Chapter 20 Kit
KIT
“You. It was you,” I whisper into the phone resting on my pillow.
“It wasn’t,” Damian chokes, the sound muffled through the loudspeaker. “It wasn’t me.”
What? No. It was Damian. It had to be Damian, who else would have…
“No, you sent it,” I argue, pushing myself up on my shaking hands. “That’s why I… That night, it’s why I… Damian, I don’t understand.”
“Kit, this is important,” Damian says, his voice panicked. “You have to get out of there. Don’t let anyone see you. Not your mum, not my dad, no one. Just go. Don’t take anything, don’t change. Just get the hell out of the house.”
“Damian, you’re scaring me.”
“Go, Kit. Now! Flag a cab towards Jasper’s, and I’ll meet you on the way. We’ll sort everything else out when you get here.”
I fall out of bed, my legs trembling as I step into the first pair of shoes I can find and grab a hoodie to put on when I’m clear. “Okay, I’m going now.”
“Stay on the call but leave quietly.”
I switch my phone off loudspeaker and press it to my ear so that Damian’s juddering breaths are the only sound cutting through the silence of my home.
As gently as I can, I open my door and step into the dimly lit hall.
Somehow, I manage to avoid the few creaking floorboards we have as I make my way down the stairs.
I’m almost out, my freedom in sight, until I round the corner leading to the front door and run straight into a hard, unmovable chest.
“Evening, Kit,” my stepfather growls. “My ears were burning. Were you talking about me?”
Faintly, I hear Damian scream into the phone.
“Lucien, what are you—”
But he strikes too fast. All I know is a sharp, needling pain in my neck, and then… nothing.
“Night-night, Kit. Sweet dreams.”