Page 2 of Wicked Promises (Fallen Royals 3)

But wait. I think…

I can’t breathe. I need to breathe.

I snap my eyes fully open, locking them onto the face of the person carrying me.

It’s too late to do anything else. I gasp, inhale the chemicals.

Hands reach up out of the darkness, dragging me back down.

I go. Anywhere is better than here.

Caleb

A balled-up sock hits me in the face.

I jerk and glare at Eli. “What was that for?”

“You were zoning out,” he says.

One thing we can’t get away with in the Black household is laundry duty. Everything else is taken care of except this one task. It’s soothing, the warm fabric sliding through my hands. But it also invoked memories.

Packing clothes. Being shipped off to Uncle’s house.

Mom leaving.

Eli and I stand on opposite sides of the dining table with our own piles of clean clothes. The faster we fold, the sooner we’ll be done. That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway.

“Just think how prepared you’ll be for when you live on your own,” Eli’s mom often told us. “We’re getting you ready for adulthood.”

But I can’t concentrate, because Margo is with her dad. She’ll find out the real truth. The ugliness we’ve been hiding.

Her dad killed mine. Snuffed his life out—

“Dude.”

I grimace.

The doorbell rings just as my phone goes off. I glance at Eli. It’s a blocked number.

He waves me off, unaware of the sudden spike in my blood pressure, and heads to the door.

I’m being ridiculous. A blocked number isn’t Unknown, Margo’s harasser. Stalker. No, it’s probably a telemarketer or a scam.

“What?” I bark into the phone.

“Hello, Caleb,” a robotic voice says. It sounds like an automated voice reading a line of text. “I’ve greatly anticipated speaking with you.”

I stare at the floor and don’t answer. They want to hear my voice? No way.

“They’re going to ask you about Margo.”

“What?”

The line fills with breathing. It doesn’t make sense in contrast to the automated tone. “When they ask, just remember: anything you say will be held against you.”

“What happened to Margo?” My heart beats faster. Worry takes over.

“Don’t worry, Caleb. You got your wish.”

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