None of this makes any fucking sense to me. I’ve barely been in contact with him since Thanksgiving.
I shake my head, there’s no way. But as I rack my mind, I can’t think of what would push him to this. I have to focus on this, rather than the last thing I remember before coming here, because that was Lincoln and East in a pool of blood. If I focus on that, I’m never getting out of here. If either of them didn’t make it… because of me…
I don’t know what I’ll do.
The overhead light flickers on and I blink against the harshness of the yellow light.
“You’re awake,” he says as he comes down the stairs, which is when I realize I’m in a basement. It’s as if that knowledge turns my senses up, and I take in the stone walls and wrinkle my nose at the damp smell down here.
“Where are we?” I ask, my eyes watering against the harsh lighting.
“That doesn’t matter. We won’t be here long,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “We need to get you away from them before they get you too.”
“Before who gets me?” I ask softly, trying to remain calm. Pretty sure no one expected the guy who saved me from my last stalker to be the one to put me through this again, but I listen to my dad's voice in my memory, telling me to stay calm and collected, and it helps.
Only a little, but I cling to it like it's my only lifeline.
For all I know, it might be.
“The Knights.” He spins to face me. “The Regent will send his guard dog for you. It’s what he does. He came for everyone else in your line. He’ll come for you too if I don’t get you out.”
My eyes go wide and my heart rate increases, but there’s no beeping this time. I guess he took the monitor away. I shake my head, trying to clear the fog clouding my mind. It’s useless, but I have to try.
“What does that even mean, P?”
“It means you’re in danger, and I’m the only one who’s trying to help you. Those four, the four you trust so willingly? They’re in on it. Why else would they keep you so close? Covet you? They tricked you into thinking they wanted to keep you safe, but really, they want to gift you to the Knights.” He pauses his pacing and scrubs a hand down his face, looking at me as if he’s pleading with me to trust him. I’ve always trusted him, trusted him with my life… but he has to be wrong. There’s no way they’d do that to me. “The final step of initiation. Losing something or someone you love. They just want power. I thought you’d be safe, but no. I’ve been watching. They don’t want you to be safe. They want to sacrifice you for their own gain. The only potentially innocent one is East. He doesn’t know everything, but they don’t care. They’ll sacrifice him too if that’s what it takes to secure their seats in the Conclave.”
I blink at him. He has to be wrong.
He has to be.
“They wouldn’t do that to me, P,” I spit. Listening to that voice in my head that says to remain calm and collected is a lot easier said than freaking done.
He glares at me, angry that I don’t believe him. “Did they tell you about how your dad really died? ‘Cause they know. They know the guard dog came for him.”
I choke on the lump that forms in my throat. I try to swallow but it doesn’t clear. He has to be lying. “I don’t know what that means, P.”
“It means that the Knights want you. I didn’t tell your stupid boyfriends, because I didn’t want them to know I knew anything. And I couldn’t tell you. How could I? I knew the guard dog was coming and I didn’t do anything. I didn’t think he’d kill Stone. I didn’t. And then you found him and I panicked. I don’t want you to hate me, but I didn’t want them to kill me.”
“Who is the guard dog, Panda? Who killed my dad?”
He looks at me like I’m insane, like I should know.
“Riley… Riley is the guard dog.”
My heart beats so fast I think I might have a heart attack. He can’t mean Maverick. “Riley?”
“Yeah, Riley. Edward. The Regent’s guard dog… he took your mom, then he came for your dad.”
“My mom?” My mind spins, trying to filter through all of this. I’m half glad I’m strapped in, because I’m not sure I’d be able to stay standing right now. “Why?”
“I don’t know. If I knew, I’d tell you. I swear it. I just know that he wants you now, and they’re going to give you to him. So I had to get you away from them. Only I can protect you, V. You have to believe me.”
A tear slips down my face and I try not to flinch as he wipes it away. “Don’t cry, V. I didn’t want to make you cry.”
Rage bubbles up inside of me, and I snap. “You didn’t want to make me cry? Are you fucking kidding me? You stalk me, threaten me and my friends. My boyfriends. Then you fucking kidnap me, shoot at us—they could be dead for all I fucking know—and now I’m tied up while you tell me that Maverick’s dad took my mom and killed my dad. What the fuck did you think I was going to do? Laugh? Thank you? This is fucked up, Evan.”
He steps back, looking like I slapped him when I called him Evan, but I’m all out of fucks right now.