Page 123 of Never Quiet

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Harper and Elijah were the first to arrive with Brie. Morgan and Harrison entered soon after. She’d spoken to all of them privately before Hayden got to her apartment the night before. She begged them to help her by allowing her to get through what she had to say as quickly as possible.

Rick left to sit with Callileah. She was still recovering from the final surgery on her leg.

Everyone sat, ate, and did their best to hold polite conversation despite the obvious tension that hung over Amanda. She could barely swallow but sipped her orange juice and tried to stop shaking.

“I-I…” Swallowing, Amanda started again. “I asked you all here because you’re all involved in something I don’t believe you’re aware of in its’ entirety. If you were aware of some things, you’re not aware of others. I can almost guarantee it.”

Closing her eyes, she whispered, “If I share things that others at this table don’t know, please forgive me…but it’s all part of a very tangled puzzle and there were so many victims.”

Morgan frowned. “You’re so pale, Amanda.”

“I’m okay. I-I’m going to stand, if no one minds. Pacing may help me get through everything.”

Standing, she walked several feet away to remove the scent of Hayden from immediately beside her. Having him within touching distance shook her resolve.

“That night at the theater, I-I suspected the answers to a riddle but I needed facts. I wanted to be wrong.” Pressing her lips together, she looked at Hayden. “I knew I needed every piece of information it would take for you to choose the person who’s loved you since she was fifteen.”

“Amanda…”

“Please. Let me…let me get it all out. I needed to do some analysis, to be certain, and then I didn’t want to give you up. I was…very selfish in that regard.”

She paused to gather the first bit of courage she needed. “For the last six months, Winston Winters and I have been exchanging text messages. He’s shared more than,” she rubbed her temple, “I ever wanted to know. Tawny and Vine try to track him but the signal bounces all over the map.”

“No, Amanda,” Hayden whispered.

Elijah stood. “Amanda. Jesus.”

“He enjoys the cat and mouse of it. I needed answers only he could give me. In exchange for giving him my attention, which he desperately craves, he was excited to share the horror he’s inflicted.” Closing her eyes, she murmured, “I imagine it’s like serial killers on death row who can’t wait to tell their stories. He has nothing to lose in the real world now. For the rest of his life, he’ll exist underground. He gave me small, terrible pieces at a time to keep me talking to him…and I did.”

“Oh my god, Amanda. I cannot imagine your nightmares.” Morgan had his arm around Harrison’s shoulders. Their expressions were stricken.

“Winston Winters has been a monster for a very long time. A twisted, inhuman creature who began his experiments when he was a boy. His first victim was a maid who worked in his father’s house. His second was his own sister. There were others, people taken off the streets, bought on the black market. However, it was the torture he delivered to Elijah, and then Hayden, that made him a true addict.”

Harrison gasped, “What?”

Harper whispered, “Hayden…?”

She shook her head. “He loved the horrors he inflicted on them so much…he couldn’t give it up. It changed the entire course of his life and how he made the bulk of his money. Even when no one he employed could possibly defeat them because they grew stronger than he ever imagined, he couldn’t stop playing what he considered a fucking game.”

Noel pressed a glass of water into her hand and she drank it. Amanda shook badly as she handed it back.

“Winston has a strange predilection for those who are tall and slender. He likes to take them to the point of complete emaciation, to see what their bodies look like on the brink of death. Torture on a lean frame is clear and it gives him intense pleasure. Elijah and Hayden have similar builds, as does Noel and both of his wives. I’m his type.” Turning her head, she stared into Hayden’s silver-gray eyes. “So is Isabella.”

“W-what do you mean?” Brie asked with a small whimper.

Suddenly freezing, Amanda rubbed her arms to lessen the chill. Inhaling carefully several times, she met Harper’s eyes where he stood with his hand on Brie’s shoulder.

“So many of the attacks on you, as well as the chemical attack on Brie, were orchestrated by him to make Elijah insane. It was his dream to one day roast Noel on a spit for escaping him and to rape Tawny until she died because they were the closest friends Hayden had. H-he talked about all the junkies he killed so Hayden couldn’t save them. Sick fucking games, for decades, because he hated that they were too strong for him to h-hurt anymore.”

Remembering the details Winston Winters shared about her aunt and Hayden, Amanda swayed.

Noel took her shoulders. “Steady, sweetheart. Steady.”

Amanda nodded and pressed her hand to her forehead. “Winters discusses Hayden as a man would talk about a lover who left him heartbroken. It is…horrifying, so vile, how he is. Of all his victims, you were his favorite and to him, it’s like love would be to normal people. Losing access to you because of Elijah enraged him.”

Harper cried silently, his expression frozen as Elijah braced his shoulders. Brie was less contained. Harrison kept shaking his head as tears fell into his lap while Morgan held him tightly.

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