Page 58 of PET

Holden takes the parchment back, then turns it to me, pointing at all the names printed and signed at the bottom, along with a dark brown smudge. Is that fucking blood? My father’s name is there, by no surprise, and memories flood my mind.

“Niles Robert Veradin, you hereby wish to forfeit your heir’s title, giving him over to us—to command and control. Is this correct?” a man’s voice asks, but I can’t see who he is behind the black robe he’s wearing.

Grabbing onto my dad’s hand, I look up at him and wipe my snotty nose. I don’t want to go with them. I want to stay here. “Dad, what’s happening?”

He looks down at me with the coldest expression I’ve ever seen. I mean nothing to him.

As we stood there, side by side, I realized I wasn’t his son but a bargaining chip. He stepped forward and yanked his arm from me, signing his life away before he punctured his thumb with the tip of a dagger and then stamped it next to his name. I was nine years old when that bastard gave me to the society—the secret I assume Dana referred to in her letter to Holden. And a secret I’ve had to hold for longer than I’d like to admit.

“All our parents are on there, even Zeke’s,” Billie points out.

I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to keep my side of the secret. They’re dangerously close to learning the truth themselves. What’s it going to hurt if I help fill in the pieces?

Licking my lips, I say, “They’re part of a society. One that runs and powers these hills and the families within them.”

Holden looks at me, staring into the side of my head with an intensity that I can actually feel. I turn and lock my eyes on his. He shakes his head and looks back down at the paper.

“It makes sense. All the shady shit my dad’s done over the years,” Holden says before he blows out a breath. “We have some questions to ask some people.”

I look at Billie and then at Holden before I say, “Think you can get in and ask your mom some questions?”

Chapter 24

ZEKE LUNGREN

AsIsitonthis hard, metal bench and stare at the cracked concrete beneath my feet, all I can think about is Billie.

She’s with her uncle right now—there’s no denying it, and I’m stuck in here unable to protect her. I don’t think Christian would know about it yet. Fuck, I need to be out of here.

“Hey, where’s my phone call?” I ask the passing officer who completely ignores me.

Rushing to the bars, I grip them and shout after the bastard. “I’m talking to you, asshole!”

He comes back and smacks the bars with his baton and ultimately, my fingers. I groan through my pain, inhaling a sharp breath as I pull my hands from the bars. What a fuckin’ dickhead.

“You’ll get your phone call when the Sheriff comes back. Now sit down and shut the hell up,” the officer snarls, looking in at me likehe’sthe Sheriff of Reaper.

Grinning, I ignore the throbbing in my fingers and step backwards and away from the bars. He’ll regret that. One day when he’s out in the world and he comes across me, he’ll wish he was nicer to me. Though he won’t know I’m the one fucking with him. I’m revengeful, not stupid.

I’m trying to stay as calm as I can in this literal prison, but it’s hard when all I can see in my head is the moments leading up to my arrest. I need that fucking phone call.

Walking into Reaper, I catch sight of the headmaster pulling Billie by her arm, and all the veins in my neck throb. I slam the front door and storm after them, calling out for Billie.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” I shout.

The headmaster looks over her shoulder and sees me, halting her hurried footsteps. “Mr. Lungren, why aren’t you in class? This doesn’t concern you, so carry on, please.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I shake my head and say, “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where you’re taking Billie.”

“That’s none of your business,” a male voice booms from behind me.

I whip around to find Patrick Lucas standing there in his expensive Armani pin-striped suit and more rings on his hand than any man should wear.

“My girlfriend is my business,” I tell him through clenched teeth.

Billie inhales a surprised breath, and I catch a smile on her lips out of the corner of my eyes. She liked that I called her my girlfriend, huh? I liked it, too. Probably more than I should have. Christian is going to kill me when he finds out I kind of want to keep her for myself. But the twinge of pain in my gut at the thought of losing him over that decision makes me shake my head.

What the hell was that all about?

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