Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
brAUM
T he Universe is practically giddy as it dances around us.
Small grains of multicolored light, twinkling like iridescent fireflies, surround us as we wind our way through the building, taking great care to stay out of sight of the security cameras.
I’ve slipped the security guard a thousand dollars to turn a blind eye and to erase anything that might not seem on the up and up, but why make his life harder?
The Universe pushes at my back. It takes everything in me not to stumble at Its impatience.
It’s never been this demanding before. The fact It is suddenly so focused on the here and now, when It’s typically abstract and vague, is a bit disconcerting.
The intensity of It bearing down on me, so close I swear I can feel Its breath hitting the back of my neck and Its hands on my shoulders, tells something bigger than I can ever imagine is about to take place.
Around me are the scuffling footsteps of the others.
They don’t feel The Universe. They can’t. It doesn’t make Itself known to just anyone. My family has been gifted with a direct connection to It. Because of Its guidance, we have transcended beyond the scope of the laws governing man.
Ahead of me, Sheldon, Vick, and Rowan walk in silence.
Behind me, Jonathan carries Everly over his shoulder.
I watch Vick carefully. Rowan mentioned he’d found the unstable asshole shouting into the night over at the White Stag Chapel.
Poor guy. It must suck to be unable to trust your own mind.
Freed from his straitjacket, Vick has his fists balled up at his sides, and shoulders rigid with tension.
There’s a slight tremble rushing through his body now, the back of his neck sweaty and red.
I love seeing Vick this way—unhinged and unable to hide the fractured parts of himself.
Rowan hates Vick because he’s a spoilsport.
Vick’s always stepping in to stop our games, ruining everything for everyone.
Me? I hate Vick because he thinks he’s better than the rest of us.
There’s an air of undeserved superiority about him.
In his head, Vick isn’t a broken bastard like the rest of the patients here.
He truly believes he’s the sane and noble one.
It’s for this reason we fuck with him as often as we do. Shoving Vick to the edge of his sanity, fucking him over time and time again, is satisfying because every time he pieces his mind back together he has to face the truth: he’s not perfect, just delusional.
If he knew the truth about me, about my family and who we serve, I wonder if he would feel so superior.
The world knows my family name; our reach is far and our wealth is great.
Yet, nearly no one has any idea how deep our influence in the world runs.
Within the small faction we’ve dedicated our lives to, we’re as close to gods as a person could get.
Vick has no idea who he’s actually dealing with.
But he’ll hopefully learn after tonight.
This whole setup is to shatter this illusion of entitlement.
He’ll take the bait Rowan and I have set up, and it’ll destroy him—The Universe told me so.
It should also sever the hold he has over Everly, whose attention will always be divided between me and him otherwise.
She’ll get to see the vicious, broken man he is and want nothing more to do with him.
I step aside as the hallway splits into two different directions then come to a stop. Jonathan stops too, Everly hanging over his shoulders like a wiggling sack of potatoes, and waits for his orders.
“You know where to go from here?” I ask him.
Jonathan nods. “Yes, sir.”
“Good, you’ll get your orders from us in a few minutes. Sheldon, go with him.” I nudge my head to the right.
Sheldon peels away from Vick and Rowan, joining Jonathan as he strolls away. Everly lifts her head off his back and glares at the rest of us.
For a fraction of a second, our eyes meet.
Up close they’re more green than brown, and what brown there is leans more toward auburn with the odd gold fleck or two mixed in.
In their depths is a clash of intense emotions.
Fear is the most prominent, but there’s so, so much more twisting and churning in those big eyes.
When I last saw her, I only caught glimpses of them.
Her subtle, furtive side glances through a veil of thick, long dark lashes made it impossible to get a good look at them.
Getting an unobstructed view now makes the wait worth it. They’re… Wow .
It’s like staring into an abyss full of pulchritudinous secrets only she can give voice to.
What does she know that I don’t? What mysteries does she keep from the world?
I want to hear them. From the important to the insignificant—I want it all.
Around her, The Universe stills, as if It’s holding Its breath.
Or like It’s found a piece of Itself and has settled down.
I struggle to breathe through the heavy wave of desire coursing through me. She’s mine, and soon, I’ll be able to indulge in my fine treat.
“Wait!” Vick snaps, taking a step after them. “Why aren’t we going with her? Where are they?—”
“Relax, we’ll be joining them shortly,” I tell him. “We’re just going to take the elevator. They’re going to take the stairs. That gives us time to fill you in on what’s going to happen.”
Vick watches the others until they’re out of sight then sighs. Turning to face me he says, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
I gesture toward the elevator at the end of the hallway we’ve taken. “After you.”
“This is going to be so much fun,” Rowan declares as he pats Vick on the back as we move toward the steel doors. “Aren’t you excited to finally get the truth? I wonder what she’ll say.”
“How are you going to get it from her?” he demands. “She doesn’t know you. Why would she admit anything to you ?”
I flash the keycard I stole from a nurse yesterday in front of the pad and the doors open. As we step inside, Rowan chuckles.
“She doesn’t have to know me. Everly just needs to be familiar with fear,” Rowan replies.
I flash the card again in front of an internal pad and press the 3B floor. As the door shuts, the presence of The Universe grows more intense. A shiver runs down my spine as it curls tightly around me.
“Get to the point, you two,” Vick growls, his body trembling harder now as his patience wears thin.
The elevator doors open back up with a ding a few seconds later.
“So impatient,” I tut with disapproval as I brush past them into the dark hallway.
I flip the switch on the wall and the hallway is immediately flooded with light.
They climb off the elevator, and we head toward the only door on this floor.
“What Rowan is trying to say is fear is a big motivator. You know all about that, don’t you?
You’ve seen some of our best work. That being said, we have found the ultimate way to shake Everly to her core. ”
We stop in front of the door. With another tap of the keycard, I unlock it, and we step inside.
The motion of us filling the room catches the attention of the sensors, and the lights flicker on.
Immediately, one of the two overhead lights burns out.
The one remaining provides enough to see that there's not much in here.
There is a row of seven folding chairs situated by the plexiglass window.
It smells musty. Judging by the dust on the floor, the chairs, and in the air, I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used in a long time.
“What is this place?” Vick asks, stopping just inside the door.
“This is a viewing room,” I explain. I shove my hands into my pant pockets and saunter over to the window.
“A viewing room?” Vick repeats, his voice deepening into a growl. “What are we going to view ? Where’s Everly?”
I stop when I get to my destination and peer down.
Below are three circular rows of stadium seating.
They’re positioned to stare down into the nearly empty space in the middle of the room.
I say nearly because Jonathan is currently attempting to strap Everly down onto the table there, having removed her straitjacket to do so.
It's not going well. She's a fighter. It's impressive how much trouble she gives him, especially since Jonathan isn't a small guy.
Beside them, Sheldon is pulling over a rolling table.
On top of it looks like an old-school radio.
“Come see for yourself,” I offer, looking back at him over my shoulder.
Vick spares Rowan a suspicious glance before lumbering over to me. He stops a few feet to my left. I watch his expression closely as he peers down at the scene below. The color drains from his face as it goes slack.
“What the fu—” he starts, but Rowan comes up to his other side and cuts him off with a laugh.
“Relax. None of this is real. That old thing doesn’t work.
All that prep work Sheldon and Jonathan are doing is just to get her scared.
No one is actually getting electrocuted,” he assures Vick.
“But we want her to believe she will. If she doesn’t, she won’t be forthcoming.
Once Everly’s strapped down, we’re going to tell her we’re going to shock her.
The only way to avoid the entire situation is to fess up to her true motives for being here.
Trust me, she’s going to squeal like a pig.
And when she realizes all this is fake, she’ll be embarrassed and never come back. ”
Neither of us tell Vick the truth; Everly won’t be leaving Serenity Falls after this. He doesn’t need to know the little details.
Vick stares down at Everly, eyes wide as he takes it all in.
Slowly, his expression hardens. A dark shadow gathers in his eyes and his jaw clenches tight.
As the surprise fades away, a deep loathing and suspicion takes its place.
Vick wants answers, and we can give them to him.
The only thing holding him back is knowing that to get his answers, he’s going to have to play our game.
He’s always been above them, intervening when he can.
Vick likes to pretend to be a hero. To get his answers, though, he’ll have to climb down off his high horse to become Everly’s villain.
“I don’t hear you saying no,” Rowan says eagerly. “Are we good to go on this? It’s your call.”
Vick’s nostrils flare as his hands fist at his sides. “Why are you guys doing this? Why do you even care ?”
I smirk as I feed him a lie. “The only people who get to fuck with you are me and Rowan. We don’t like competition.”
Truth be told, I don’t give a fuck if Everly is screwing with Vick.
If this is some weird game she’s playing to get in his head, that’s a betrayal Vick will have to face.
I’ll have front row seats to see the pain in his face while he realizes just how close he’d come to mistakenly trusting another person.
On the other hand, if Everly isn’t lying, Vick will have to face the consequences of putting her through one of our games and losing her trust. He’ll have lost the only person in the world who clearly would’ve done absolutely anything for him—including breaking him out of here.
With a tight nod, he growls. “Fine. Let’s do it.”
Rowan claps his hands together once, the resounding crack echoing in the room around us.
“Wonderful! Let’s get this show on the road!
” he declares. Reaching forward, he presses a button on the small pad by his hand then leans down into a microphone.
Turning my attention to the scene below, I find Everly is now secured to the table with Jonathan and Sheldon looking up at us for their instructions.
“Hello, Everly! As you can see, you’re in a bit of a predicament… ”