41 #2
“I can only imagine how I’d react if you’d seen a tape of someone I loved,” he continues.
“Even just a few frames. It’s a good thing I’m not capable of love, huh?
I don’t believe I have it in me to care about anyone but you, Logan.
And maybe Everest, on a good day.” He smirks at his own joke, then freezes when he sees my expression. “What is it?”
“You…” I blink fast, trying to calm my breathing. “You saw the tape?”
“Didn’t you know?” He frowns. “Isn’t that why you’re going to kill me?”
“I…” Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. I wipe away the sweat beading up at my temples. “You didn’t tell me she was raped. That’s why I’m going to kill you.”
He looks just as confused as I feel. “I did try to warn you, though.”
“Yes, but three years too late!” I don’t realize I’m shouting till I hear the echo of my voice bounce off the walls. “You told me three years too late! You should’ve told me about it when it happened! You ruined my life!”
“Hey, man!” His voice cuts through mine. “Hey, man.” He crosses the room, eating up the distance between us, until my gun is flush against his chest. “I didn’t fucking know then. Don’t you fucking think I’d have told you if I did?”
I stare at him, then at the gun in my hand, the barrel pressing against him.
“I thought…”
“Fuck, man! I wouldn’t have let you suffer for three fucking years if I’d known. How could you possibly believe that?”
“I thought…” I pass a trembling hand over my eyes. “I thought… I thought you wanted me to move on and… and…”
“You’re fucking insane! Did Coltello put you up to it?
That fucker. Logan! I didn’t know. I swear to god I didn’t know.
I started to suspect it right before Lia ran away.
That’s when Coltello paid off those girls, and it’s the reason I volunteered you.
Then I asked Carmelo if that’s what he’d done to Lia.
He didn’t try to deny it. He just put on that tape, but I only saw a few seconds, I swear.
I tried to get it from him the next day, but he told me he lost it.
Maybe Coltello took it—he was there too.
Fuck, it’s gotta be Coltello. I’m gonna kill that fucker… ”
By now, the gun has fallen to the floor, and I’m shaking with relief. With the thought of what I nearly did. It’s all I can do to stay upright, my hand trembling as it lands on Damien’s shoulder and squeezes it.
“Damien. Damien. You don’t have to kill anyone. I’ve already killed him. He’s dead.”
“Really?” He frowns, and my laughter dies on my lips as I notice his expression. “That’s strange. Very strange.”
My chest tightens again, but this time it’s not from pain. An eerie sense of foreboding forms in the pit of my stomach and slowly crawls up my throat.
“Is it? Is it strange, Damien?”
“Yeah.” His frown deepens as he pulls out his phone, staring at the screen that gives off a cold blue light in the darkness of the warehouse. “Because he just texted me.”
“What?” I look at him, then at the phone, but it’s angled away from me, and I can’t see the screen. “But… but… he must be dead. He came to me with that CD…”
“No.” He shakes his head. “It was a set-up. Fuck, Logan!”
“It can’t be.” By now the beads of sweat at my temples have turned into a river. “I killed him. He was lying on the ground. Dead.”
“He must have been wearing a bulletproof vest or something. He’s not an idiot, Logan. He would’ve guessed you would have reacted by… fuck!” Urgency is written all over his face. “Logan, we have to—”
His words are drowned out by a sudden violent explosion that slams me back against the wall.
My head crashes against concrete, and the last thing I see clearly is Damien’s expression as he grimaces in pain, rolling over on the ground.
I must black out, but only for a minute. I struggle to a standing position, my body wracked with pain, more pain than I’ve ever been in, my eyesight blurred. But every cell of my body vibrates with a single purpose.
A glance tells me Damien is still alive, groaning in pain. Then I stumble out of the room, gripping onto the wall as I make my way to the other side of the warehouse.
I cough, trying to see my way through the heavy smoke, my body battered by falling debris, and choke out, “Lia… Aurora! Lia!”
I know it even before I reach them. I know it, even before I hear a loud wail, followed by Everest screaming.
“They’re dead, Logan! Fuck! They’re all… dead!”
Book Two, Ghost Hunted, releases August 27, 2026.
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Keep reading for a sneak peek of Ghost Hunted.
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“She’s dead.”
“No. Impossible. That’s not true. She can’t be.”
“I’m sorry, Logan. I’m so sorry. It’s just as hard for me, you know. Poor Lia. Poor little baby.”
He lets out a shuddering sigh, then sags into a chair, resting his head in his hands.
Liar. It can’t be just as hard for him. He’s a dirty, filthy liar.
But that’s not fair. He’s her father, after all. He might have been ashamed of what happened to her in high school, he might have forced her into a marriage with the don’s son, but still, he loved her, didn’t he? That’s what fathers do. They love their children.
So maybe he is suffering. But he’s not suffering as much as I am. He can’t be. No one can possibly be suffering as much as me.
I squeeze my eyes shut, pressing my fist to my forehead hard enough to leave an imprint on my skin. It’s just not possible.
I never for one second thought the night would finish in any other way than with me lying dead on the ground. I was supposed to die. And Lia was supposed to live.
It’s all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
“What about…” I swallow painfully. “What about Aurora?”
He looks up at me, seeming to hesitate.
“Aurora. She’s still alive, isn’t she? She must be.”
The only other reason I have for living. The child whose existence I once despised. She’s come to mean as much to me as Lia does.
“Logan… she’s still breathing.”
My heart clings to his words. My one little morsel of hope in the bleakness of my new world.
“I need to see them both. Lia… Aurora…” I struggle into a sitting position.
“Hold on.” He puts an arm on my shoulder. “Take it easy. You’re not out of the woods yet yourself. You’re going to pass out if you get up. You haven’t been up in a week. Just take it easy, man.”
“A... a week?” I stare at him in utter bewilderment.
“Yes, you’ve been out cold. A bad concussion or something. All three of you—dead to the world. Lia’s already buried, Logan. We didn’t have a choice. The funeral was yesterday.”
Each of his words rings out in my ears like a shot. The mind fog is slowly clearing, replaced by a cold, sterile sense of loss. My skin feels clammy, and I’m exhausted.
“Lia… buried.”
“She has a tombstone.” His voice shakes, and I stare at him, suspicion momentarily taking the place of the exhaustion. His voice isn’t shaking right. The way he’s talking, the way his voice is thick and trembling… it all feels off.
I’m insane, I must be. I’m so incapable of accepting what he’s telling me that my mind is jumping through hoops, hunting for anything that could prove he’s a liar.
Dead. Buried. It just can’t be.
I would know, wouldn’t I? I’d feel it. My body would ache. My skin would burn. There’s no way I could lose the love of my life and just… not realize it, is there?
I can only shake my head helplessly as he continues.
“I wish we could have waited for you. But we didn’t know when you’d wake up, or even if you’d wake up, and I needed closure. We buried her, Logan. I buried my little girl.”
He sits down on the bed beside me, letting his hand fall on my arm. I whip it back like I’ve been shocked.
“I’m sorry, Logan. But the better news,” he adds in a somewhat more cheerful voice, “is that your friends are going to be alright. Damien and Everest. They were all knocked out cold from the explosion, but they’re going to be okay.
I think Damien’s already awake, and Everest is still under, but the doctors say he’ll be fine. No lasting brain damage.”
I shake my head again. “No. Everest didn’t lose consciousness. He’s the one who said…”
They’re dead. They’re all dead!
I close my eyes as the painful memories crowd back in.
“Oh.” He pauses. “Well, he must have lost consciousness after. Maybe it was the adrenaline that… well, anyway, you’ve all been unconscious. But you’ll make it. Thankfully.”
Thankfully. The word falls like lead in my stomach. She didn’t make it. I don’t think I’ll ever be thankful again.
“And… Aurora.” I wince, still trying to get into a sitting position. I feel so helpless. So horribly helpless. “Where is she?”
“Back with family. The family.”
I groan loudly. “No… no. She’s mine. I need to…”
“What do you mean, she’s yours?” Emilio Cabello narrows his eyes. “She doesn’t have an ounce of blood in her that belongs to you. She’s the daughter of Carmelo Moretti. It’s only right that she…”
“No,” I insist, this time managing to sit up despite feeling lightheaded.
Like I’ve been drugged—which I guess I have been, so they could fix my body.
“No. Lia was raped. Aurora does not belong to the family whose son forced himself on her mother. Aurora is mine. She’s all I have. You have to help me. Please.”
I sound far too much like I’m begging, like I’m back in high school, worshipping at my Lia’s feet. Only now, it’s not her but her father who can save me. Who can make things, if not right, then… better.
But he shakes his head. “They’re still the closest thing she has to family. She’s in the hospital, recovering. They’ll be here in an hour. There’s nothing you can do about it. I’m sorry.”