Page 52 of Hiding Secrets

“I’m taking an educated guess based on experience. If it’s not this then you can go, but try it first.” He moves behind the bag, out of sight.

I allow my gaze to lock onto the bag. I stare at the leather and it begins to morph.

The room fades away…and he is there…standing in front of me.

Samuel.

My heart beats in my chest with force, my breath halts, and I squeeze my palms into fists at my side.

Look at my Eden. My Eden, I’ve missed you.

“No.” I breathe out.

Eden, it’s what the Divine wants. It’s our destiny.

My fist clenched and I begin to tremble.

“I’m not youranything.”

Oh but you are, Eden. You can’t run from the Divine. You can’t run from me.

“Fuck you!” I swing my fist at him and it connects with his jaw. He doesn’t so much as stumble but I don’t stop my fist from flying at him over and over again. I don’t even know how long I launch my assault or how many I land on ‘him’. The pain of my knuckles bruising was easing the itch I was craving. The one I’ve been fighting off since arriving. But right now I didn’t care if the craving was consuming me, I needed it. I needed to feel this, to give this to myself. The fact that I was punching Samuel, well, an image of him I made up in my head just helped another part of me I didn’t quite have a name for yet. Tears sting my eyes and the vision of his face fades back into the punching bag as I crumble to the ground.

“How do you feel?”

“Broken.” I cry into Marcus’s chest and his arms hold me tighter. “He used me. They all used me. And I let them, I let myself stay blind to what they were doing.”

“You were a child in need of love and care. They offered a false version of that, you did nothing wrong.”

“All those girls.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I should have!” I push away from him, anger coursing through me. “I should have seen the truth but I was too fucking weak.” I rise to my feet and speed walk out of the gym, tearing the gauze from my palms.

I should’ve known. I could have done something to help.

I will now.

41

Kameron

I wanted to leave this place. I wanted to be with Elliott and the guys, but I also wanted to stay because the need to end Everton and the Donovan family was my top priority. I’ve never wanted to leave a mission just as badly as I’ve wanted to stay in it.

Ever since my arrival a few days ago, Everton has been uneventful. Well, except for the constant Samuel tantrums that were sweeping the town. He finally sent out an invite to all of the community members to attend a dinner because he wanted to address Eden and how this was going to affect the town moving forward.

The members of Everton were all on edge by her disappearance and the fact that she was able to get away so effortlessly. There were talks about the community coming to light in the outside world, talks they never wanted released to the public.

I had to play along in these discussions when in fact I was the outsider, guilty of all they were anxious about.

I’m wearing the Everton colors as I drive up to the cathedral for the mandatory dinner. Men and women flood inside and I seamlessly follow them to the dining hall. It feels different from when I was sworn in, eerier than before, which says something because it’s always felt like a fucked up place. Recent events only added to the atmosphere.

I’m not sure if it's Samuel’s orders, his mood swings and temper, or the fact that Elliot was the only light in this place and now she was gone.

We take our seats behind the name plates as housemaids arrive to fill up drinks. People talk in hushed tones and as I scan the long table, I see Lianne taking her seat. She must feel me watching because her eyes land on me once her seat is pushed in.

I might not know a lot about her, but she always seemed so confident. Since I arrived back, she’s been nothing but scared. She shrinks down, waiting to fade into the background like everyone else.

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