by Stella Hart
“What do you think it meant?” Nate asked, staring at the page.
“I think it was just a random sketch he made when he was thinking about the number of families involved in the organization,” I replied. “He seemed convinced there were twelve of them, and this clock picture confirms that.”
“What about the ‘Bodies’ part with all the question marks?”
“I have no idea what that part means. Sorry.”
“Is there anything else?”
“No. That’s all.”
Nate frowned. “There’s not much to go on, is there?”
“Nope. Why do you think I started breaking into people’s houses when I came back to the island?” I said, raising my brows. “All I knew was that a bunch of uber-rich families were involved in some sort of fucked-up scheme that wound up killing my father when he tried to expose it.”
He nodded slowly. “So that’s why you broke into my father’s study.”
“Yes. Your family is one of the wealthiest and most powerful families on the island, so it seemed like an obvious one to look into. I didn’t know that your dad wasn’t a real Lockwood at the time. I found out later that he’d married into the family and changed his last name.”
“But you told me a while ago that you found something in his study anyway, right?” he said, cocking his head. “A diary entry that mentioned your father?”
“Yes. It was just his contact details. So he knew my dad, or he at least knew of him for some reason.”
“Hm.” Nate’s forehead creased. “You didn’t find anything else in his study, did you?”
“Actually, I did, but I wasn’t sure if it meant anything,” I said as a memory crystallized in my mind. “Your dad seemed to write little notes in his diary all the time to remind himself of stuff, and I found one that made me wonder.”
“What did it say?”
“It said: Note to self: remember I moved all the GCL info/papers into safe.”
“GCL?”
“Yes. I figured it could mean ‘Golden Circle Ledger’ or ‘Golden Circle Log’, and that maybe your dad was the organization’s record-keeper,” I said. “That’s why I was trying to break into his safe when you caught me that night. I wanted to see if I was right, or if it was just something else that was totally irrelevant.”
Nate was silent for a moment. Then he leaned forward, eyes narrowing slightly. “GCL could mean Gregory Carson Lockwood.”
My brows shot up. Until now, I had no idea what Greg’s middle name was. “Oh my god,” I said, one hand fluttering near my mouth. “That makes sense. More sense than ‘Golden Circle Ledger’, anyway.”
Nate nodded grimly and leaned back in his seat again. “Here’s what I think based on what you’ve told me so far,” he said. “I think my dad knew your dad, as evidenced by the contact details in the diary, and he might’ve been helping him with his investigation.”
“You think he was the source?”
“Yes. He could’ve suspected my uncle Greg of being involved in something shady, and he would’ve been right, because we now know that Greg was a serial killer. So Dad might’ve been keeping notes on him to pass on to your father for his exposé, and then he decided to keep them in the safe in case Greg or my mom ever went through his study and found out what they were up to. The note you found could’ve been about that.”
I nodded. “But then Greg and the rest of the Golden Circle found out about my dad’s investigation anyway. They framed him for those murders at Blackthorne to destroy his credibility, and then…”
I trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.
“Then they killed him to shut him up permanently,” Nate finished for me. “Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m wondering if they killed my father as well, for knowing too much. Same as yours.”
“The car accident could’ve been a setup,” I said, eyes widening. “It makes sense, because we already know that Greg wasn’t even in the car at the time of the crash, even though the official story is that he died in it, right next to your dad.”
Nate abruptly stood up. “We need to look in that safe,” he said.
I followed him out of the library, heart pounding.
When we stepped into Francis Lockwood’s old study on the fourth floor, a wave of déjà vu washed over me, almost making my legs buckle. The spot I was standing in right now—next to a portrait on the left wall—was exactly where I was standing when I first saw Nate cruelly smirking at me from across the room. At the time, I was trying to break into the safe that was hidden behind the painting.
The memory made my cheeks flush hot with a mixture of shame and regret. I was stupid that night. Stupid enough to get caught, and stupid enough to let my attraction to a complete stranger sabotage my escape.
Nate pulled the painting away from the wall and keyed in some numbers on the front of the safe. “My birthday,” he explained. “Dad used it as his password for everything.”
The safe swung open with a soft hiss. I craned my neck to see inside it. Nate let out a soft curse. “There’s nothing in here,” he said, clenching his jaw. “Someone cleared it out.”
“That could be how the Golden Circle found out about my dad’s investigation in the first place,” I said, heart sinking with disappointment as I stared at the empty space. “They could’ve found all the notes your dad was keeping for him in here.”
Nate lifted one shoulder in a vague shrug. “Yeah, maybe. But who the fuck knows? That whole theory about our fathers knowing each other might be totally wrong,” he said. “There’s just too much shit we don’t know. Too much shit that doesn’t make any sense.”
I lay a hand on his arm. “Let’s go back to the library and write all our questions down, like you said earlier. We’ll put it all in one big document with my dad’s letter and notes. That way we can keep track of everything we know and everything we still need to know.”
He nodded, shook my hand off, and strode out of his father’s study without another word. I padded down the hall behind him, mind whirling with questions.
When we returned to the library, Nate picked up the laptop and glanced over at me. “What do you think we should ask Greg?” he asked.
I hesitated, scratching the back of my head. “We should start by asking him about the people he murdered. I want to know why he did it. Is he just a psychopath who did it because he enjoys killing so much, or was he being paid by the Golden Circle to do it for some other reason?”
Nate nodded and typed it all out. “We should also ask why he displayed the last thirteen bodies in public at Blackthorne,” he said. “He killed over five hundred other people, and no one ever knew about that because he didn’t display any of them.”
“We should ask where he hid the remains of the others too. It’s weird that no one has ever found them when there’s so many of them.”
“Good idea.” He typed for another few seconds and then glanced back at me. “After that, we should ask about the Golden Circle. When was it created, and why? What exactly do they do? And who is—or was—part of it?”
“I think it’s safe to say your family is involved, judging by what we know so far,” I said. “But that still leaves eleven other families to identify.”
“Exactly.” Nate frowned. “Also, we need to find out why the hell Greg was locked down in that bunker for the last ten years. He didn’t tell you, did he?”
“No. I asked, but he refused to answer.” I leaned forward. “I think we also need to ask him if your theory about your father is right. Did he know anything, and if so, did Greg or the Golden Circle kill him because of that? Or was the car accident real?”
“We need to ask about my mother too,” Nate added, fingers flying over the keyboard. “I’m assuming she’s neck-deep in the whole thing, because she’s hidden Greg all these years and kept him alive, but I want to know why she’d help him like that.”
I lifted a brow. “Because he’s her brother.”
“Yeah, but Greg treated her like tot
al shit. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to help him at all.”
“Why? What did he do?”
“Colette told me he was always jealous of her, and he’d get angry whenever anything good happened to her. The opposite was true too. He gloated and laughed at her when she confided in him about some miscarriages she had before I was born.”
A chill shot through me. “Wow. What an asshole.”
“Yeah. Apparently he always treated her like that.”
“Maybe she hasn’t actually been helping him, then,” I said, tilting my head to one side. “Maybe she found out he was a murderer, and she decided to lock him away forever because she couldn’t stand the thought of turning him in and seeing him get the death penalty. They still had capital punishment in Washington back then, remember? And even though Greg killed all those people, your mom might’ve felt some sort of loyalty toward him, purely because he’s her brother.”
Nate rubbed his jaw. “No, I’m pretty sure she was in on whatever the hell was going on back then, including all the murders.”
“Why?”
He held up two fingers. “Two reasons. One, she knew he was killing people, because she was aware of his home videos. The day before his fake funeral, she put them all in his grave to hide them.”
“That doesn’t mean she knew about it all along, though,” I said. “Maybe she accidentally found the tapes one day, and that’s how she found out he was a killer.”
“Maybe. But there’s also the car accident. Mom is the one who told the police and everyone else that Greg was with my father in the car that day, and that clearly wasn’t true. She lied about everything,” he said. “Why would she do that unless she was involved in setting it all up?”
“So that everyone would believe Greg was dead, I assume. That way she could keep him in the bunker without anyone else ever suspecting a thing.”
“I don’t know about that.” Nate slowly shook his head. “I still think she’s involved in some way. Like you said, your dad thought that entire families were involved in the Golden Circle business. Not just individuals.”
“But if that’s actually true, why don’t you know about any of it? You’re a Lockwood.”
“Good point,” he muttered.
I tilted my chin. “Where is your mom right now, anyway? I forgot to ask earlier.”
“China. She’ll be back tomorrow afternoon,” he replied. “So we have until then to try to get information out of Greg before she finds out that we know he’s down there.”
“Okay.” I turned my attention back to the laptop screen. “We should ask him if the Golden Circle is still around. I’m guessing they are, but I’d like to know for sure.”
Nate nodded and wrote that down. “We should also ask if he’s still in contact with them, and if so, what they’re up to these days.”
“Yes, that’s good.” I covered a yawn and leaned back in my chair. “God, I might actually be able to sleep soon. Getting all this stuff out has really helped.”
“We can go back to bed if you want,” Nate replied, lifting his brows. “Unless you have any other questions to add to the list.”
“I don’t think so.” I yawned again. “I’m happy with what we have so far. Do you have anything else?”
“No.” He closed the laptop and picked it up. “Let’s go.”
We headed back to his bedroom. I took my clothes off and slid into a silky black nightie I found in the stash of clothes Nate brought me earlier, and then I climbed into bed and waited for him.
He didn’t join me right away. He opened a drawer on his bedside table, pulled out a silver key, and walked over to the door. My heart sank as I watched him turn the key in the lock before slipping it into his pocket.
He still didn’t trust me. Not enough to believe that I wouldn’t sneak out in the middle of the night and call the police on him.
I rolled onto my side and faced away from him, heart thudding as confusion and irritation poured through me. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. It wasn’t like Nate and I were a couple. That was just a fantasy I’d employed to get me through the last day and a half. In reality, we were just two people who despised each other and also happened to need each other. He needed me for what I knew, and I needed him for protection.
Beyond that, we were nothing.
You need to remember that, I warned myself. But then Nate moved closer to me in the bed and wrapped one arm around me, pulling me against his hard chest. A mixture of longing and security instantly radiated through me, like a heat lamp had switched on the minute his skin touched mine.
I tried to push the warm, safe feeling away, but it stubbornly remained, and as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, a tiny frozen piece deep inside me broke off and melted into oblivion.
9
Alexis
“Lex. Wake up.”
Peeling one eyelid open, I looked up at Nate. He was looming over me from the edge of the bed.
“What time is it?” I murmured, stretching my arms above my head.
“Just after eleven.”
Panic spiraled inside me, and I sat bolt upright. “I slept for twelve hours?”
“You needed it.”
“Where’s Greg?”
Nate smiled faintly. “Don’t worry, everything’s fine. I checked on him earlier, and he was still asleep. Still locked up, too.”
I slumped against the bedhead. “Oh. Good.”
“Get dressed and come downstairs for breakfast. I got you more of those croissants you liked yesterday.”
My stomach did a teensy flip. “Thanks.”
I put on my new jeans, sweater, and gray coat before padding downstairs to meet Nate in the kitchen. He had a pot of coffee in his right hand and a tall mug in the other. “Your food is there,” he said, dipping his chin toward a plate on the marble counter. “Do you want coffee?”
My lips twitched. “Sure. Thanks.”
“Why do you look so amused?” he asked, raising a brow.
“I just had no idea you were so domestic. I assumed you’d get Colette or a maid to do this sort of stuff,” I said, gesturing to the coffee.
“I’m rich, not braindead. I know how to make coffee and put food on a plate. Besides, I gave Colette and the rest of the staff a week off with full pay.”
“Why?”
“To get them out of the way while we’re dealing with Greg and my mom. I told them it was a reward for long service.”
I nodded slowly. “Good idea.”
After breakfast, we got the laptop, headed outside, and trudged toward the woods.
Greg was awake by the time we descended into the main room of his bunker. The bridge of his nose was almost black, and blood was caked around his nostrils.
“I’m going to kill you when I get out of here,” he muttered, glowering at us as we stepped closer.
Nate smiled thinly. “You aren’t getting out of here, Greg. But you are going to answer some questions for us.”
“I’m not answering shit.”
“We want to know about the murders. Why you did it, if you acted alone, and where the rest of the bodies are. Then we want to know everything about the Golden Circle.”
Greg spat at Nate’s feet. “Like I said, I’m not telling you anything, so you can fuck right off.”
Nate lowered himself into a crouch right in front of his uncle’s chained legs. “I thought you might say that. But here’s the thing. We know my mother kept you down here, and we know she’s kept you alive all these years.”
“So what?”
“So no matter what sort of relationship you had before you wound up down here, you must love her and care about her wellbeing, right? After she’s taken such good care of you?”
“So what?” Greg repeated.
Nate rose to his feet. “If you don’t answer our questions, I’ll have to hurt her when she gets home later. Right in front of you. Do you think you can stand to see that?”
Worry flitted across Greg’s lined face, but it
was soon replaced by amusement. “You wouldn’t hurt your own mother,” he said with a snort of laughter.
I arched a brow and stepped forward. “You know what? You’re right,” I said smoothly. “He probably wouldn’t hurt his mom. But I would. I barely know her. In fact, all I really know about her is that she’s been harboring you for the last ten years—the man who murdered my father. So I have no problem carving chunks out of her if that’s what it takes to get one or both of you talking.”
“She’s not lying, man. She did this to me a couple of weeks ago,” Nate said, lifting his jacket and shirt to show off the knife scar on his abdomen. “I wouldn’t play with her if I were you.”
Greg craned his neck and squinted to get a better look at the scar. “Jesus, you stabbed him?” he said, darting his eyes over to me. “Why?”
“I caught him texting another girl.” I turned and fixed Nate with my most psychotic stare, bright and wide-eyed. “I bet you won’t do that again, will you, babe?”
He grimaced. “Not a chance. Learned my lesson the hard way.”
Greg slowly shook his head. “And you think I’m the fucked up one here,” he muttered.
I smiled. “Are you going to talk or not?”
“Fine,” he muttered in a tentative tone. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start from the beginning,” Nate said. “When I first found you down here, you said some stuff to me before you made up that bullshit about being Peter Covington. You said my mom hid you for the last ten years because ‘they’ were going to kill you, whoever the hell ‘they’ are. Was that bullshit too? Or did it mean something?”
Greg let out a short sigh. “It was true. Your mother has kept me safe for a very long time.”
“Safe from what?”
He lapsed into silence for a long moment. “The Golden Circle were coming after me,” he finally said. “Annalise saved me. She convinced them all I was dead and hid me down here. She risked her own life to do it.”
Nate frowned. “Why would she risk her life to help you after the way you’ve treated her?”