Page 10 of Vengeful

A refreshingly cool wave washed onto the shore and over our bare feet. A slow walk on the beach always helped to put things into perspective. Even on a sunny day.

During a storm, I loved to come down here. It was a reminder that mother nature didn't give a fuck about us. She'd happily sweep us into the sea and swallow us. If we were lucky, we'd get spat out afterwards. If not, then the sharks and whatever else was hungry were the lucky ones.

"Not as far as I'm concerned," I assured her. "I know the twins agree."

I glanced over my shoulder. They were trailing along behind us. Hunter was staring out at the waves, a thoughtful expression on his face. Parker seemed to be gathering shells.

"I wish I knew what he wanted me to do." She kicked the sand again, narrowly missing touching a bluebottle. The sting of the small jellyfish would be worse than anything her father could inflict. Although, the effects wouldn't be as long lasting.

"Am I supposed to drag Chloe off to one of the family's brothels and lock her in there? Or hack into the school's records and give her failing grades?"

"I wouldn't recommend trying to hack into anything at Brutham," Hunter said. Apparently he was listening after all. "Listening in on school board meetings is one thing. Tampering with your grades could end up with you in a shallow grave, if you're lucky."

"That doesn't sound lucky," I remarked. "On the other hand, there are worse things than being dead."

"Like being sold and raped?" Lila asked wryly. "That would definitely be worse."

"Anyone who touched you would end up worse than dead," I told her. "Before they died."

"Hell yeah they would," Parker said. "Do you think we're going about all of this the wrong way?"

"Going about what, Park?" Hunter asked.

"This whole competition with Chloe," Parker said slowly. "Maybe we're supposed to go after Samuel instead. I mean, it's unlikely, but it's fucking tempting. Right?"

I glanced over at Lila. She didn't look so tempted.

"I'm starting to think this is like a cryptic puzzle," she said slowly. "The only way we get to find the answer is if we know what the question actually is. All the clues are so confusing, Ihave no idea how to figure it out. But I don't think my father wants us to kill him."

"He probably wouldn't mind if you killed Parker and me," Hunter said. "Maybe that's the question."

Lila glanced back at him. "If that's the question, I refuse to answer. I don't care what he does to me, I wouldn't kill either of you." The look in her eyes was haunted. It was the same one she often got whenever she talked about her father.

"It's because of him you don't like dark places, isn't it?" I asked gently.

She pressed her lips together so hard they turned white. "It was a long time ago."

"What did he do? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I see it bothers you." I squeezed her shoulders gently.

She closed her eyes for a few moments. "He has rooms under his house. They're designed for various different kinds of torture. Some have chains and torture equipment. Some have nothing, including light and sound."

"Sensory deprivation?" I asked.

She responded with a faint nod.

It took a full minute for the meaning of her words to sink in. I rubbed the stubble on my chin.

"Fuck. I've heard of some screwed up things in my life, but that…" I wanted to jump back in the SUV, go back to Samuel's house and rip his head straight off his shoulders. Or better yet, wrap my belt around his throat and watch him die, nice and slow.

"He could have had us skinned alive, or made us skin his victims," she said in a small voice.

"Just because he didn't, doesn't mean what he did to you was okay," I said firmly. "He doesn't deserve you defending him." He deserved a lot of things, but not that.

"Do you think I'm strong enough to be head of the family?" She looked up at me. "I'm not sure I am. I could have gone against his wishes and killed Chloe and Zachary. That might be what he wants. For us to stand up to him and do whatever we need to do to be rid of each other. Could that be the thing I'm missing?"

I couldn't tell how she wanted me to respond to that.

"Is that what you want?" Maybe answering her question with a question was a cop out, but I wasn't going to tell her to go and end her sister's life. Not unless that was what she needed to hear.

---