Chapter 75
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
BELLATRIX
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER
Iheard the clanking of heels down the hallway and jabbed at the punching bag two more times. Following it up with a knee strike when the gym door crept open and I could sense a pair of eyes watching me.
“Whatever it is this time, I don’t want it,” I called out.
“What makes you think I have something?” Vee replied.
I grabbed the bag to steady it and finally glanced over in the direction of the door. “I thought you were Gabby.”
“And what would she be bringing you?”
“Nothing in particular.” I lifted a shoulder and continued doing everything to the punching bag I was planning to do to someone else… as soon as I was allowed out of the house again.
If someone claimed you couldn’t be grounded at twenty-eight, I’d tell them they never met Veera Vaughn.
I’d had my bike keys taken away, all my accounts frozen, and my guns confiscated. She didn’t lock me inside the house, but at the end of the day, it was pretty much the same thing. Everything I was interested in doing required cash or weapons. And the shit I really wanted to do required both.
I had a couple of throwing knives on me and a taser. But they wouldn’t be enough. I wasn’t gonna let him get that close again.
Vee insisted it was so I had proper time to heal. I was pretty certain she was just scared of me going off on a killing spree…
“Now that you mention it,” she hummed, her nails tapping on each of her elbows, one manicured eyebrow raised. “There’s a package waiting for you in my office.”
“I knew it!” I grumbled under my breath before looking back over at her. “I already told you I didn’t want it.”
“I think you might change your mind once you see what it is.” Vee turned and walked away, hoping my curiosity would get the better of me and I would have no choice but to follow her.
She was right. It did. And I did.
Gabby was already sitting in one of the chairs in front of Vee’s desk.
I dropped into the empty seat next to her with a huff, my eyes hyperfocused on the black garment box tied up with black ribbon laid out in front of us.
It wasn’t what I was expecting. He was getting more creative as the weeks went on, it seemed.
He’d started by leaving the rest of the diary pages clipped to my bike.
One at a time. I’d taken them but only because I couldn’t risk them being left out in the open for anyone to grab.
And when he hadn’t gotten the reaction he’d been hoping for, he’d left a severed finger with a gold ring attached.
It’d taken a quick scan of the morning news for me to realize it belonged to one of his recent hits.
The wife of some preacher who was reported as having ran away with the dude she was having an affair with.
The husband was on the television screen almost daily, begging her to come home to him while opening his hand and asking for donations at the same time.
After that, it had been an ear—just one—with a silver stud attached. I didn’t bother looking into who it belonged to. But it was definitely a guy, judging by the size. Then a few pocket knives, some weird Russian chocolate, and finally this box.
I glanced over to Gabby, and she shrugged.
She thought it was endearing. I thought it was condescending.
Like a cat dropping dead birds in front of your house because it thinks the human inside is too stupid to feed itself.
I didn’t need his little gifts. Or his apology or whatever this was meant to be.
I needed his brains splattered all over the sidewalk and I needed a piece of his skull to add to my keychain.
“What’s inside?” I jutted my chin forward, one arm dangling on the back of the chair and the other bouncing on my thigh. I knew Vee had already opened it. She wouldn’t have called me over if she hadn’t.
The box was big enough to fit an arm or a leg, not quite tall enough for a head, but something told me it wasn’t any of those things. Or it still wouldn’t be sitting here. She wasn’t a fan of leaving incriminating evidence lying around.
Other than her diary, I suppose. Then again, I really didn’t know if anything incriminating was even in there. Maybe I should have read it, made sure all the bullshit had been worth dying over…
“Why don’t you look for yourself.” Vee gestured to her desk.
I leaned forward in the chair, plucked the lid off, and tossed it aside. “What the fuck?” I grunted.
“Lemme see.” Gabby jumped up and peered down into the box. “What the fuck?” she repeated.
Then she reached a hand inside and grabbed one of the masks. There were three of them in three different colors: white, brown, and gray.
“There’s a card inside as well,” Vee explained.
“What’s it say?” I asked her.
“Thought you didn’t want it?” She grinned.
“I don’t. I’m just curious.”
“It’s an invitation.”
I paused the finger that was absentmindedly running over the front of the brown mask. “To what?”
“A masquerade ball. At Prescott Estates.” Vee lowered herself onto her chair and pulled it closer to the desk, her hands steepled in front of her. “I think we should go.”
“Why?”
“To see what they want. He didn’t set this up alone. This has Adrian written all over it,” she replied, trying to feign nonchalance. But I could see the pleading in her eyes. Part of her needed to go back there. To face her ghosts. And I needed to go back there to kill mine.
“When is it?” I asked her.
“Two days,” Vee replied.
I nodded, and Gabby squealed. She loved any excuse to dress up.
“Is this supposed to be a mouse or a rat?” She took the gray mask and pressed it up against her face, careful not to smudge her makeup. “It better be a mouse.”
I turned to glare at her. “What’s the difference?”
“Mice are cute,” she said it like it was obvious. “Rats are gross.”