—
The snap of the camera’s shutter rolled continuously, capturing Gage Blackwater at the front door of his mansion across the tall jagged rocks of the cliff, speaking to Shadow Rock PD.
Jax Murphy squinted one eye behind the camera with a strong enough zoom to see all the way across the beach and into the front door of Gage’s home. Though Jax didn’t need it, he’d made sure to snap photos of Detective Samantha Gellar leaving the mansion and climbing into her car as well, before bringing the camera down to his lap and flipping through the pictures.
His nostrils flared as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He accepted the call absentmindedly, still scrolling through the photos.
Photos of Veda and Gage waking up that morning, taken through the open curtains of Gage's master bedroom.
Photos of them arriving at the Masquerade Ball the evening before.
Photos of Veda disappearing into the bathroom in one costume and reappearing in another.
Photos of her using her new disguise to lure Eugene Masterson into a private room on the second level.
Photos of Veda emerging from that room, alone.
Jax checked the time stamp on the photo, noting that Veda had remained in that room for about half an hour. Reportedly, the exact amount of time the authorities had estimated the second attack on Eugene—this one successful—had been carried out.
“Murphy,” Jax answered his phone, still swiping through the photos.
“Please tell me you’ve found something.” Celeste Blackwater’s voice breezed through the receiver, almost as softly as the air at the top of the black cliff that cloudy Sunday morning.
Jax turned his head toward the mist bouncing off the ocean, his shocking blue eyes even clearer and sharper than the waves rolling below, and he smiled.
“Oh, Mrs. Blackwater…” He breathed in the dewy scent. “You have no idea.”
“Enough to ensure my son returns to me, unscathed?”
“Enough to take down Veda Vandyke in one fell swoop.”
“I hope you wouldn’t taunt me.”
“Why don’t we meet tomorrow afternoon and discuss it further?”
“Why not tonight?”
“I’d like another day to get as much dirt on her as I can. Something gives me the feeling there’s plenty more to go around. Enough filth that Gage wouldn’t risk getting it on his lapels, let alone marrying it.”
A long pause. “Thank you, Jax. You have no idea how important it is that this girl be destroyed, for good.”
“I understand.”
They hung up without another word, and Jax continued flipping through his photos, the smile on his face growing wider still.
If Celeste wanted Veda Vandyke destroyed, then so it would be.
And it would be done before the weekend was out.
Epilogue
Veda hated biting into the last bear to survive her breakfast that morning, but Gage’s gift of arranging breakfast foods into furry animals was no match for her growling tummy.
When her cell phone buzzed on the table next to her, she had half a mind to ignore it for the sake of filling her belly.
But what she saw pop up on the screen stopped her cold.
Her heart zoomed to a halt, stealing her breath and almost causing her to choke on the big bite she’d just taken. She managed to swallow it back as she snatched up the phone from the table.
For several moments, she just stared at the screen.
The photo of a white sneaker—with black lines that reminded her of a jigsaw puzzle, instantly sent tears shooting to her eyes, making them burn and blur the photo in her vision. But the blur didn’t stop her mind from racing back to that night, ten years ago, when those shoes had been below her, on the feet of her number ten. Her number ten, whose name and face she’d never learned. Her number ten, who’d treated her more violently and brutally than the other nine combined. Her number ten, who she was sure would be the hardest of her rapist’s lives to spare, once his time came.
Her number ten, who she couldn’t wait to make pay for what he’d done.
The toast fell from her hand, bopping back onto the plate, and Veda opened the photo text from Jake with trembling fingers, reading the short message he’d written below it.
Jake: Were these the shoes your #10 was wearing?
Veda shot a look to the door, saw that Gage was still speaking to whoever had knocked, and immediately dialed Jake’s phone number.
“Are those the shoes?” Jake answered without saying hello.
“How the hell did you find that?” She heard the wild shake to her voice.
“Veda… are those the shoes?”
“Yes.”
“Are you 100% sure?”
“Yes!” she cried, a little louder than she’d intended. Her wide eyes flew back to the door, growing moister by the moment, feeling like her heart was climbing up her throat. Only when she’d concluded Gage hadn’t heard her cry did she lower her voice, returning to the phone. “Where did you find them?”
A long pause came in, and then Jake’s voice was trembling too. “Veda… I did some digging, and that sneaker? It’s a Nike prototype. Never released to the public.”
Veda shot out of her chair when a flash of adrenaline so strong raced through her it almost made her take flight. Her heart pounded too violently to respond.
But Jake had plenty more to say. “There are only six of them in existence, and they’re worth a fortune.”
Veda’s breathing went to a gasp, and she covered her heart with her hand.
“I did some more digging…” Jake took a deep breath. “Nike wouldn’t release the names, but I still managed to get enough information out of them to find the names elsewhere. All six people who purchased the prototype. Not first names. Only last.”
Veda might’ve screamed if Jake had made her ask for those names, but thankfully, he didn’t.
“Harris, Goldstein, Anderson, DiMaggio, Klein…” Jake paused after listing only five names—five names that were already burned into Veda’s brain.
She nearly screamed, her nails going into claws, her fingers shaking. “Jake!” she growled into the phone, leaning forward at the hip. “That’s five names. What’s the sixth?”
Another deep breath through the receiver. Another long pause.
Then, Jake’s voice returned, filled with defeat. “Blackwater.”
Veda’s spine snapped straight, a gasp raced from her lips, and the moisture that had been threatening her eyes went into a full-blown boil as her gaze shot to the front door.
When she saw that Gage had closed the door and was returning her heated look from the foyer, her heart fell to her feet.
The darkness swept in like never before, encasing her so violently she had half a heart to question the sun shining in from the dining room windows because surely night had fallen. A night so black not even a moon shone down. Not a single star twinkled.
The shadows loomed. They surrounded her. They squeezed her bones. They crushed her neck. They whispered venomous oaths in her pounding ears, reminding her that there was no escape.
That there would never be an escape.
And as Gage glared at her across the room, his dark brown eyes shifty in a way she’d never seen, it took everything she had not to scream.
Thankfully, she didn’t scream.
But only because she couldn’t breathe.
Two down.
COMING SOON
The Revenge Series: Number Three
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Also by Trevion:
Stereo Hearts Series:
Stereo
Encore
The Romanovsky Brother’s Series:
Taming Val
Claiming Roman
Loving Leo
Finding Gary
The Almeida Brother’s Trilogy:
Lila's Thunder
Thunder Rolls
Lightning Strikes
Stand Alone Novels:
Dead or Alive
Tingle (Revenge Book 2) Page 22