Page 114 of A Smile Full of Lies
We pored over the records, but all we could find was a screenshot of a post that had been made in a group on social media, mentioning Thayer Williams having an outburst of temper in public, but the post had since been deleted. His family’s money had cushioned the falls, but the cracks showed. No arrests, just quiet institutionalizations. It painted a picture of a man unraveling. But why?
Thayer was handsome and charming, aside from the fact that he had a tendency to stick his dick in everything that moved, regardless of his relationship status. His family was wealthy. When we were dating, I met his mom and she pretty much thought Thayer hung the moon. His dad seemed a little stiffer, a little more distant, but stoicism wasn’t uncommon in our parents’ generation.
So… what was it that was making him come unglued?
“We’ve got a profile,” Alyssa said, closing the laptop. “Now we should do a little recon. His apartment’s on the rich side of town.”
“Is it the same one he’s had since college, in that fancy ass gated community overlooking the river? If so, I remember it being one of the big apartments on the third floor.”
“Yep, that’s the place,” Alyssa nodded. “We need to canvas his neighborhood and find your in. Make it natural, like you just happened to bump into him. If you can get him to talk to you somewhere in public, it won’t seem as weird as if you just pop up out of nowhere and knock on his door. Know what I mean?”
The drive across town felt like we were heading to my own execution, the streets widening into manicured lawns and gleaming mansions, with sleek three-story apartment buildings tucked away at the back corner of the community. The whole gated community was built around a lush, manicured golf course. Thayer’s building was a relic of his golden boy days, every rich boy’s dream with riverside views for the privileged. This was the rich side of town. It was Thayer’s world, a place I’d avoided ever since he shattered me. But this was for Knox, for Ava, for his parents, for the ghost of the life Knox had before he lost them. I wouldn’t let myself turn back now.
We parked a block away from Thayer’s apartment, Alyssa blowing out a long, steadying breath before we climbed out of her car. My pulse thundered as I slipped out, the cool air biting my skin, sweat trickling down my spine despite it. We stood facing each other on the sidewalk, and Alyssa spoke in a murmur I had to strain to hear.
“Let’s split up. I’ll take the east side and check service entrances. You go west. Scope out the lobby, sidewalks, the garden, maybe the café across the street that’s just for community members. Look for a way to bump into him without raising his suspicions.”
My heart pounded as we parted, the afternoon sun casting long shadows. The neighborhood screamed wealth — designer dogs on leashes, luxury cars purring by. I wandered the west sidewalk, pretending to window-shop, eyes on the building’s entrance. Four years since I’d seen Thayer, since he’d shatteredme with his cruelty. The thought of his face — handsome, sharp, and sensual in a slightly unsettling way — twisted something dark in me, a mix of revulsion and an old, unwanted pull.
I rounded a corner, and there he was. Thayer, stepping out of the café, coffee in hand, looking every bit the fallen prince with his dark hair tousled, jaw stubbled, and his eyes hidden behind blackout sunglasses. My breath caught, bitterness flooding me like bile. He’d broken my heart, and laughed while he was at it, and now? Now I knew he was the monster behind the Stonewood Slaughter. He was responsible for Knox’s grief and suffering.
He spotted me and pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head, a slow, insidious smile splitting his face.
“Ros? No fucking way.”
I choked back the venom I wanted to spit at him, forcing myself to be polite even though it left my skin crawling.
“Thayer. Small world, huh?”
“Yeah, too small.” He stepped closer, that smooth charm a veneer over something fractured inside him. “What brings you to my neck of the woods?”
“Just… wandering,” I said, deflecting. “I needed air, and I missed the garden here. It’s peaceful. I could always clear my head there when we were together.”
He nodded, but his eyes narrowed, and his dark gaze turned probing.
“I heard about that Hollowing thing the Southern Scare Collective hosted at Stonewood Manor. Knox letting a bunch of tacky thrill junkies turn the place where his family gotslaughtered into a haunted house attraction for the Halloween season? That’s kind of fucked up. What was he thinking?”
My pulse spiked.
“Yeah, twisted is definitely one way I’d describe it.”
Memories of Nox Obscura hunting me down and making me come flashed through my mind, but I blinked them away.
He pressed, leaning in as he stepped closer to me. The move felt too intimate, too familiar, and so fucking wrong.
“Why the fuck would he do that? You and Knox are still neighbors, right? Did you talk to him about it at all?”
I shrugged, my heart racing.
“Who knows why Knox does anything?”
Thayer shook his head, smirking down at me, but his deep brown eyes flickered, something brittle there and gone again in a blink.
“Knox never does shit without a reason. He’s always been calculated as hell in everything he does. I’m struggling to wrap my head around him opening that grave just for kicks and giggles.”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you what he was thinking,” I said, deflecting again. “I gave up trying to figure him out ages ago.”
He looked like he wanted to push, but let it drop, changing the subject instead.
