Page 43 of Unspoken Lies
I’m grateful they were with her at the hospital and helped her out, but it’s not enough to forgive them for Rachelle's murder. We’ll never be square for that. Not ever.
My hand moves to play through the soft strands of Liliana’s hair, my lips twitching as she sighs in her sleep. She had a busy day yesterday filled with torture and killing, and was sleepy when we got home. I can tell my father is worried about her, yet Lili is processing things the best way that she can.
She’s been alone, dealing with school politics, the Kings, and the aftermath of Rachelle’s death alone. I left her, despite it not being my fault. I still did, leaving her to deal with my ex-best friends who aren’t the kindest on a bad day.
We’re currently upstairs in her safe room, the cameras of the property on along the wall to the right. Instead of a television screen, this is her security blanket. She’s always been skittish about the safety of a home, and it reminds me of how desperately she wanted us to go to her house the night Rachelle was taken.
Lili isn’t wrong to be paranoid. She’s amassing enemies, and she’s inheriting both my father’s and her father’s enemies as well. That’s a lot of heat on her ass.
I hate that she’s sleeping in this safe room, but I’ll gladly sleep in it with her if it makes her happy. Her breathing is deep and peaceful, and the construction of the room is completely hidden from anyone else. I haven’t had a chance to see the full house yet, but knowing our fathers, they made sure there were plenty of places for her to hide.
It’s a necessity in our lifestyle. I don’t want to ever have to lean on the Kings for favors, which means I’ll need to check out her basement and see if I can fit out a proper torture room for her. I’ll make sure it’s completely soundproof and hidden. I need something to do while she’s at school anyway, and I need to feel needed.
Lili makes a small noise as she turns in her sleep, her back now to me as I carefully twist to look at the cameras. It’s early, only about five in the morning, and I want her to sleep in some more.
The cameras show three men at the front door, and I frown as I see a red light beside the camera wall. That would work if Lili is awake, but won’t alert her otherwise. Getting up, I tug the blanket over her body before pulling on my pants. I need to do some online shopping before I leave the house again so I look less like an ex-convict.
Stretching as I walk, I leave the safe room, making sure to close the closet door behind me. I recognized the assholes at the front door, and while I know that they’re not a current danger to Lili, I still want to make sure she’s covered.
Moving through the house, I jog downstairs and disengage the house’s security system. However, I only do the front door so the rest of the house is secure.
“Miss me already?” I ask, a cruel smirk on my lips as I gaze at my ex-best friends.
“I had a feeling you were probably here,” Jared says, blowing out a breath. “Look, we should talk about things at some point.”
“I don’t believe we do,” I reply, cutting off any other nonsense he has to say as I lean against the door. “You sold me out to the Kings Society, and I took the fall for something I had no part of.”
“You’re the reason we chose her as the bet,” Theo reminds me mildly. “Don’t act as if you have no blame in this.”
“And then I fell in love with her,” I confess, shrugging. “I’ve always had a thing for Lili, but Rachelle was special. Everything about her slowly drew me in.”
“You’re not the only one,” Theo mutters. “She intrigued me, but no one really lives through my little obsessions.”
“Rachelle was no different,” I mutter bitterly. “I couldn’t let you kill her without fighting for her life.”
“It was her or us,” Elijah says indignantly. “Selling people in the sex trade isn’t really something I want to be forced to do for the rest of my life, and now I don’t have to.”
“You’re still a sellout,” I say. “They’re still being sold whether you’re involved or not. They’re your parents.”
He makes a face at my logic, but I know I hit a nerve. I can’t save everyone, and I’m well aware of that. However, if my father was involved in something like that, I’d do what I could to fuck up his work.
“Their circle is too powerful,” Elijah sighs. “Just because the Kings Society helped me get out, doesn’t mean they’re not involved in my parents’ business. They’re supplied by my mom and dad, and some of their sex clubs are set up like sweat shops. There’s no rights in places like that.”
“Getting involved in dismantling something like that is more than we’d survive,” Jared adds. “The best we can do is donate to charities that work with survivors and try to get as far as possible from under the Kings Society’s thumb.”
“Be sure not to tell me how that’s going for you,” I grunt. “I lost years of my life because of this shit. I’m done with you lot. Thanks for helping Lili when she needed it, but I’m not interested in fixing things between us.”
“We all agreed to sacrifice an innocent,” Theo says. “You weren’t against it when your father got married to Julia and you decided you hated her daughter.”
“I was all in,” Jared adds. “You broke what we had by choosing them. There’s punishment for that. We didn’t even know they’d?—”
“I’m sure he’s not interested in hearing Kings Society business,” Elijah scoffs. “Why would he believe us anyway?”
Fuck, I do want to know. Sitting in my cell in prison, it’s one of the questions I wrestled with. Why did they choose me as their scapegoat?
“I think that making decisions about that may be bad for your health. I wouldn't want that, if I were you,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest idly.
They’re lucky I’m unarmed, though my very body is a weapon now. I came out of prison a lot more powerful and jaded than when I went in.
