Trent and Jacob.
Deciding to move on and finish the page that’s opened later, I minimize the window and check out the folder. There’s a fuck ton of files and a fuck ton of dates. I bet this is Sophia’s dad’s laptop, and I bet when I go through it, I’m going to see some shit I wish we knew seven fucking months ago.
Shuffling and movement behind me grabs my attention.
Everyone leaving the room.
Turning around, I look at Sophia. She’s trying to get control of her emotions and deal with a frightened Mitzy at the same time.
After taking three deep breaths, I quietly say, “Remember the words you made me promise, Sophia. No secrets. Ever.”
I want to go and comfort her. I want to pull her into my arms and never let go.
Instead, I head to the closet and grab a t-shirt. Yanking it over my head, I move back into the bedroom.
Fuck.
I really want to wrap my whole body around her.
I can’t do it though. I just can’t right now. I have to deal with this shit first.
Grabbing my gun off the dresser, I shove it back down my pants and walk out of the room, making my way to the living room.
I’m not mad at Sophia, not exactly, but I should have known about the laptop the minute she touched it. There’s no telling the kind of damage it could have done to her and the family had it connected to my Wi-Fi. Thankfully, the laptop is so old, it doesn’t even have Wi-Fi. At least none that I could find.
So that’s one worry off my mind.
The voices in my living room piss me the fuck off. There shouldn’t be a fucking sound beyond Amanda breathing.
When I turn into the room, I stare hard at Johnathan. He’s not the enemy, no matter what I feel at the moment. He’s family. The same with Beth and Charlie.
Amanda though… Beautiful, broken Amanda.
“Get out of my house. Get out,” I snap at them.
Fixing Amanda with my stare, I want to launch myself across the room and rip her throat out for even daring to do what she did under my nose in my fucking house.
Amanda stares right back at me and doesn’t flinch.
Long gone is the girl we rescued from the Russians. Long gone is the spoiled little rich bitch. I can see it in her eyes, they’re dark and dead. She’s seen too much, felt too much, and knows too much.
It would have been a mercy if we had killed her when we rescued Beth and Sophia.
That’s the fucked-up thing about mercy. Most think it’s forgiving someone or showing compassion to the poor and weak.
Mercy for your enemies and all that bullshit.
The real world mercy is when you kill someone before they become a danger to themselves and everyone else around them.
It’s too late for that now. She’s alive and breathing, thanks to us. She’s become a dark, twisted form of life that will eventually do something that gets herself killed.
Or worse.
Has she killed yet? I almost want to be there when she does it. I want to see how she does it, and if it breaks her carefully built tower or if it hardens her even further.
“How did you get the laptop?” I ask her.
Amanda looks to Johnathan and Beth for help before looking back at me.
It’s all for show though, and we both know it.
Beth is fooled, but I doubt John is.
She wants to play the game, I guess. Too bad she doesn’t have the training for it.
“Look at me, mega-bitch,” I snap at her.
“Excuse me?” Beth spits out, and I can hear Johnathan growling with anger.
Not taking my eyes off Amanda, I say to Beth and John, “Get the fuck out of my house.”
“Sophia gave it to us,” Amanda finally answers after a long pause of built-up tension.
Nodding my head, I say, “When?”
Amanda frowns. “Right after her dad died. She thought the guys sent to watch over her were snooping around too much.”
“Did you see the contents before today?” I ask and watch her eyes.
This is the real moment of truth. If she did and lies about it, I’m going to have to put a bullet through her skull.
And I’m more than likely going to have to fight Johnathan right afterwards.
“No, I only cracked the passwords,” Amanda calmly replies.
“How’d you crack them?” I ask.
“Look, you don’t need to interrogate us like this,” Beth says, trying to calm some of the tension down.
“There’s no us in this, Beth,” I say and keep staring at Amanda. “This about her, not us.”
John’s not stupid. He’s moved slightly in front of Beth and edged Charlie behind him. He knows Amanda will die before he even gets his pistol out of the holster on his hip. He also knows I’ll have a bead on him before he’s ready to pull the trigger on me.