Page 27 of Reign By Wrath

“I have to,” she replied. “I don’t have to tell you that Captain Capaldi isn’t going to arrest her, do I?”

I shook my head.

“It’s not that she’s corrupt, though she is. It’s that she knows a lost cause when she sees it. Connor already confessed to burning down the Gallery, and you already confessed to sabotaging and attacking Royals to get revenge for your sister. If Capaldi tries to put Everleigh in a courtroom, not a single charge will stick.”

“I know this. I assume Captain Capaldi had the same thought when she refused to take Winter’s statement and took the dean’s word over hers when she reported her rape.”

Katie’s eyes widened.

“I just announced to an entire restaurant that I reported Everleigh to the captain. When it all comes out and no one can deny the truth anymore, the first question they’ll ask is why the cops did nothing. Our friendly neighborhood corrupt captain is going down with her.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “About Ashton Scott... Please tell me Everleigh didn’t use the club and paid him to do that to her.”

“I can’t be sure what she told him to do, but Everleigh blackmailed my boyfriend’s father to shoot me and leave me to burn. I don’t think there’s any line she won’t cross.”

Katie went to her desk again. She was trying to hide it, but I knew she mourned the friend she thought she knew. “We should try to find that cabin. Satellite view on the GPS should narrow it down.”

I joined her. An hour passed while we used the flimsy details in the journal to narrow down the list of cabins close to the river. Between that, I flipped through, reading the passages in Everleigh’s unique handwriting. I didn’t have to ask anymore how she became such a cold, heartless person.

The abuse was never physical, but the wounds from her parents’ neglect ran as deep. Ignored birthdays. Vacations where she was left behind with a nanny. Constant taunts and insults from her stepfather. Cold indifference from her mother. The only time the nine-year-old Everleigh wrote with any joy was when she talked about her time with Everton.

It was clear he was the only parent who loved her. I understood that losing him shattered her. I even understood her wanting revenge against the man who killed him. But what I’d never understand or forgive is that she hurt Winter—an innocent person—to get that revenge. Some lines should never be crossed.

No matter how much I hated Saylor, I removed all the secrets about other people that she shared in the texts. I wasn’t about to step on innocents to bring her down. The Royals may have been raised to believe everyone was fair game, but that was just another lesson they’d pay for when I brought the Royal line crumbling to its knees.

“Twelve cabins along the river, but only five that aren’t beneath a Starling,” Katie announced. “Start with these.”

“How will I know if I got the right place? Everleigh’s smart. She’ll catch a tail right away.”

“You’re right.” Katie chewed her lip. “You can’t follow her there, and you can’t be sure of her car because Grant has a dozen of them. She drives whichever one fits her mood. She’s rarely home, so I guess you could wait until late at night, check each one, and you’ll know you’ve got it when you peek through the window and see her eating ice cream in her pajamas on the couch.”

“Yeah. Seems like that’s the only way.”

My phone buzzed, drawing my attention.

Alistair: Got plans for dinner tonight? I want you to see where I’m staying. You’ll know where to go if anything happens.

Me: Don’t think I can tonight. I’ve got a list of out-of-the-way cabins that I have to creep around at night, looking for a murderer.

Alistair: If you had sent that to any other father...

I laughed. It was weird how easily we fell into our own kind of rhythm. At first, it was hard for me to picture my serious, straitlaced, typeAmother falling for the reckless troublemaker that was a young Alistair. I told him as much, and he scoffed and asked me what my Rogue boyfriends were like.

“No one wants to date a copy of themselves,” he had told me. “Average person has too much self-loathing for that.”

Don’t know that I’d put it that way, but it did make me think of what it’d be like to date four versions of the old, boring, boarding-school me.

I’d take my paranoid, explosive, bitey, growly assholes any day of the week.

Alistair: It’s important, Luna. We promised your mother last night that you’d be safe and wouldn’t do anything reckless. Stowing away in that beach house with single door locks, regular glass windows, and no alarm is the definition of reckless.

I wasn’t going to ask when he clocked Adonis’s security measures.

Alistair: You’ve got to get the pass from security for them to let you through the door. Let’s do that tonight so that after you run away in terror of the murderer in the woods, you can beat it straight here and be safe.

I audibly sighed. It’d still be nighttime after dinner. I might as well handle things with Alistair, then I’ll take up my disturbing task of creeping around the woods, looking for a killer.

Me: Cool. What’s the address?

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