Page 14 of Splitting Secrets
“I woke up on a beach, a few feet away from the ocean, and they were all standing over me. Aunt Divina looked like she wanted to murder me, and Raze—I mean, Dr. Whitlock—looked like he barely knew me. Those other two men are members of the Midnight Syndicate.”
“The Midnight Syndicate?” Ava questions, and I smile at the curiosity in her voice. “They aren’t still around.”
They’re listening. They may not have much of a choice, but at least they aren’t cutting me off or arguing with me still.
“Yes.” I nod at the nothingness. “They admitted it.”
“What else did they admit?” she asks.
I drop my head, squeezing my hands into fists at my side.
This is it. I have to decide now if I fully trust them. If I’m still keeping secrets.
“Dr. Whitlock killed my parents.”
I hear their gasps, and then Ava whispers, “How can that be?”
“I’ve been telling you foryears, there’s something off about that guy,” Beatrix shouts, probably to Ava.
“The psycho teaching psych.”Leni had said. God, I wish I knew back then.
“He’s their weapon,” I supply. “I don’t know the exact reason he was sent after them, but it had something to do with my mom not wanting to stay silent. Matilda mentioned she had come to her shop when I was younger. I bet she knows something.”
“Matilda knows a whole lot more than we’ve realized,” Ava agrees.
“They’ve probably already killed her,” Jonah finally says, and I smile at the sound of his voice, despite his crude words.
“When we talked on the beach, she was still alive,” I supply.
“What else?” Ava prods.
Swallowing past the boulder sitting in my throat, I voice the news I’ve been avoiding since they told me. “Poppy’s dead.”
“They killed her?” Beatrix spits, her tone harsh again.
I shrug, even though they can’t see me. “I have no idea what happened to her. She wasn’t herself the last time we talked.”
“I’m sorry,” Ava whispers gently.
“It’s just another reason to get out of here and kill those bastards with our bare hands,” Beatrix growls.
Jonah scoffs. “We’ve been locked in the darkness and forgotten. We don’t stand a chance against any of them. Especially if they’re a part of the Midnight Syndicate.”
“Who were those men who brought you here?” They acted like they knew me, but I’ve never seen them before.
Ava is the first to answer. “No idea. I woke up to someone shoving a bag over my head and tossing me over their shoulder. They didn’t take it off until we were already in these tunnels. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown onto the floor here.”
“You’d think if these assholes are supposedly the most gifted individuals in the world, they’d have a better way to gather their prisoners,” Jonah derides, and I can practically hear the eye roll he’s likely accompanying his bitter words with. Leave it to Jonah to be unimpressed with his captors’ methods.
“I don’t think most people get a chance to sit in the prisons before Raze takes care of them himself,” I mutter.
I hear the shuffling of someone climbing to their feet, and then uneven footsteps going back and forth across the cement floor. “I don’t get why they would have a Null working as their hitman?” Ava voices the thought out loud.
She’s right. How haven’t I thought of this before?
Why would they bother with Raze if they have people who could likely use their gifts in much more violent ways?
And why would he doanythingfor them after what happened to his brother?
