Chapter Twenty-Nine - Chapter Twenty-Eight
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I HEARD A groan. Was that me? The sound echoed in my head, low and painful, like a wounded animal. The groan came again. Yes. It was me, and fuck, my head hurt. Without opening my eyes, my mind struggled to piece together what had happened. How had I ended up here?
Madeline.
I was looking for Madeline, and someone hit me over the head. The memory came rushing back, sharp and disorienting. My eyes shot open, and a flare of pure agony lanced through my skull. “Fuck!” I growled, squeezing them shut again, trying to block out the pain. Instinctively, I tried to lift a hand to my head, but nothing happened. My hands were tied. The realization hit like a punch to the gut, panic rising as I jerked my arms, testing the restraints.
“Jarrod,” a soft whisper came from beside me, laced with fear. “Take it easy, you’ve been hurt.”
My eyes opened again, slower this time, the pain still throbbing behind them like a relentless drum. Madeline’s face swam into view, blurry at first, then slowly sharpening into focus. Her expression was one of pure concern, her eyes wide and filled with a fear that mirrored my own. “Madeline?”
“Shhh, Jarrod,” she murmured, her voice trembling. “Your head is bleeding, and you need to be careful.”
“Where are we?” I mumbled, trying to make sense of the spinning world around me. Everything was disjointed, like a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from.
“I don’t know,” she replied, her voice cracking slightly. “He knocked me out with something, and I woke up here, in the middle of the woods, with you beside me. I’m still processing what happened, just like you.”
“Who’s he?” I asked, my senses sharpening despite the pounding in my skull. My body was screaming at me to stay down, but my mind was pushing against it, forcing me to sit up. “Is it Sean?”
“You can’t win a war if you don’t know who’s on the battlefield.” The voice came from behind me, smooth and almost amused, as if this was all some kind of sick joke. I froze, my body going cold as the figure stepped into view.
“What the hell?” I shouted, the shock and disbelief crashing into me all at once as I struggled against the ropes binding my wrists and ankles. “Adam?”
He smiled, a twisted grin that bore no resemblance to the quiet, reliable prospect I thought I knew. He took a bow, his eyes glinting with something dark and dangerous. “That would be me.”
“Why?” Madeline whispered, her voice barely audible, yet carrying the weight of a thousand unasked questions.
“Yeah, why the hell are you doing this? I never did a fucking thing to you!” I snarled, the pain in my head making it hard to focus, to piece any of this together. It felt like the world was crashing down around me, and nothing made sense.
“NOTHING!” he shouted, the sudden intensity of his voice making me flinch. He leaned down, his face inches from mine, his features twisted into a mask of rage I didn’t recognize. “YOU killed Kezia.”
Madeline gasped, the sound tearing through the tension like a knife. Her eyes darted to me, wide with disbelief. “Jarrod? What’s he talking about?”
“I never touched a hair on her head,” I shouted back, my heart pounding, trying to break through the haze of pain and confusion. “How would you even know anything about what happened to Kezia?”
“How would I know?” he repeated in a mocking tone, standing upright again, his posture casual, but his eyes blazing with hatred. He walked over to a nearby stump and sat down as if settling in for a casual conversation. “Let’s have story time.”
“You’re Adam Tomlin,” Madeline murmured, her voice tinged with recognition. “We had computer science together.”
He grinned at her, a wide, unsettling smile. “Very good! You always were such a sweetheart, so nice to everyone, including geeks like me. It’s a shame you got caught up with Jarrod.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I growled, frustration boiling over, my mind struggling to keep up with the bizarre turn this had taken. My eyes darted between them, the pieces of the puzzle refusing to fit together.
“Let’s make a long story short,” Adam said, his gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that made my skin crawl. “We all went to the same high school, but you and I ran in different circles. Except for Kezia.”
“I don’t ever remember her mentioning you,” I replied, my voice tight as I continued to work at the ropes, desperate to free myself. “I knew all her friends.”
“Did you?” he chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “You were too wrapped up in yourself to pay much attention to Kezia.” His voice turned bitter, years of pent-up anger seeping through every word. “Kezia and I were close. We just clicked together like a puzzle. I was just a big computer nerd, and man, did I feel lucky when she noticed me.”
“Enough of this bullshit,” I snarled, my patience snapping. I didn’t have time for his twisted nostalgia. “Why did you bring us here?” My worry for Madeline was growing by the minute, a cold dread settling in my stomach. I needed to understand where his head was at.
“Fine, let’s skip ahead,” he said, standing up and pacing back and forth, the movement restless, agitated. “Kezia had decided she wanted to be with me but didn’t know how to break up with you.” My eyes widened in shock, and he noticed, laughing at my reaction. “What, you think you’re the only one who was sneaking around? Difference was, you blatantly cheated on her while she wanted to do the right thing and break it off with you before committing to me.”
“She would have said something. Confronted me,” I argued, my mind reeling. Kezia would have never sat back if she knew what I was doing.
“She didn’t truly believe you would cheat on her,” he admitted, his tone shifting, as if even now, he still couldn’t fully understand it. “I told her you were. Knew firsthand you did.” He glared at me, his eyes dark and filled with resentment. “Toddy is my sister, believe it or not.” He laughed again, the sound harsh and bitter. “If you could see the look on your face right now.”
“I still don’t understand how you blame me for Kezia,” I said, a sinking feeling in my gut. I knew things were about to get worse—I could feel it in the way the air seemed to thicken with tension.
“Let me explain it to you,” he said, sitting back down on the stump, his expression calm, too calm. “The night you and Kaven decided to ditch her, she decided something was up. That maybe old Adam was on to something. So instead of going home, she waited until you two idiots left. When your mom came out, she was hiding in her car, knowing she would go to the clubhouse.”
“How do you know any of this?” My voice was hoarse, dread curling in my chest. The more he spoke, the clearer it became that he knew far more than I could have imagined.
“Because, you asshole, she called me later that night, upset and needing a ride home,” he snarled, jumping up and pacing again, his agitation growing. “She had gotten inside and saw you with Toddy.”
My head dropped in shame, the guilt hitting me like a physical blow. She had seen me. Kezia had seen me, and I hadn’t even known. “She was inside the clubhouse?”
“Yeah, and she was upset and crying. Not only had she seen you, but someone had stolen her phone. She was using someone else’s phone to call me.” He stopped, looking up at the sky, as if searching for answers in the stars. “She was so damn scared, and I promised her I would come get her. I just had to wait on my brother to bring the car back. But I was too late.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police, her brothers, anyone that you knew this?” I shouted, desperation lacing my words. “It could have led to her killer.”
“Why bother? Kezia was gone, there was no bringing her back, and the person responsible is right in front of me,” he said, his voice cold and final, as he walked over to grab a shovel. “You did this by lying and cheating on her.”
“I was a shitty person, but the one responsible is walking free because you didn’t say anything!” I snarled, the ropes cutting into my wrists as I fought against them, my fury overwhelming the pain.
“Oh, don’t worry, I know some biker must have grabbed her, but I don’t have time to keep trying to figure out which one, so I’m going to make them all pay.” His voice was calm, measured, as if he was discussing the weather, not planning mass murder.
MY MIND WAS in a whirlwind, a chaotic storm of thoughts and fears crashing into one another as I tried to keep up with everything happening. The two biggest questions ate at me, relentless and terrifying:
What did any of this have to do with me?
And would I see Ellie ever again?
Adam wasn’t the quiet, nerdy boy I remembered from high school. That boy was gone, replaced by a man whose whole demeanor screamed of someone lost to his own twisted reality. The way he held himself, the darkness in his eyes—it was like staring into a void, a place where reason had no foothold.
But could he be reasoned with?
I had to try. I had to find some way to reach him before it was too late.
“Adam, hurting others won’t change anything,” I said, my voice trembling despite my efforts to keep it steady. As I spoke, I worked my wrists, feeling the rope give just a little. It wasn’t much, but it was something, a small glimmer of hope. “I don’t even know what any of this has to do with me.”
He turned to face me, the shovel in his hand a chilling reminder of what he intended. The cold metal glinted in the moonlight, and I couldn’t help but flinch, the fear clawing at the edges of my resolve. “Madeline, Jarrod loves you,” he said, his voice eerily calm, but there was a fire in his eyes, a manic intensity that sent shivers down my spine. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this, to be able to hurt him, to avenge Kezia.”
“I don’t love her,” Jarrod’s voice cut through the tension, but I could hear the strain in it, the way it wavered. He was trying to lie, but it was obvious even to me that his words didn’t match the truth buried in his heart.
Adam laughed, a hollow, humorless sound that made my skin crawl. “Nice try, but I’ve been watching you for years. Don’t try and play me; I know too much.”
“You were the ghost haunting me?” Jarrod’s voice was tight with disbelief, frustration etched into every word as he struggled to free himself. “Or rather, there was no ghost. You got rid of Chloe, didn’t you? Shouldn’t that have satisfied your revenge? Why go after Madeline?”
This time, Adam’s laugh was softer, more amused, as if Jarrod’s words were nothing more than a child’s misunderstanding. “Yes, I was the ghost. I’m a computer geek, after all, and the new AI programs are something else. You were scared shitless, weren’t you?” His tone was almost playful, but there was nothing light-hearted about the way he spoke.
“As for Chloe, you didn’t care about her, let alone love her. No, she caught me going into the secret room I created, and I had to take care of her. It worked out in my favor that you believed yourself responsible.”
He turned back to the hole he was digging, his movements methodical, as if this were just another task on a to-do list. As he tossed dirt over his shoulder, he spoke again, the words chilling in their casualness. “Your debt still has to be paid.”
My stomach dropped, a wave of nausea crashing over me as the reality of our situation set in. This wasn’t just about revenge; this was about destruction, about tearing down Jarrod, his sanity and anything he loved.
“Adam, what does that mean? What do you plan on doing to us?” My voice trembled, fear lacing every word. My hand slipped free from the ropes, and I caught Jarrod’s eyes, a silent communication passing between us. My feet weren’t tied tight like his—maybe, just maybe, I could do something. The gun tucked in his waistband was a reminder to be careful, he wasn’t playing around.
“Wait for my cue,” Jarrod whispered low, his voice barely audible over the sound of my racing heart. “I’ll think of something.”
Adam didn’t seem to notice our exchange, too caught up in his own twisted monologue. “I plan on making Jarrod see how it feels to know the girl you love is being hurt, the hopeless feeling of not being able to help her,” he said, his tone so matter-of-fact it made my blood run cold. He continued digging, each scoop of dirt a countdown to something terrible.
“What about the club?” Jarrod asked, buying time as I fumbled with the knot around his wrists after hurriedly untying my ankles. The rope was tight, biting into my fingers as I worked to untangle it, but I couldn’t let up. “How are you going to hurt them? They’re looking for us right now.”
“The same way,” Adam shrugged, not even bothering to look at us as he talked. “I’ve been recording you for years, just waiting to bring you all down. Waiting for you to find women you loved so I could tear them apart. While they’re all out looking for you, I have a chemical bomb planted in the clubhouse. And once they put all their precious women in that safe room— which we know they will —I’m going to release it, right into the vents.”
My breath caught in my throat, the horror of his words sinking in like a knife. “Oh God, how could you do that!” I shouted, anger flaring up through the fear. “Those are innocent women and children who didn’t do anything to you, but trust and befriend you!”
He turned then, and I quickly hid my hands, positioning them to look as if they were still tied. His face was contorted with rage, the calm facade he had held slipping away. “Kezia was innocent too!” he shouted at me, the force of his anger making me shrink back. “But look what those bikers did to her, and all the other women through the years! Their perverted lifestyle makes them think they have the right to do whatever the fuck they want. They use and abuse every woman that walks into that clubhouse, and they need to learn a lesson!”
He started toward me, and every instinct in me screamed to run, to fight, but I was frozen in place, my body betraying me. I could only watch in fear as he closed the distance, the shovel still in his hand.
“Don’t you lay a hand on her!” Jarrod snarled, his voice filled with a desperation that cut through the fog of fear in my mind. He struggled against his restraints, the cords biting into his skin as he thrashed, his eyes locked on Adam with a mix of fury and terror.
“Oh, I don’t have to touch her to make you suffer,” Adam said cryptically, his voice dropping to a sinister whisper as he stopped just inches from me. “My plan doesn’t require me to raise a hand to her.”