“He needs to be rolled in glass shards and soaked in gasoline before meeting up with a flaming match,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“Whoa, you’re pretty savage,” Valen said, leaning in on his knees. “Tell me more, I like it.”
I began to describe the ways I’d like to murder Thackeray, and they all agreed.
We were lounging in the formal living room where I’d once met with a lawyer to handle Reg’s shooting. It felt like a million years and a hundred lifetimes ago by this point, and I wondered how I’d ever been that naïve.
“I’d like to see his face when he found out it was me,” I said. “That’s the biggest problem I have right now. I want him to know I’m the one killing him.”
“Then make it up close and personal, I guess,” Archer said. “You know, use a knife or something.”
“How about none of that?” Amara said as she strolled into the room. “How about you don’t murder him so you don’t go to jail and ruin the rest of your life?”
“Then what do you suggest I do with him?” I asked.
I was a little irritated by her interpretation, but she was Amara. She did what she wanted.
“I suggest you talk to your father. He probably already has a plan for him. He will tell you all about it once he gets here,” she replied.
“And when is that happening?” I asked.
“Tomorrow,” she replied with a kind, gentle smile. “It turned out he wants to spend the holidays with you.”
“Oh, we were going to go skiing for the winter break,” I said and her face fell. “I mean, we don’t have to. It’s just that I wanted to get away from it all.”
“I understand the urge,” Amara said and frowned. “But you can’t. I don’t think you get how in danger you are. We run a security detail of six different people on you at all times. Twenty-four seven.”
“What?” I laughed. “Come on, I never see anybody other than here. Where are they when I’m at school or at home?”
It wasn’t that I was challenging her. I just didn’t want to believe it.
“We’re there,” she said. “We prevent the Organization from getting close, and believe me, they try.”
It struck me then that my life was no longer my own. I might not be in prison and I might not be owned or threatened by the Organization on a daily basis, but they still controlled my movements.
As long as I had to worry about them harming me, they would always be my keepers.
I had to find a way to escape their reach so I could truly find freedom when this was all over.
If I survived the search for it, that was.
CHAPTER19
Valen turnedout to have the necessary skills to help me hunt down anything I could about Thackeray.
And by necessary skills, I meant that he knew what websites we could use to do a deep dive on Thackeray’s available information.
It was tough at first, Thackeray had done a good job at keeping himself offline. But in the end, it was his granddaughter who revealed his real name. I found the dance school’s website and there was a photo of her troupe there, along with her name. I found his name in a list of generous donors for the year, and from there, we hunted him down online.
“You’re amazing at this,” I told Valen, and watched him swell with pride.
We were in Archer’s bed propped up on pillows with the laptop. Archer, Ryker, and Kingston were in the bed with us, but they were more focused on playing video games and shooting each other on the oversized screens Archer had brought in for this occasion.
If we weren’t able to go away for Christmas break, we’d decided to spend as much time as possible indulging in lazy things, eating tasty treats, and having sex.
“I just know where to look online and let the websites do the rest,” he smiled at me and kept typing. “People’s own arrogance will always be their greatest weakness. Their pride and belief that they’re above everyone else will keep them stupid. Like in this case, Thackeray needed to flex by donating that much money in his own name, and boom, it was easy to hunt him after that.”
“It’s still amazing if you ask me,” I replied in admiration.