Page 18 of Karma
“I didn’t know his middle name,” VP claims.
“He’s your fucking son!” TK shouts. “How do you not know his name?”
Lex looks around at everyone, and Colt knows they all wear murderous expressions as they glare at her father. “He, uh, he hates his first name because you gave it to him, VP. Why wouldn’t you know his middle name if you named him?” she asks. “What’s the deal? Why were you searching for Phillip?”
“He never had my name!” VP shouts. “I’m not even on his birth certificate.”
Colt shakes his head. “And why the hell aren’t you?”
“Because he knocked up Kelly when they were fifteen, and he wanted an out. Seriously, what’s going on?”
Taking a deep breath, he walks into the Chapel where they’ve hung up the information Nina sent. They haven’t gotten everyone together to discuss it yet, but they planned to after the run. Colt knows he’s dropping the ball by not bringing everyone in right away, but the wedding and Marnie getting shot became more important.
He grabs the picture of Phillip off the wall and brings it to Lex. “Baby—”
“Why do you have a picture of him?” Lex asks.
“Fuck,” Brock asks and looks up. “I know why his mom’s name sounds familiar.”
Closing his eyes, Colt takes a moment before he opens them. “Why?”
“Kelly Sanders was the first victim. She’s the first picture on the wall in the Chapel.”
Lex waves her hands in the air. “Hey, remember me? What the hell is going on? And what do you mean she’s the first victim? You think he killed his own mother?”
“Baby, we recently found out that Gerard isn’t the De-Identifier. Nina did research before she died, and she identified him as Phillip.”
“Come again?”
If the situation wasn’t so serious, he laughs at her reaction. “He’s the one who killed Nina, and if everything she sent Undertaker is correct, she was his thirty-fourth female victim.”
“Female victim… As in, there are also male victims?”
His wife is smart. Too smart. “Thirty-three. That we know of. Which, knowing he’s VP’s son, makes me realize that they all look like Zane. Just like the women all look like you.”
“He’s the one who’s been watching me.”
“What?” Ky asks. “Someone’s been watching you? When? Where?”
Running a hand over her hair, she lets out a long breath. “I’ve felt it for a while, but it was really prominent when Julian confronted me at the house. And then at the wedding. And the hospital. I felt it again at the hotel when I got Raena.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Colt asks.
“Why the fuck didn’t you?” Lex asks. “I thought I was going crazy because as far as I knew, we had no enemies. Besides Julian and Travis, but let’s be honest, they’re not going to confront me. Everything would be from a distance. You didn’t think I deserved to know this?”
“We weren’t sure if Gerard was telling the truth. We didn’t find any Phillip in anyone’s background. We thought it was a wild-goose chase.”
Brock sniffles. “Assuming he was telling the truth, Phillip’s going to come after you, Lex. That’s why all the victims look like you.”
“Let me just run through this and tell me if I have this right? The man charged with the murders committed by the De-Identifier told you he wasn’t the killer. A man named Phillip who wants me dead was, and we now know that man is VP’s oldest son? And he’s likely been stalking me for months?”
“Years,” Colt says. “Nina got a picture of his shop, and there’s a picture of you from my sixteenth birthday amongst the others. Basically, your pictures were his wallpaper in the shop.”
Nodding, she looks around. “Well, cool. Another brother who wants me dead. VP, any other siblings I should be made aware of? You know, since we’re two for two on sons wanting your daughter dead.”
VP keeps his mouth shut as Lex walks into the Chapel, and Colt follows her. Her eyes scan over the various victims they’ve placed in chronological order, and she stops at the image showing the collage of her.
“We’re going to find him, and we’re going to top him,” Colt says.
