it. Instinctively, I tried to reach up to rub the spot that hurt, but my hands were still bound.

Hopefully, not for long. I just had to be subtle about it. There was someone behind me. I couldn’t let them on to the fact that the knots had begun to unravel.

“Now we can actually chat.” Leo crossed his arms. A scar ran along his bicep, matching the scar on his cheek. Looked like knife wounds. “So, how close were you to putting it together?”

“Close,” I lied. My throat was dry. I swallowed, but it felt like glass had been poured into my mouth.

“Right. That’s why you were dating my serial killer son up until yesterday?” Leo gave a dark laugh. Those sharp blue eyes narrowed. He reached behind him and grabbed a gun that had been resting next to the keyboard. He clicked the safety off. There was a silencer attached to the muzzle.

My gut tied itself into a knot.

How the fuck was I going to get out of this alive?

Maybe I wasn’t meant to?

“I didn’t know he was Nevermore.”

“Of course you didn’t. Or maybe, deep down, maybeyou did? What did you see in him anyway? Because all I see in him is failure. A waste of a life.”

That incensed me. Which… surprised me. I thought Theo’s revelation would completely cut off any emotions that had come to develop between us. Apparently, it hadn’t because hearing Leo speak about Theo like that made me angrier than being tied down to the chair and punched. “I know what you put him through. No one should have ever gone through that kind of abuse. Especially from their own father. Your one job was to protect him. To love him. How was that so fucking difficult for you? If anyone is a waste of life, it’s your scummy ass. You fucking dick, he?—”

He pistol-whipped me before I could finish my insult. Stars burst across my vision. More blood oozed from my busted lip.

“Next time, it’ll be a bullet between your eyes instead of a pistol breaking your jaw.”

Gio laughed behind me. Another hit would have likely made me pass out. I somehow managed to hold on to consciousness, fighting the dark curtains that tried to drape across my vision. I slowly worked my thumb through a knot. The rest of the rope slacked. I wasn’t too far from freeing myself, but then what? I was outgunned and surrounded.

I had to talk myself out of this. At least buy some more time.

“What about Marielle?” I asked. “Did you despise her as much as you hate Theo?”

“Marielle was… I failed her. Theo and I alwaysbuttheads. But Marielle, no, I did love her. I wanted the best forher. I’d even come to accept her after her transition. But she started to dig around. She put too many pieces together, and she threatened to end it all.”

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