Chapter 7
Sunny
What was he writing, and why was he looking at me while doing it?
Could he be the guy who left me that note?
I lean over and bark, “What were you doing?”
“Nothing,” he replies, trying to tuck the notebook away too.
I fold my arms. “Were you writing about me?”
The panicked look on his face doesn’t help his case. “No, no, I—”
I pull the note that was left for me from my pocket and hold it right in front of his face. “You wrote this, didn’t you? Go on, admit it.”
He reads over the words. “Taken care of the body …” He frowns. “No.”
“Bullshit,” I hiss, and I immediately snatch the notebook from his fingers. “Give me that.”
“Wait, don’t—”
I ignore his pleas and open the small book, wondering what else he’s written in here. If he’s the one who wrote me that note, I’ll know soon enough just by his handwriting.
However, the words on the page catch me off guard.
A mountain of suffering before you
Climb higher and higher
Surrender to none
Black sky filters through your lungs
Like soot raining down upon your soul
Bear your fangs
Only fire will quench the rain
Higher and higher to the tallest hill
Do not let it be in vain
Dredging pain like sludge
Console you
Tears of ruin cascade down
Feet entwined
Hands bound
But none will stand before you
So heavy is the crown
You bear
A void so perfect
It swallows even the air
Breathe
Breathe
Breathe
One final breath
To oblivion
My friends snort and laugh behind me, and a flush slowly wriggles its way onto his cheeks. But all I can focus on are the words he wrote, and how they resonate so deeply that I’m momentarily stunned.
Why does this feel familiar?
“You wrote this?” I ask after a while.
He nods, rubbing his lips together. “Just a scribble. Nothing important.”
The handwriting isn’t anything like that note I got … but maybe he deliberately changed his way of writing to throw me off.
I hand him back the notebook. “Impressive.”
His eyes light up like I just gave a dog a bone. “Really?”
“Yeah. I like it.”
“What?” Vivian mutters, confused.
“It’s good,” I tell her.
“Okay. I guess,” she says, making a face.
I ignore her and push the notebook back into his hands, and he visibly gulps.
“In fact, I think you should write more of these…” I curl a few of strands of his blond hair around my finger and coil them up.
“Fill up your notebook, then show them to me.” I add a smile for good measure as I wrap him around my finger, and his eyes follow my every move, desperate for more. “Won’t you do that for me?”
He nods a few times, swallowing, before I release him from my grasp and march off with my girls.
Whether he is or isn’t the one who wrote me that note doesn’t matter …
as long as he’ll do anything and everything I tell him to.
Because these killing sprees of mine are not going to be free of consequences, and it will definitely come in handy to have someone on my side.
Atreus
The next day
The lights above my desk shine so harshly that I have to squint.
One of these days, I am going to rip them out and sit in the darkness.
“Another crime scene. No corpse this time, though. But they did leave evidence on the walls of the shop beside it.” Trent throws a set of pictures on my desk. “Thought you might be interested in these.”
I pick them up and stare at them. No body, but the splotches of blood on the walls clearly indicates a violent murder took place here. I raise them to the lamp and inspect them up close. Someone tried to clean up but didn’t do a proper job.
“You think the Bones Brotherhood is on a spree again?”
I run my fingers through my dark brown hair. “No. They kill in silence and only when necessary to keep their men in line or to get rid of enemies swiftly, mostly with bullets. This is something else entirely.”
But what? What possesses someone to exhibit such rage?
“Do you have any leads on the victim?” I ask.
“I spoke to the shop owners, and they said they hadn’t seen him in a few days. Thought he was sick but forgot to call in.”
I snort. “Meanwhile, his remains were behind their dumpster all this time without their knowledge.”
“Do you want me to bring them in for questioning?”
I nod. “I want all the details. Job function, timelines, their clients, locations, and every place he’s visited in the past couple of weeks. All of it.” I lower the photos. “Any others?”
“That’s it so far, but I’m sure there’ll be more,” he replies.
“Thanks,” I say, as he walks off and closes the door again.
I turn around in my seat and hold up the photos to the board behind my desk, pinning them onto the map.
Each new body is another piece of evidence pointing in the right direction, but all the lines I’ve drawn so far between the victims, the locations, and several suspects end up circling back to a single goddamn place.
Spine Ridge University.
I stare at the collection of pictures I’ve gathered, including the ones I took of each of the members of the Rivera, Torres, Caruso, Navarro, Reed, and Preston families.
I think it’s about time I paid them another visit.
They’ve got a serial killer in their midst.
I exit the vehicle and stare up at the old, impressively sized building that houses so many students. Spine Ridge University and its massive wooden doors really make one stare in awe at its magnificence … as well as the dark secrets it holds.
Sucking in a breath, I close the car door and walk toward the main entrance. It’s been some time since I was last here, and it never fails to make me feel uneasy. These campus grounds are haunted by memories of those who came before me, and not all who walk here do so with a clean conscience.
Deviants, gamblers, and killers are born and bred in these halls, and I will make sure each one of them faces the full consequences of their actions according to the law, just like they deserve.
I enter the main hallway and head up the stairs, but on my way up, a woman with peculiar green-and-black hair, wearing black jeggings and a ruffled top, darts past me so fast I’m nearly knocked off my feet.
A whiff of her perfume enters my nostrils, and I turn my head to follow the scent as she sprints out the door. I don’t know why I stopped walking, or what possessed me to take another glance, but something about that woman makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
My eyes widen.
It’s her.
She was the girl I saved in the forest. The girl who, when interviewed at the hospital, refused to answer any of our questions about the reason she was there in the first place … and why she was bleeding profusely.
She seems to be back on her feet quick enough.
I wonder if her family knows, or if she still hasn’t told a soul what happened to her.
When she’s out of sight, I turn around again and make my way up the stairs to the third floor, and I knock on the dean’s office just once before I open the door.
“Come in.” His stern voice is the first thing that makes me scowl before I even see his goddamn eerie face.
“Atreus Foley …” he grumbles as I step inside.
“Felix Rivera,” I retort, equally unimpressed at having to see him again.
“Why are you here?” he asks in a negative tone, gawking at me with those sanpaku eyes.
I can see why my father hated him.
“I could ask you the same question.” I slam the door shut. “Remember our conversation a few months ago?”
“I tried my best to forget,” he says, tilting his head as he rests it on the palm of his hand. “But you just won’t let me.”
“Because I have two more bodies, and there’s another one added every day.”
“What’s that got to do with my school?”
I fold my arms. “Have you forgotten the number of missing people working for your family? Or the fact that there have been several murders on these grounds already?” I plant my hands down on the desk. “A murderer is running this school.”
“Be careful who you accuse, Foley.” The look in his eyes is deadly.
I’d be more forgiving if it weren’t for the fact that I’m fairly certain he’s harboring a bunch of serial killers and aiding them in the cover-up.
“Be careful who you protect,” I warn him, engaging in a stare down.
His nostrils flare. “You’ve offered zero proof.”
“I have enough, trust me,” I say.
“Show me then,” he replies.
A smirk spreads on my face. Yeah, I’m sure he’d like to know all about the photographs and the bodies that we found targeting specific members of the Bones Brotherhood, ones involved with students at the Spine Ridge University.
We know because we kept track of their whereabouts and sales, including the ones right here on campus.
Some of them have already died after their encounter, and others are probably being tracked.
“No. I’m not going to help you aid your criminal sidekicks by handing over police evidence. I’m not that dense.”
“Assumptions will get you nowhere, Foley.”
The police have turned a blind eye to this family’s antics for years because of corruption and payments, and because they only ever killed mobsters, but enough is enough.
These spineless bastards are turning this campus into their own underworld, and I am done with them playing their own judge, jury, and executioner.
“You will put an end to this,” I say. “Or I will.”
The look in his eyes darkens. “Is that a threat, Foley? I thought your father taught you better than to get in the way of the Riveras and the Torreses.”
My jaw clenches as we engage in another stare down.
Of course, he had to bring my father into the conversation. It’s no wonder Dad hated him and his friends as much as he did.
I knock on his desk and turn around. “Next time I’m forced to come here, there will be a permanent station for my men here. Mark my words.”
“Have a great day, Foley,” he says, as I slam the door shut behind me.
Xavier
I freeze entirely when a dark-haired man in a suit, tats peeking out from under his shirt, barges out of Dean Rivera’s office and nearly bumps into me. He stops and looks me up and down, the fury in his gaze making me uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” I mutter, and I step aside.
He waltzes past me and heads down the stairs in a hurry, and I can’t help but stare until he’s finally out of sight. My heart thrums in my throat, not from the way he glanced at me, but from the police badge on his coat … and the fact that I recognized him.
He was at the hospital when Sunny was brought in. Is he the cop who rescued her?
I turn my head and look at the dean’s door. I wanted to talk to Felix about the brunch Mom scheduled with the family and ask if he could let me skip this one, but now I’m not so sure.
I could hear everything those guys said in there.
From the police investigation to the serial killer running around campus …
Sunny is in danger.
I have to warn her.