56. Olivia
Olivia
Music flows through the winding caverns and passages, whirling around me.
Mack’s voice continues to rise, echoing loudly off the cave walls and making me cringe at the intensity of it.
Something weird is happening with the other initiates.
I hold the phone closer to my ear, darting further into the small room I’ve found myself in, and lean against the furthest wall I can find to drown out the noise and listen intently to Carter.
“So, you were saying…” I practically swallow my tongue when Carter scoffs at me again.
“Are you even fucking listening?” he grumbles. “And what’s that fucking music? Who the fuck is talking? Are you in a weird cult now? It wouldn’t surprise me.”
“First off, that’s rude. I’m not in a damn cult, asshole,” I huff out in annoyance, staring up at the tall ceiling. The light illuminating the space makes small shapes on the cave ceiling. “You probably wouldn’t believe it, but I’m kind of in the middle of joining a gang.”
“Excuse the fuck out of me? A gang? You?” He scoffs at me and then chuckles at my expense. “And where the fuck do gangs hold their initiations? You don’t have to bleed someone out, do you? Because that sounds like fun.”
“Fun?” I quip back. “Oh, yeah. I’m having so much fun. My asshole ex shoved me into the deepest, darkest part of an elaborate cave system and left me to rot.”
“Unfortunately for the rest of the world, you aren’t rotting,” Carter quips sarcastically while typing on his computer.
“I don’t even know why we’re friends,” I huff. “You should be happy I made it out on my own without having to call for help.”
“Yeah, yeah. And friends? Whoever said we were friends? You’re an annoying little gnat who constantly needs my services.”
“Oh, so sorry to constantly disrupt your day. I’ll start going to someone else…” I trail off when silence meets me on the other end of the phone.
“You’re too loyal,” he huffs.
“And we’re friends. It’s okay, you can admit it.”
“Fuck. Fine, we’re friends,” Carter huffs out. “But I’ll deny it if you ever tell anyone else.”
“Right.” I laugh and lean my head against the cool wall, letting the chill spill through my system. “So, they were telling the truth, then? They weren’t lying to me?” I ask more to myself than Carter, who has repeated himself at least three times now.
“For the fourth time, yes. Those assholes were miles away in fucking Vegas doing fuck knows what. From the looks of it, they were aimlessly walking around a casino.” I can practically hear him rolling his eyes at me.
“Even that fucker who left. I’ve got the time stamps from the missed tolls and pictures of his ugly mug, clear as day.
Those assholes weren’t there. And if they were?
Then they’re fucking magic or have twins out there somewhere. ”
I squeeze my eyes closed, letting my mind fully comprehend the facts Carter has given me.
They didn’t do it. They weren’t in town.
JJ wasn’t lying. All the truths I knew from before have unraveled into lies.
What is the truth now? If it wasn’t them.
Then, who did it? The only person I know for a fact who did it was Franco. He was there. At the center of it all.
“You’re not lying to me, are you?” My brain refuses to wrap itself around the lies it’s been told for all these years. Now, right in front of me, is the proof I’ve always begged for. It may not be the exact answers I had been seeking, but it’s still the truth of it all.
And that’s all I ever wanted.
I sigh when the music from the distance grows softer, and Mack’s voice rings out with glee.
Oh, Mack. He truly has been mourning my death all these years and taking it hard.
Sitting at my grave. Keeping my trinkets.
I destroyed the treehouse. Fuck. This is all such a damn mess.
How am I supposed to come up to all of them and expose myself now?
And Jonathan? Did he know the boys were innocent in all this, and that’s why he sent me here?
Did he want me to find the truth out myself?
“This is your chance to stay or get the fuck out!” Mack shouts gleefully over the music.
“Once you’re in, you’re in. There’s no fucking leaving.
Well, unless you’re in a body bag,” he chuckles like it’s the world’s best joke.
“So, leave now or forever hold your peace! Till death do us part, assholes!” He chuckles again, and more voices murmur through the caves, but I can’t tell what they’re saying.
I blow out a breath, tuning his voice out. I can only handle so much right now, and hearing him isn’t one of them. Static fills my ears, and only Carter’s annoyed voice finds me still.
“I don’t have enough patience to fucking lie to you,” he says in a softer tone, not his usual voice.
“I ain’t lying, Agent Princess. Whoever tried to kill you wasn’t them.
Two of the jackasses didn’t leave Vegas until the next morning, and your fire was reported at midnight.
There’s no way they snuck past cameras and toll booths and got back to Greenwood in time to murder your whole family and you and then get back to Vegas for an alibi.
None of it makes a lick of fucking sense.
You need to look in a new fucking direction.
Fuck, I’ll even offer my assistance.” I can practically hear the smile in his voice.
“See? I knew you were my friend. You’re always so willing to help,” I say again, hoarsely chuckling when he scoffs at me again. “I’m having a hard time coming to terms with this.”
“That’s because I’m fucking bored. It’s the only reason you’re getting any sort of help from me. Also, hurry up and come to fucking terms with it, because this is the truth,” he grumbles.
I’ve got a long road ahead of me. I need to talk to all of them, like JJ asked me to do, and let them know what really happened to me. They think it was a house fire caused by faulty wiring. They don’t have a fucking clue that someone murdered me. Let alone knowing it was Franco all along.
“The men that were there, they were made up to look, talk, and act like them.” Minus the soulless gazes they gave me.
They were familiar, yet they weren’t at the time.
Maybe that should have been my red flag.
Maybe I should have paid closer attention when I was dragged by my hair from bed and into the living room, where Franco stood in the center with a knife.
But when I heard their names and saw the gleam in their similarly colored eyes, I was convinced something had shifted their view of me.
“I swore it was them, Carter.” Despite the masks and the murder. In my head, it was them.
Carter is silent on the other end of the line for a few seconds. “You-uh, fucking good and all that shit?” he asks with a hint of worry in his tone.
“Well, I’ll be damned, Carter. You really do care about me and my well-being. I’ll put this date in my calendar as the miracle of the year,” I laugh lightly, feeling a massive amount of pressure falling off my chest.
“I’ll fucking deny it if you tell anyone,” he grumbles. “That and the whole friend thing. I don’t have fucking friends. I have…”
“You have friends, asshole. You’re too much of a fuckhead to realize it.
” I shake my head when he scoffs at me, but doesn’t deny my words.
“But don’t worry, I’ll take your caring friendship with me to the grave.
No one will ever know Carter Cunningham cares about people,” I chuckle, earning a grunt and murmured curse words in return.
“Great, now that we have that fucking settled, I have shit to do. Take care of yourself, dumbass, and call me when you have more information.”
My lips flop open and closed like a dying fish when my phone beeps at me a few times, and nothing comes from the other end.
“Mother fucker hung up on me,” I grit out, staring at the bright screen of my phone displaying my non-discreet background. “Obviously, I can’t let you have the last word,” I huff, bringing up a fresh conversation between the two of us on my phone.
Oli: It’s rude to hang up without saying goodbye…
Carter: No one would ever describe me as fucking polite. Besides, you were getting too comfortable calling me your fucking friend.
Oli: Yeah, okay, friend…
Carter: You’re really fucking pushing my patience, Agent.
Oli: Jesus. You’re touchy today.
Carter: No. I’m. Not.
Oli: Fine. You’re not touchy. You’re actually being a human being for once. But… You know… Thanks for the help, bestie… It means a lot that you looked into all that for me.
Carter: Did you just call me bestie?
Oli: You know what? I’m going to change your name in my phone to Bestie Carter because we’re such good friends right now.
My smirk immediately turns into a frown when a new notification pops up in our chat.
**This user is no longer accepting messages from your number.**
Oli: Did you block me?
**This user is no longer accepting messages from your number. **
Oli: Oh, just wait, bestie. You’ll be crawling back to me when you’re bored!
Carter: See? You couldn’t even get the hint when I blocked your ass for 0.5 seconds. Fuck off.
Oli: Fine…
Carter: Better. Now, I have a Vixen to hunt down before she goes to class.
Oli: I will block you next!