Chapter 49
GABI
Present Day
“Hold on. I don’t think so,” Ele reprimands as I try to leave the apartment without being noticed. “What happened last night?” she insists, stalking up to me.
“Is there any coffee left?” I inquire, intentionally deflecting her attitude when I notice the mug clutched between her hands.
“Only if you tell me why I heard a male’s voice coming from your room this morning and why you were shouting.”
I glance down at the phone in my hand to check the time. Nine fifteen. Deciding I can spare fifteen minutes, I drop my backpack to the floor and head to the coffee pot.
“It was Jace,” I admit.
“What the… holy shit,” she stammers. “Did you two…”
“No,” I say firmly. “He’s an asshole and broke in through my window to, shocker, threaten me again.”
Ele looks visibly shaken, but I shrug as I pour vanilla coffee creamer into my mug. “What’s new?” I scoff.
“Well, that’s disturbing that he’s stooped to breaking and entering. Did you find anything at Sigma?” Ele inquires.
I shake my head and blow on the steaming coffee. “Just, more of the same,” I lie. “You and Viv are right. But of course, Jace managed to see me, hence the lovely visit.”
“I’m sorry,” Ele offers, looking down at her feet.
“It’s fine. I’m over it,” I say with a wave of my hand. “Anyway, I’m headed to the library.”
“If you can wait forty-five minutes, I’ll go with you,” Ele says.
“Would you mind if I went ahead? I need to clear my mind, and walking helps.”
She gives me a sad smile. “Of course. I’ll meet you there later. Maybe I can even rouse Viv. I think she is back with Sophie,” Ele whispers, jerking her head in the direction of Viv’s room.
“That makes me happy,” I say with genuine sincerity.
I rinse out the half-consumed cup of coffee and place the used mug in the dishwasher before discretely calling an Uber. “I’ll see you later,” I call to Ele who is halfway back to her bedroom.
Sometimes I feel I should be more concerned with my ability to lie with ease, but then again, I deserve a medal for maintaining a two-year lie.
Even though fuckboy Jace didn’t show it, I know it got under his skin.
I let him think the reason why I broke up with him was because he just wasn’t doing it for me anymore.
Not feeling good enough is his Achilles Heel, and I hope, no I pray, Jace felt as heartbroken as I did.
But I’ll never know, and he’ll never tell me, which I suppose now is for the best, because I plan to obliterate him along with the rest of Sigma’s squad of villains.
They’ll be no mercy, motherfuckers. We’re coming for you.
Well, this place is in the middle of nowhere, I think to myself as I exit my Uber. If Monroe needs to hide a few dead bodies, she picked the perfect spot. Down the road, I noticed an old church and several dilapidated houses, your typical rural structures.
Gravel crunches under my sneakers as I walk down the driveway toward the storage facility.
It’s unclear if there is an office, and Monroe didn’t give me the number of her unit, so I keep walking until the silver Audi she was driving last night comes into view.
It’s parked in front of a blue garage door that is halfway up, which I take as an indication that I’m in the right spot.
“Monroe?” I call as I approach.
A head of blonde hair appears in the gap of space. “In here,” she motions with urgency, and I trot over to the partially opened storage unit. Getting under the door requires more crouching than I initially thought, but once I’m fully inside, the reason for the partially closed door becomes clear.
“What is all this?” I gape, taking in my surroundings. Monroe closes the garage-like door the rest of the way before walking to my side.
“Impressive, right?” she asks with earnest pride.
Apprehension and perhaps a slight bit of concern ripples across my mind.
Monroe looks physically the same as I remember, but there is a hardened edge to her face and a crazed hunger in her eyes.
Her irises are the same shade of deep blue, but now that I see them in the light of day, they have a terrifying twinkle, churning like an unhinged ocean tempest ready to swallow the ship whole.
“I guess. Did you buy these guns?” I gawk.
“No, my step-cousins gave them to me. Same with all the other stuff,” she says as we both take in the arsenal of weapons Monroe has displayed across two rectangular folding card tables.
“What do your step-cousins do again?” I ask, turning to look at her.
“It’s best you don’t know,” she responds. Based on what Monroe has shared about her step-family and the fact that her mom and stepfather are imprisoned for racketeering, I assume involvement with organized crime runs in the family.
I scratch my head, wondering what the fuck Monroe has planned. In addition to the four handguns, there are two axes, multiple rolls of duct tape, zip ties, knives of various sizes, small blow torches, and the most peculiar of all, a wetsuit, oxygen tank, and scuba gear.
“Are you planning to actually kill people?” I ask cautiously. I half assumed her comment about killing Kieren was a joke.
“No. Just maim them beyond repair,” she grins. “Should I tell you the plan and you can decide if you want to be involved or run away as fast as possible?”
“Sure,” I respond slowly.
Monroe drags a large black suitcase into view. “Feel free to make yourself at home. Need a soda or snacks?” she asks.
“Monroe, where have you been staying?” I pry. My backpack hits the ground with a thud, and I sit down beside it on the cold concrete floor. “I brought a few bars,” I say, unzipping my bag.
“Umm, around,” is all she offers.
“Around?” I question as I tear open a protein bar.
“An inn outside of town. It’s cheap and clean enough. Plus, they take cash.”
She sidles down next to me and pulls out a bag of trail mix followed by an unopened bag of beef jerky from the suitcase. “More beef jerky?” I poke.
“It’s affordable and I’m iron deficient,” she shrugs, shoving a handful of trail mix in her mouth.
“Okay, so the plan,” she begins, dusting off her hands as she reaches inside the suitcase.
Out comes a legal pad of paper affixed with a pen.
I can see Monroe has written a list on the top page and as I hinge forward to read her notes, all I can think is that my friend has lost her fucking mind and I'm awestruck.
This is not the placating, compassionate, and privately insecure Monroe of the past. She’s.
.. different, like she’s been supercharged into a leveled-up, possibly deranged, version of her original self, who I can’t help but admire.
Given how severely Kieren took advantage of her, I’m inclined to think this new side of Monroe is a good thing.
“There are things I, or we, depending on your appetite for brutality, have to collect, starting with the location of Kasey’s body.
I have my suspicions, but I only have so much oxygen left in that tank.
Barrett and Harrison probably know. I saw them put an oddly-shaped object in the trunk of an SUV one night after a Full Moon Ceremony and leave with the elders.
When they came back, it was just the two of them. ”
“I’m sorry, the 'Full Moon Ceremony'?” I ask.
“Oh, right. I forgot you don’t know the backstory.
Okay, rewind,” Monroe says, swiveling her hands in a circle.
“Once a month, on a night when there is a full moon, Sigma holds what they call a Full Moon Ceremony. The guys all wear these black, demon goat masks that cover half their face, but other than that, they are shirtless. Kieren has this gold Ceremony mask. Honestly, it looks like a demon cow. He’s also shirtless, but he wears a black cape.
Then the elders, the alumni that attend, the same ones who you saw walking in the back door of Sigma when you were looking for a way to break in, are decked out like it’s Halloween.
Some are in head-to-toe black, so black shirt, black pants, black cape, black satanic demon mask with horns.
I’ve seen a few go shirtless, but those aren’t the ones who go into the hidden room.
Then there are the women, the 'Little Sisters' who attend these Full Moon Ceremonies. They’re in lingerie and lace masks. Everyone is on drugs, and it’s one giant orgy. ”
I cough, trying and failing to swallow a bite of my protein bar. “I’m barely following along, but continue,” I say.
“It’s a lot, I know,” Monroe agrees.
“Did you participate in these orgies?” I inquire, trying to neutralize any judgement in my voice.
Monroe picks at her shoelace. “Yeah,” she says, and I can sense her guilt. “Not in the orgy part. Well, kind of in the orgy part. I only had sex with Kieren, but he has this throne that sits on an elevated platform, so I didn’t participate in group sex, but I watched it happen.”
“Did Kieren have sex with other women in front of you?”
“No, he didn’t seem interested. He would just sit on his throne, and I was in his lap… I’m sure you can put the pieces together. Can we move on from that part?” she asks. The topic has her completely folded in on herself, and I can’t help but reach out and place a hand on her knee.
“Of course. I’m sorry. I’m not judging you if that’s what you’re thinking,” I offer.
“It’s okay,” she scoffs. “I judge myself enough for the both of us.” She looks up to the grey, metal ceiling and sighs.
“Anyway, they do these Full Moon Ceremonies. The first one was just an orgy and initiation for the Little Sisters, but toward the end of the second one, some of the men wearing demon masks along with Kieren and Barrett, took one of the girls into the hidden room.”
“There’s a hidden room?”
She nods. “In the back of the basement. I managed to get in there once, and I’m pretty sure there’s a hidden room within the hidden room. Kieren caught me, so I was never able to find out.”
“What made you think there was a second hidden room?”
“Because it felt oddly drafty, and I felt a difference in the wood paneling. Oh, and then I saw a symbol carved into the wood that matched my brand.”
“You were branded?!” I gasp. “We kind of heard about this from Kasey’s roommate, who said she accidentally saw Kasey’s brand when she was changing one day, but it’s just so hard to believe!”
“Trust me, it gets worse,” Monroe laments.
“But I understand what you mean. We’re in college.
C-o-l-l-e-g-e,” she says, drawing out the word 'college' with slow emphasis. “How the fuck does a secret society like this exist at an Ivy League school like Dornell and no one is the wiser? How do three fucking girls go missing and authorities write off their disappearances as suicides? How are spoiled, rich private school boys who’ve never had to get their hands dirty a day in their prissy, privileged lives pulling off the murder heist of a century? And why? These are the answers I don’t have but intend to find out.”
“Okay, so getting back on track,” I say, “we need to know where Kasey’s body was buried, or dumped, I guess.”
“Right,” Monroe confirms. “And we need to connect Sigma to Kasey’s death.”
“How do we do that?” I ask.
“The brand. We have to get the brand, which is going to be the most difficult part of this plan, because the brand is Kieren’s ring.”
“That hideous black and gold ring I saw on his pinky finger is a brand?”
Monroe nods. “I don’t know how it works, but I’m sure we can figure it out when we get our hands on the ring. The top of the ring is not the same design as the brand, but Jace told me Kieren’s ring is the brand, so I have to imagine it comes apart in some way.”
“Jace told you that?” I ask curiously.
“I don’t know if he was supposed to, but he let it slip one night when walking me back to Kieren’s room after the Ceremony.”
“I fucking hate him,” I seethe. “He broke into my room this morning through the window over the fire escape,” I huff, managing another bite of my protein bar.
“Holy shit!” Monroe gasps, eyes wide with shock. “I was certain after he wasn’t waiting for you last night that you were in the clear. What happened?”
“Just the usual. He threatened me, like he’s been doing this entire semester, telling me to stay away from Sigma or else. I was so mad, I told him about the video, so… he knows now. Yay,” I feign, still upset with myself.
“Wow,” Monroe says as she slowly nods. “Actually, this is good for us, because there’s only one person who could have recorded that video and sent it to you.”
“I know you think it’s Kieren,” I say.
“Gabi! Kieren is a snake. He’s a narcissist. He obviously sent that video to you so you would break up with Jace, and Kieren could get his number one lackey back.
That man is calculated, and we’ve all played right into his plans for years.
Jace will know it was Kieren, and maybe it’s the catalyst we need to create a rift between them. ”
“Maybe,” I say halfheartedly. “How are we going to get the ring, and get Barrett or Harrison to tell us Kasey’s location?”
“Torture them,” Monroe deadpans, and I can’t help but laugh.
“No, seriously,” I say.
“I’m serious,” Monroe confirms. “Why do you think I have guns and knives and shit? Because I’m a collector?
Gabi, this is where things get serious. I am going to hunt them down when they are isolated and least expecting it.
I’ve been studying their schedules. And as for the ring?
Break into Sigma, or better yet, walk in through the front door.
Kieren is the only person with a gun, as far as I know. ”
“Kieren has a gun?” I gape.
“I didn’t tell you? Thought I did. Well, in any manner. Yes. Kieren has a gun, and he held me at gunpoint multiple times, which is how he forced me into a dog cage.”
“Oh my God,” I sigh, feeling my stomach twist with nerves.
“If you’re not up for this, it’s totally fine.
I don’t expect you to help. You’d be crazy to get involved, and this is my mess, not yours.
But unfortunately, we don’t have much time.
The next Full Moon Ceremony is in nine days – two Saturdays from now.
This is the time to strike. I won’t let another woman be killed on my watch by these sick fucks. ”
“But do you think a body and Kieren’s ring are enough for an indictment against Sigma? You said yourself that the police are in on it, and even if we get outside resources involved, these agencies move at a snail’s pace.”
“I know,” Monroe admits. “I need to steal Kieren’s computer. I know he has emails between him and the elders because I accidentally saw them once. But you’re right. None of it will happen fast enough, which is why I plan to burn Sigma to the fucking ground.”