“Before I explain, I need your cellphones.” I hold out my hand, and one by one, they deposit their phones in my palm. All three of them share similar confused but curious looks as I remove the detection device from the pocket of my jeans and scan their phones for tracking devices. I doubt anyone is keeping tabs on my friends, but you can never be too sure.
I hand them back their phones and repocket the detection device. “I was checking for bugs or tracking devices,” I confirm before anyone asks. “You’re all clean.”
“Shit, girl. What the hell is going on?” Sariah inquires, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears. “And is this somehow connected with your past?”
Sariah knows what happened to me, because she saw a news report at the time, and we’ve talked about it, but I haven’t given her the whole picture.
I give her a terse nod before taking another swill of my beer, eyeballing Emmett. “You only moved to Lowell a couple years ago, right?” I’m only asking to be polite because I already know everything there is to know about Emmett thanks to the background check I performed on him.
“Yeah. I’m not from around here.” His foot taps on the floor.
“So, you don’t know my background.” I look to Sean for verification.
Sean shakes his head. “I know you don’t like people gossiping about you. I’ve never said a word.” His solemn gaze radiates with the truth, and I thank him with my eyes.
“What don’t I know?” Emmett asks, his gaze bouncing around the room.
“You don’t need to do this,” Sariah blurts before I can open my mouth. “I know how much you hate reliving it.”
“I need to start at the beginning because that’s where it all began.” Although, if Neo’s words tonight are to be believed, it began the instant I was born.
“You have my full attention.” Emmett’s face is a mask of seriousness as he leans his arms on his thighs and focuses on me.
“I was kidnapped when I was thirteen and held hostage for five days. I was only released after my father paid a three-million-dollar ransom.”
Emmett cusses.
“It was in all the papers and all over the news,” Sariah confirms.
“And most everyone in town knows who Harlow is because of it,” Sean adds.
I wet my dry lips. “It gave me a certain level of notoriety. One I still hate to this day.” I push the sleeves of my sweater up, showing him the scar tissue on my upper arms. A look of horror is etched upon his face as he leans in closer to examine the faded lines. “My captors did that to me. Every day I was their prisoner, they inflicted some new form of torture on me. They recorded it and sent it to my parents. Dad was scrambling to get the money together to pay the ransom and arguing with Mom. She wanted to go to the cops, but Dad knew involving the authorities would sign my death warrant.”
Of course, I only learned this much later. At the time, when every minute felt like eternity, I thought my parents didn’t care enough because they hadn’t come for me.
Emmett’s brow puckers. “But I thought it made the news?
“It did, but only after I was released. No one knew what was happening at the time it was happening, outside of my parents.”
I rub my palms down the front of my tight jeans. “My captors kept me blindfolded the entire time, and they were careful not to use their names around me. They stripped me to my underwear, tied me to a bed, and kept me locked in a cold room with only a thin blanket for warmth. Someone stood over me anytime I needed to use the bathroom. Strong arms pinned me to the bed every day when they inflicted new torture on me.”
I lift my sweater up to my ribs, showing him the six puckered circular-shaped scars scattered across my stomach. “Sinner did that to me on the last day. He laughed as I screamed every time he stubbed his cigarette out on my skin.”
Sariah’s eyes almost bug out of her head. “What?” she screeches, nearly dropping her beer on the floor. But Sean has spidey senses, and he snatches the bottle before beer ruins her grandma’s new royal blue carpet. “I thought you didn’t see any of their faces?”
“I didn’t until the last day when Sinner did this. He was alone in the room when he pulled the blindfold off.”
“He wanted you to know it was him,” she surmises.
“Yes, but I didn’t know who he was until I figured it out years later.”
“You should’ve told me,” she huffs.
“Don’t be mad.” I beseech her with my eyes. “I didn’t tell you to protect you.”
“I don’t understand,” Emmett says, frowning again. “Who’s Sinner?”
“Sinner is Neo Lennox a.k.a. Mom’s new fiancé. President of The Sainthood and my soon-to-be stepdad,” I explain.
His mouth drops open.
“Holy shit.” Sean shakes his head, his face displaying his shock. “David Jennings is innocent?”
I bob my head. “David Jennings was the scapegoat, because someone had to pay for the crime or the authorities would continue investigating.”
“Who’s David Jennings?” Emmett asks, scratching the back of his head.
“David Jennings was a business rival of Mom’s. The Sainthood staged it so he looked like a vengeful competitor trying to bleed Mom’s business dry and force her into bankruptcy. He protested his innocence the whole way through the trial, but he was convicted and sentenced to ten years in jail. He was also forced to hand over the ransom money along with compensation. His business and personal finances were drained overnight. His family was run out of town.”
Sariah chews on the corner of her mouth. “How long have you known The Sainthood were responsible, and how did you find out?”
I hate fudging the details, but I’ve already decided there are certain things I can’t tell them. I’m telling them as much as they need to know, because it’s safest that way.
“I pieced things together over the years and properly figured it out a couple years ago. Dad changed after I was kidnapped and tortured. I know he blamed himself, and he went into full-blown Rambo mode to keep me safe. I attended self-defense classes, and once a month, when we told everyone we were going on camping trips, he actually took me to this cabin he owns where I was trained in hand-to-hand combat and a bunch of different weapons by a guy named Diesel. Diesel also taught me some computer and hacking skills and gave me access to a ton of high-tech tools and equipment.” I tap the pocket of my jeans, pointing at the device I’ve just used on their phones that I have courtesy of Diesel.
“Is he a spy or?” Sariah leaves her question open ended on purpose.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Dad told me never to ask. All I know is, Diesel must’ve been trained by the government at some point because the stuff he knows is serious shit. Either that or he’s part of some badass mercenary organization.”
“Doesn’t sound like a bad guy to have in your corner,” Emmett supplies.
“He’s a great guy to have in my corner, but I still don’t fully trust him because of that element that remains hidden.”
I like to think I’m a good judge of character, and Diesel has been nothing but loyal and supportive, but Dad instilled a lot of advice, and the thing he drilled into me over and over again was not to trust anyone completely. That even allies can end up being foes.
“Did your dad know?” Sariah asks.
“We never talked about who took me. The only thing he asked me about my kidnapping was if they had raped me.” Sean and Emmett turn pale. “They didn’t touch me like that even though I was pretty well developed at that age and I’d already had my period.” I grind my teeth to my molars. “They were more about inflicting pain. I didn’t see their expressions, but I could feel their smiles as they burned me with cigarettes, cut me with knives, and took a blowtorch to my skin.”
Sean gulps, and Emmett reaches out, taking my hand in his. “It’s okay,” I assure him. “I was broken for a long time after I was released, but Mom got me into therapy, and Dad helped me a lot. Knowing that I can defend myself fully gave
me back a lot of my confidence and helped me overcome my trauma and my fears.”
“If your dad went to all that trouble, he must’ve known it was The Sainthood,” Sariah says, moving over to sit on my other side. “Because David Jennings was in prison, but it sounds like your dad believed the threat was still ever present.”
I pull my hand from Emmett’s tucking both my hands between my jean-clad thighs. “He knew. I’m sure of it. It’s why he went to such extremes to protect me. But he never told me, and I never told him I’d figured it out.”
“Why would The Sainthood kidnap you?” Sean asks, looking perplexed.
“Dad was a lawyer, and I think he was working for them.” I hate admitting that, because I’ve had Dad on a pedestal for years, and acknowledging he was tied up in shady shit means he wasn’t who I thought he was either. But it’s the only truth that makes sense. “Something must’ve happened, and they kidnapped me to threaten him.”
“Does your mom know?” Sariah asks, her mouth pulling into a tight line.
“We sheltered Mom from everything. That was the way Dad wanted it. She doesn’t know about the cabin or my training. Dad said we had to protect her, but now, I’m rethinking my theories.”
Sariah rubs at a spot between her brow. “If your mom was once engaged to Neo, and your dad knew that, then maybe he didn’t tell her to protect her or—”
“Or he didn’t trust her,” I blurt, cutting Sariah off. “And I’m guessing Mom is the reason Dad was mixed up with them in the first place. Although that’s only speculation because he’s dead and I can’t ask her because I don’t trust her anymore.”
“Fuck, Lo.” Sariah yanks me into a hug. “This is a shitstorm.”
“It’s a lot worse than that,” I say, easing out of her embrace. “It’s not a coincidence that Neo has reappeared in our lives. It’s all connected, and I think it’s tied up with something my dad knew.”
I pause for a second to gather my thoughts. I’m sure the answer is somewhere in the paperwork Dad left at the cabin, but most of the files are written in code, and in the four months since I discovered the documents, I haven’t been able to crack it. I want to tell them about the secret files, but it places them in too much danger, and I’m already risking so much by telling them this.
“What do you think is going on?” Emmett asks, concern transparent on his face.
“Everyone knows The Sainthood controls the guns and drugs on the streets and that they are behind most of the violence and unsolved murders. I suspect they are involved in a ton of other shit too. The authorities know it, but they can never pin them down. It doesn’t help that they have so many cops and judges in their pockets. I think my dad was collecting evidence to use against them.”
Acid crawls up my throat, and pain stabs me through the heart. I look down at my hands, needing a moment. Sariah rubs my back.
I lift my chin up, trying to ignore the agonizing pain ripping me apart on the inside. “Dad was on edge in the months leading up to his death. He bought me my SUV as an early birthday present, and he was anal about it being the only car I drove. It’s bulletproof, fireproof, bombproof, and about as indestructible as you can get. I thought he was overreacting, but now, I think he knew the danger had escalated.”
I blow air out of my lungs, staring at my bestie, as I force the words out of my mouth. “I think The Sainthood found out what my dad was up to and they killed him for it.”
CHAPTER 11
I’M DISTRACTED MONDAY at school because I’m itching to put my new plan in place. These past four months, my aim was to decode the paperwork, and once I understood what I was dealing with work out a way to take The Sainthood down.
But Neo making the moves on Mom has changed things. And after his guarded message last night, I know he’s going to start making demands on me. I can’t spend more time trying to decrypt the files.
I need ammunition, and I need it now.
I might have to move my timeline up and consider the very real possibility of fleeing before I graduate.
Unless I can prove Neo is behind my father’s death.
So, I’m refocusing my energies on the car accident that claimed my father’s life.
I tap out two messages on my new cell under the desk during math class before sliding my phone back into my pocket. Feeling eyes on me, I glance over my shoulder and stare blankly at Theo.
He stares back, giving nothing away, and I flip him the bird before turning back around and focusing on the class.
“Who were you texting during math class?” he asks when we are seated in the cafeteria at lunchtime. Being forced to sit with the four jerks every day is a pain in my ass, but I’ve tried ditching them, and they just follow me around.
Dicks.
Everyone knows Saint is set to become my stepbrother, and they’ve all jumped to the conclusion that’s why they’ve claimed me. Now, girls are climbing over one another to hit on them, and I’m forced to watch as they lap up all the attention even if I know they are just humoring the girls in a bid to fuck with my head.
I hate to admit it’s kinda working, and I’m trying really hard to retain my usual “don’t give a fuck” attitude.
“None of your business, and get the fuck out of my space,” I reply, elbowing Theo in the ribs because his chair is way too close to mine.
“There was a time you enjoyed Theo being all up in your space, wasn’t there, princess?” Saint says, purposely moving his chair in closer to me on the other side so I’m trapped between both jerks.
I peer into Theo’s face, but he’s giving nothing away. “You told them.”
He ignores me, shoveling a large forkful of pasta into his big mouth.
I press my lips to his ear. “But did you tell them the whole story?” I whisper loud enough for the others to hear.
He briefly squeezes my thigh in warning, his eyes challenging me with the promise of retaliation if I fuck things up for him.
I could blurt it all out now, but I’d rather hold it in reserve to use at an optimal time.
“We know he took your virginity when you were fifteen,” Galen says, louder than necessary. “And that you’ve been whoring yourself out ever since.”
A few catcalls and giggles ring out from the jocks and cheerleaders table, but I ignore them. “Guilty as charged,” I admit. “Although I call it taking control of my sexuality. It’s the twenty-first century, Galen. Women have the same right to enjoy consensual sex as men. Your comment just confirms your ignorance and lack of intelligence.”
I lean back in my chair, cocking my head to the side and smiling at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Saint struggling to contain a grin. I think he secretly loves it when I challenge any of them—no matter how he tries to portray it. “Continue peddling your particular brand of bullshit, and see if I care,” I tell Galen.
A throat clearing claims his attention before he can retaliate. I work hard to keep my emotions in check as I glance up at Parker. She’s wearing a tight red top that’s cut low at the front with her ample cleavage on full display. Her shapely hips are encased in a pair of skintight leather pants, and she’s forced her ugly feet into a pair of sky-high stilettos. Her makeup is so thick it looks like it’s been applied with a shovel, and her hair is so full of hairspray it doesn’t move when she shakes her head.
“Galen.” She purrs at him, sliding her tongue over her gloss-slicked lips. “Saint.” She turns her head to their leader, her gaze raking up and down his body as she unashamedly eye-fucks him in front of everyone.
My hands clench into fists of their own volition, and a burning sensation spreads across my chest. I struggle to stifle my unfamiliar feelings when Sariah kicks me under the table, cautioning me with her eyes.
I compose myself, schooling my features into a neutral expression, before anyone else notices.
“What can I do for you, Parker?” Saint asks in a pleasant tone I’ve never heard him use. I almost gawk at him but recover in time.
�
��Could I talk to you in private?”
Saint smirks, and his chair screeches as he stands. Galen, Theo, and Caz stand too. “Stay with the princess,” he commands Theo and Caz, taking Parker’s arm and moving her over to the far wall where there are fewer ears. Galen shoots me a mocking smile as he follows them.
“Yo, Finn,” Sariah hollers to the table behind us. “Your bitch is disrespecting you.”
“Shut your trap, Roark,” Finn shouts, digging his nails into the Formica tabletop so hard it’s bound to crack.
“Talk to my girl like that again,” Sean says, turning around in his seat to glare at Finn, “and I’ll permanently wire your jaw shut.”
“Bite me, asshole.” Finn flips Sean the bird, clearly aggravated at the lack of public respect. Seems someone is having a hard time handling the loss of power.
I watch Parker preen and pout, flirting up a storm with both Galen and Saint as they listen attentively to whatever she has to say. I glance at Finn again, and he’s seething, but he makes no move to retrieve his errant girlfriend, and that’s how I know this is a strategic play, and he’s definitely involved.
His face is a testament to the epic beatdown he secured last week, his skin every color under the rainbow. His left eye is still badly bruised, and his nose is swollen and covered in cuts, and he’s never looked so weak in every sense of the word.
Galen barks out a laugh, and I swing my gaze back around. Saint is smirking, Galen is chuckling, and Parker looks like the cat that got the cream. Her hands roam Saint’s chest, and his gaze flicks to mine for a nanosecond while she busies herself pressing her body up alongside Galen. She’s draping herself all over them, and both those assholes are letting her.
Caz chuckles, slurping noisily on his straw as he drinks his soda. “Jealous, princess?”
I snort. “Of that dumb bitch? Hardly.”
“Sure looks like it,” Theo adds, not lifting his eyes from his phone.
The Sainthood : A Dark High School Romance (The Complete Series) Page 11