Chapter 16 #2
Cade rushed past the office doorway, her face pale and streaked with tears.
She didn't even glance in my direction, too caught up in whatever emotional storm was raging inside her.
A moment later, Ryder appeared in the doorway, looking exhausted and troubled.
His usually perfect hair was dishevelled, and there were dark circles under his blue eyes.
This was not the face of the excited man that had left this morning.
"How did it go?" I asked, though his expression already told me the answer.
"Complicated," he said, slumping into one of the leather chairs across from the desk.
He nodded to my glass, and I got up, wobbling slightly from the amount of alcohol I had consumed and retrieved him a glass.
I put it on the desk and poured us both a drink from the almost empty bottle.
Ryder took a deep drink before putting his glass back on the desk.
"My mother... she knew Cade's mother. They were in Courts House together.
" Before Ryder could elaborate further, Logan appeared, his dark hair still damp from a shower.
He was wearing a fresh shirt, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his jaw was clenched.
"What the fuck is wrong with Cade?" he demanded, his hazel eyes flashing with concern and irritation. "She just stormed past me like I didn't exist." Ryder ran a hand through his hair.
"My mother told us some things about Lissa Turner. Apparently, she was a Legacy, not a scholarship student like we thought. And she wanted to be a Consort, badly. When she didn't get chosen, she became... vindictive."
"A Legacy?" Logan's eyebrows shot up. "That changes things."
"It gets worse," Ryder continued. "My mother said the last time she saw Lissa was at an Alumni Dinner, right after I was born. She was with someone named Dexter Knotty."
I felt my blood run cold. I knew that name, and it only confirmed what I already knew. Dexter Knotty had been one of Dominic Blake's most valued clients, a man with tastes that ran toward the extremely young and innocent.
"There's more," I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. Both Logan and Ryder turned to look at me, and I could see the question in their eyes. I reached into the box and pulled out the photograph, my hands steady despite the earthquake happening inside my chest.
"I know who Cade's mother is. And I know why we couldn't find her." Ryder leant forward, his eyes widening as he took in the image. Logan moved around the desk to get a better look, and I watched as the colour drained from his face.
"Is that...?" Logan's voice trailed off, but I could see the recognition in his eyes.
"That's Cade," I confirmed, pointing to the little girl in the photograph. "She was about five years old. I was seven." I looked up at both of them, seeing my own horror reflected in their faces. "She was at the Palace, guys. Her mother brought her there."
"Are you sure?" Logan asked. I nodded quickly. I wish I was mistaken, but there was no way to mistake what I knew, Ryder looked like he might be sick.
"Fuck," he whispered, sinking back into his chair. "That means..."
"That means Lissa Turner was involved with some very dangerous people," Logan finished. "That could be why she went missing. If she got involved in that side of Blake's world then she could have easily disappeared and no one would find her." I took another drink and then a deep breath.
"Oh, she isn't missing," I said. Both guys looked at me, their eyes widening.
"I know exactly where she is, in fact I make it my mission to know where that woman is at all times.
Although she doesn't go by the name Lissa Turner anymore.
" I nodded to Ryder. "That's why you couldn't find her.
She hasn't been Lissa Turner for a long time.
" Logan's expression had gone cold, calculating.
"Who is she, Cole?" I hesitated, the weight of the truth settling on my shoulders like a lead blanket. Once I said this, there would be no going back. No pretending that our beautiful Consort was just an innocent girl who'd got caught up in our world by accident.
"She's been hiding in plain sight," I said finally. "You have spoken to her more than once. And you both know exactly who she is."
"Cole," Logan's voice carried a dangerous edge. "Who. Is. She?" I met his gaze, then Ryder's, seeing the same desperate need for answers that is going to change the way they see Cadence Turner.
"Lissa Turner changed her name to…" I reached for another drink and downed the third glass in half an hour.
Then I picked up the one photo that I had been actively avoiding.
It was a photo of me as a seven year old standing between two of the worst people I had ever met.
The man was Dexter Knotty, and they were celebrating their recent wedding.
I gulped and looked at my two best friends before lifting the photo for them to see.
"... Alyssa Knotty." The silence that followed was deafening, filled with the weight of revelations that would change everything we thought we knew about our girl and her place in our world.