Chapter 5
LEX
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About to throw another fucking chair.
“It’s an audio file,” Knox says while staring at the countdown.
“Open it,” I spit out, yanking the chair beside him aside and crashing down in it.
The laptop speaker crackles. Then Luca’s sick voice fills the room.
“Shame your brother missed the scene.
He always knew what shadows mean.
Maybe he watches. Maybe he hides.
Maybe he waits on darker tides.”
Cade’s forehead creases. “Is that the masquerade poem?”
“Because not everything is what it seems.
Not every grave holds silent screams.
And not every ghost you thought had died.
Stayed in the dark where secrets hide.”
“Some of it, at least.” Knox shrugs as he turns up the volume.
“Takes one to raise one, that much is true.
He trained the monster that now lives in you.
But Eden’s not built with fire and bone.
It starts with a whisper when you’re all alone.”
“It’s only the parts about Zeke,” Nate says.
“Figures,” I huff.
Cade shakes his head. “Stop, babe.”
“Zeke taught you to run. I taught him to crawl.
He wept like a dog at the edge of it all.
But death is a tale for the ones who grieve.
Your ghost still listens. He just won’t leave.
You flinch from my flame, but it’s always been yours.
Etched into blood, behind hidden doors.
Your brother now bears it, deep in his bone.
And soon, little Izzy, he won’t be alone.”
“Shit,” Knox mutters, wrenching a pen and notebook out of his backpack. “That bastard told us everything.”
“The hell you mean, everything?” I ask, cocking a brow.
“A collar of fire, a whisper, a code.
He walks where I lead, down every dark road.
Tick… tick… like a bomb in his head.
Your brother is breathing, but better off dead.”
Ellie looks over at Knox. “I don’t get it. What is this supposed to mean?”
“That’s the clue?” Haley asks.
“Yeah Hales,” Knox nods, scribbling like a mad man. “Looks like it.”
01:40:13
I shove back from the table, chair screeching across the floor. “How the fuck is this supposed to tell us where she is?”
???
00:15:00
Knox has the poem written out now. Every line. Every single word. Some of them circled, some underlined. Sticky notes layered over the table like confetti from hell. Arrows scrawled in every direction trying to piece together this twisted puzzle from the inside out.
“Okay,” he begins. “Let’s break this down again. We have to be sure.”
Cade and I are both pacing behind Knox when the doorbell rings. I frown, already on edge and completely over this fucking day as I walk over.
“What?!” I grit, yanking it open.
A literal cowboy stands in my doorway like he just rode straight out of some sort of Marlboro commercial. Dark jeans and black boots. Brown and tan flannel. Topped off with a black Stetson pulled low to shadow his golden-brown eyes.
“Briggs?” I ask, my brow arching.
He tilts his head. “Lex,” he says, his lips twitching slightly.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I called him,” Ellie whispers from her chair.
Cade and I both shoot her a look. But she keeps staring at the table with her arms tightly crossed over her chest.
“About time,” Knox mutters, barely glancing up from the map of poetry on the table. “You know what’s going on?”
“El filled me in enough,” Briggs says as he strolls inside. He pulls off his hat and sets it on the table with care, then drops into the chair beside Ellie.
“About time?” I repeat, my eyes darting between them.
“Ellie? What the hell is happening?” Cade asks.
The three of them ignore us.
“Keep goin’,” Briggs says as he leans forward and plants his elbows firmly on the table. “I’ll catch up.”
Knox nods. “Alright. From the looks of—”
“I’m sorry!” I snap, flailing my hands in the air. “Are Cade and I magically fucking invisible now? Can someone please tell us what the hell is happening?”
Ellie finally lifts her head. She glances at us, biting on her bottom lip. “I was going to tell you.”
“Tell us what?” I ask, the final t snapping against my teeth.
“I just,” she continues, interlocking her fingers with Briggs’s. “I just never found the right time.”
Cade steps forward, his eyes darting to his little sister holding hands with a Black Book gunrunning cowboy.
“Caleb and I have been dating.” She sighs. “For a while now.”
“What the hell?” Cade says, scandalized. “Ellie what do—”
“Later,” Knox cuts in. “We don’t have much time left.”
Cade glances at the countdown ticking away and glowers. “Fine. But once this is over, you’re explaining. All of it.”
“Okay,” Ellie whispers, her ocean-blue eyes beginning to water.
Knox nods and taps the page in front of him, dragging his pen along a messy web of scribbles. “Alright so a collar of fire, that’s the bomb collar. We know that.” The ink bleeds into the paper as he circles the line again. “The flame etched into bone. That’s got to be the brand.”
My jaw grinds at the sound of our girl’s screams still ringing in my ears.
“Luca didn’t just describe what he did to Zeke,” Knox continues. “He gave us a blueprint of what he was planning to do to Bella.”
Haley points to a line in the poem. “He taught him to crawl? What does that part even mean?”
“Is there any way Luca could be Zeke’s dad?” Ellie asks.
“Not possible.” Nate shakes his head. “Both of his parents died in a plane crash when Zeke was just a kid. That’s how he ended up in Miami.”
“Maybe Luca wanted to be a parent?” Ellie shrugs. “This is all just so—”
“Great,” I interject. “That’s all fascinating and completely fucking useless. It gives us zero clues to a damn location where he could be hiding her.”
Knox exhales hard. “I know.”
“Wait a second.” Cade places a hand firmly on the table and crouches down. He scoops up a handful of sand from the floor and lets it slowly spill out onto the table through his long fingers. “Maybe he watches. Maybe he hides. Maybe he waits on darker tides.”
I turn to look at him. “Yeah?”
He looks at me, hazel eyes now steady and certain.
“Maybe he waits on darker tides,” he repeats.
We all stare at him.
“Guys!” he yells, wiping the sand off of his hands. “Costa Rica.”
“Holy shit,” Knox breathes, dragging the laptop back in front of him.
00:04:58
“It makes sense,” Cade says confidently. “I mean isn’t it where Zeke planned on taking Bella and Dylan? It was going to be their fresh start as a—”
“Their fucking Eden,” I cut in. “Zeke took her to Costa Rica.”
“Zeke didn’t take her anywhere, Barinov,” Tex says, his deep voice rising with each word. “Don’t pretend you didn’t see the collar around his neck too. He’s innocent in all of this.”
“You don’t know that,” I snap, control slipping through my fingers. “For all we know, the dick could have been playing us from the start. Slapping a fake collar around his neck just so she’ll feel sorry for his ass.”
Tex grabs the paper off of the table and shoves it right into my face. “The poem says he walks where I lead down every dark road, Lex.”
This guy wants to be punched in the face again.
“Get. That paper. Out of my fucking—”
“He’s being forced to—”
“That’s not an excuse to brand your damn sister!” I cut him off, chest heaving and vision blurring at the edges.
I need her back. I need her in my arms. Right fucking now.
“Four minutes,” Knox says, fingers flexing over the keys. “I need something to put in here!”
“Lex,” Cade says, reaching for me. “We’re running out of time.”
We all stare at the screen.
At the ticking numbers.
At the space where our girl’s life literally hangs at the click of a button.
“Costa Rica,” I say. “It’s got to be.”
Knox nods and types it in. “You sure?” he asks, glancing up at us.
“Send it.” Cade nods.
He hits ENTER.
The countdown stops.
DING.
@LucaWasHere
Very good, Lexie. You solved my clue.
The game begins now and so do you.
But winning her back won’t come from a prayer.
You’ll earn her love or lose her there.
Twelve trials await, one hum per breath.
Each note a choice between love and death.
Twelve days between for her to see,
What life could be… if she stays with me.
While you prove devotion by blood and bone.
I’ll teach my Izzy that she’s never alone.
My love beside her, my name her shield.
Let’s see whose truth she thinks is real.
Whitmore’s path will soon be known,
Coordinates sent when the clock is prone.
This is your warning, so don’t be late.
Arrive prepared or seal her fate.
“Well, Cade,” Tex says, setting the paper back down in front of Knox. “Looks like whatever the first trial is, it has to do with you.”
I stagger back and drop onto the couch. Cade hurries over and falls down beside me, rubbing circles on my back as I lean forward to try to fucking breathe for a moment.
“Tex, can we not just go to Costa Rica now?” he mumbles.
“We could. But without knowing the coordinates, we’d be running around blind.”
“Twelve trials,” Haley says, quietly counting on her fingertips. “Twelve days between. That’s—” she gasps, doing the math faster than the rest of us. “Almost five months? He’s going to keep her until summer.” Her hands sink into her red waves as the tears fall free.
“Hey,” Knox says, rushing over and dropping to his knees in front of her. “Hey. No. No, baby, look at me.” He cups her face in his hands. “That’s not going to happen.”
“How can you say that?” she cries.
Ellie’s face crumples, the first screech of a sob breaks free as she leans into Briggs. He hooks his strong arm around her and holds her tight against his side as she starts to tremble.
“Shh,” he whispers, pressing his lips to the top of her deflated blonde curls. “Darlin’ it’s all going to be alright.”
“Girls, we’re going to find her before then. I promise,” Knox confirms.
His voice is fierce and pretty damn convincing, but I don’t buy it. Both girls sniffle and nod, leaning into the lie.
I stay folded forward on the couch. Cade’s arm tightens around me. My fists are balled so tight my knuckles feel like they’re about to burst through my skin.
“Twelve fucking trials, Cade.”