Page 27 of The Madman's Nightmare
I looked back at James and requested, “Please show me.”
He looked around the table before pulling a chair out, indicating he wanted me to sit. Everyone but Regan Aubrey, James, Lucian, Rhys, and Skid left the room and as each one filed out, the pity I saw staring back at me was causing the dread to build.
James took a seat beside me and Lucian took the other side as James opened the laptop in front of me and logged into the system. Before he opened the email, he quietly said, “I don’t know if this is real or not, but . . .”
He opened the email and then opened the attachment. A video began to play and when I saw Elise’s face, terrified as someone steps into the frame and begins to beat her, I felt the vomit rising in my throat. Her screams grew in volume as hit after hit rained down on her, causing her to bleed and bruise with each violent strike.
I watched, unable to look away as someone stepped up behind her and brought a knife around to the front of her body.She was barely standing when they raised the knife and plunged it into her chest, sinking it to the hilt.
There was no stopping the vomit as I pushed away from the table and ran to the trashcan, throwing up the coffee and crackers I managed to eat a few hours ago. Listing my eyes back to the paused screen, I watched as James pressed play and saw my precious Lamb fall onto the floor, her blood filling the screen.
My hands trembled with sorrow as a computerized voice filled the speakers. “You shouldn’t have sent me away. Now, I’ve taken the most precious thing in your life, and it’s all your fault.”
The video ended and I tried to push off the floor, only to slip down to my ass. My head hung down and I felt tears fall for the first time since I was sent away from my family at twelve, I cried for the loss of my wife, my life, my soul. I cried for my sons losing their mother, and I cried for the loneliness that began to fill my chest.
Lucian and James scooped me off the floor and helped me back into a chair as the computer was pushed away from me. I tried to reach out, wanting to watch it again, but James pushed it out of my reach and whispered, “Let me get you upstairs.”
I pulled my arm from his grip and stood from my chair, looking at my family surrounding the table. I tried to clear my throat but failed to get the lump out as I said, “Go home. It’s over. She’s . . . she’s gone.”
“Devlin,” Aubrey started to say, and I held up a hand, stopping her from give platitudes before I turned and walked out of the conference room.
I had no destination in mind, but felt someone behind me as I took the stairs down to the lobby. I looked over my shoulder and saw James and Lucian following me, and I knew they wouldn’t leave me alone. Not for a long time.
Walking across the street, I didn’t even look for cars as the will to live drain out of me with each step I took from our home, the place I felt her the strongest.
The park was dark as I began to move around the path. I didn’t have a destination in mind, I just knew I couldn’t be in the building anymore. I needed to feel her spirit, so I moved to where we were when we had our last moments together.
The space was cleared, but I could see s spattering of blood, so I knew I was close to where my Lamb was snatched from my life, and led to her death.
Falling to my knees, I hung my head as I remembered every moment we had together. From the laughter that filled my life, to the love that we made, I felt her all around me, and hoped the feeling remained.
James and Lucian stood silently behind me, watching me as I mourned the only person I’d ever loved, and kneeling there in the grass, I vowed to find who took her. I was going to drain every drop of blood from their bodies, slowly and with as much pain as I could manage.
I lifted my eyes up to the stars and whispered my love for Elise into the universe, hoping she heard me, wherever she was.
A phone ringing drew my eyes to my brothers and I saw James pull his phone out as he stepped away, whispering into the device. Lucian stood guard behind me and when we heard James say ‘What’ with shock, I pivoted to look at him.
His eyes met mine and grew wide as he listened to whoever was calling him. Hanging up the phone, he walked over to me and said, “Aubrey is analyzing the video, but from all indications, its Artificial Intelligence.
“What?” I asked and pushed off the ground. “What are you saying?”
“”I’m saying it’s time to get back into the game, madman. Someone sent you a fake video of Elise, and Aubrey said shethinks she can figure out who made it and where it was sent from,” James explained and reached out, gripping into my forearm and grounding me.
My eyes met his and I asked for clarification. “Are you telling me that someone created a fake video of Elise being beaten and murdered and sent it to us, trying to make us think she was . . .”
I couldn’t even say the word without my voice breaking and when James answered, I felt ice overtaking the pain in my chest. Ice that pushed out the misery and filled the space with rage.
“I’m saying someone tried to fool you into thinking she was dead.”
My jaw clenched and my fists tightened by my sides as I looked between my brothers. “We are going to that house, tonight. I don’t give a fuck who we scare. If there’s even a chance she’s there, then I’m going inside that house.”
Lucian stepped forward. “I’ll send some of my men to recon the house while we get ready.”
The three of us walked back through the park and across the street into the building as I felt something akin to hope blossoming in my chest. If Aubrey was correct then my Lamb was a pawn in someone’s sick game, and I was taking her off the board and bringing her home.
Then I was going to stomp whoever took her into a pile of dust and watch them die at my feet.
Chapter 14
