Page 60 of Depraved Truths

Tessa types into a keypad, and a door opens.

My mouth drops.What the hell?

Walking in, I gasp. I see Dalton shackled. He stirs as we enter, his eyes widening when he sees me.

“Allie! Please help me. You have to get them to let me go, doll.”

Ugh, I hate that nickname. It was alwaysAllie-girlordoll. I take in Dalton’s appearance—his brown hair sticking to his forehead, his hazel eyes that I once thought were beautiful. Now I know they are just hiding the evil within him. He has bruises and swelling on his face, and the skin under his left eye is black. There’s also a knife sticking out of his leg. My stomach churns at the sight. I walk up to stand in front of him.

“How does it feel?” I ask coolly. “Being beaten to hell and back.”

Even I’m taken aback by the venom in my tone. His eyes plead with mine. “I’m sorry, Allie. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Are you sorry that you hurt me, or that I heard what you did?”

He glances away, evading my question.

“Why, Dalton? Why did you do it? I thought you loved me.” My voice quivers.

Disdain crosses his face. “Did you think I was with you because I wanted to be?” he spits. I gasp, heat flooding my face as color rises to my cheeks. “W-what?” “You were an assignment, Allie girl,” he sneers. “I was ordered to wine and dine you. To make you fall for me, and even to get you knocked up so I could keep an eye on you. Make sure you stayed quiet.”

“What are you talking about? Assignment?” I exchange looks with Tessa and Eli, who seem just as flabbergasted as I am. “I don’t understand.”

“You just had to go snooping into your cousin’s disappearance two years ago. You started this,” he snaps.

My stomach drops as my mind immediately flashes to the tearful woman who had come into my office a couple years ago, experiencing a mental breakdown and desperate for answers about her daughter’s disappearance. It had triggered a response in me, and I had asked questions, probed around, digging into her case—and then inevitably, into Paisley’s disappearance as well. But at every turn, I was shut down. Now I know why.

“Oh, God,” I whisper, a tremor running down my spine, the weight of this revelation sinking in.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re a nice piece of ass. A little too vanilla for me, but that pussy’s tight.”

“You motherfucker,” Eli growls harshly.

Stunned and reeling, I slap him hard in the face.

“I loved you. And it was all a lie.” I can feel myself breaking more than I realized was possible. “But you didn’t have to take my baby from me.”

Something akin to regret flashes in his eyes, but it’s fleeting and replaced with a darkness I’ve only seen a few times before. He truly is evil.

A numbing calmness washes over me. All doubts I felt walking into the room wither away.

“Do what you want with him. I don’t care.” I turn to walk out of the basement door, glancing over at Eli and Tess. “But I want nothing to do with it.”

“Allie, wait. Wait!!” Dalton screams out.

“Rot in hell, asshole.”

And with that, I leave the room without another word.

Chapter 41

Allie’s reaction is something I never could have expected. I thought she would beg for his life. Instead, she gave me more ammunition to use against the sick bastard chained to my basement wall.

“I think she’s just given us her seal of approval, right, babe?”

“Yeah, I’d say she did,” Eli taunts.

Grabbing a bat off the wall, I stroll toward Dalton. His eyes bulge. It's not just any baseball bat—it's a design I created, something that looks like the spiked bat fromThe Walking DeadTV series, affectionately known asLucille.

---