Page 59 of Kings & Carnage

"Involved how?”

"That's the part we don't know yet.”

I told her everything. I told her how Emma had come to the Kings for help and then disappeared. I told her about going to see Mrs. Giordana and the binders with the maps of the woods and the cabins.

Then I told her about the home invasion and our escape to the island, followed by Roberto's assassination attempt on all of us.

The only thing I didn't tell her was how we'd holed up at Daisy's abandoned house, because that wasn't my secret to tell.

When I was done, she was staring at me with wide eyes through the steam in the Jacuzzi.

"Whoa," she said. "Neo's dad tried to kill you? All of you?”

"Twice, technically." His men had come way too close to getting us in the hospital.

“How is Neo taking it?" she asked.

I thought about all the things I knew about Neo and his father.

They weren't my secrets to tell either.

"I don't think it came as much of a surprise unfortunately," I said.

“Well, I guess now I know why there was a scary-looking man with a gun standing at the gate, acting like I was requesting an audience with the queen," she said.

"That would be why," I said. "And there are more like him in the woods, plus a generator to make sure no one can cut power to the alarm system again.”

"What are you going to do now?" Claire said.

"I don't know," I said. "I just know Roberto wasn't in on this alone. There's no way he could have coordinated the disappearance of all those girls on his own," I said. "I feel like the answer is staring us in the face in those binders, but the cabins are all recorded as being owned by shell companies.”

"Ugh. Say no more," she said.

Shell companies for our families were the modern equivalent of mobsters who used to bury their cash. They were next to impossible to find unless you had some idea where to start.

"What about school?" Claire asked. "If the security set up here at the house is any indication, it kind of seems like you're not going anywhere.”

"I'm sure the Kings would prefer it that way, but I'm definitely going back to school after the break," I said.

Claire lifted her eyebrows. "Do they know that?”

"Not yet." I’d been trying to think of the best way to bring up the subject. I knew the Kings were going to fight me, but there was no way I was staying imprisoned in the house for the next however many months it took us to figure out who was working with Roberto. I wasn't stupid enough to think we were out of danger, but the odds of Roberto trying to hit us on campus were slim. It was the only place other than the house that I felt like we were safe. "But they will.”

Skepticism was written all over her face. "If you say so. They seem like bulldogs when it comes to you, but you know them better than I do.”

She wasn't wrong, but I could be stubborn too.

"Let's talk about something else." It was bad enough that I would have to approach the Kings about going back to school. Why torture myself by talking about it with Claire? "How was your holiday?”

She rolled her eyes and sank lower into the water, holding on to the edge of the hot tub behind her to stretch out her legs. “Like I said, boring. Except for the part where I found out Liam is going to be working in town for the next few months.”

Liam was one of Claire's many brothers, but he usually worked with a crew out of Boston.

"Really? Why here?”

"It's so gross I don't even want to say it out loud," Claire said.

I laughed. "Well now you have to tell me.”

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