Grayson was leaving.
I couldn’t hear where he was going because they had moved further down the hall as they spoke.
Biting my lip, I opened the door a few inches and peeked out into the hall. It was empty, so I opened it more and leaned out.
They were in Grayson’s bedroom.
It wasn’t dark enough to sneak out yet but if Grayson was leaving then I could catch a ride.
Stepping out of the room, I closed the door again and crept down the hall. I stopped outside the door of Grayson’s bedroom and leaned forward with my ear pressed to the door.
“I should’ve stepped in when I noticed the bruises,” Grayson was saying.
“You didn’t know that—”
“I knew,” he interrupted Emeric. “I knew but I believed Allison when she told me that she would handle things.”
“She took care of it, didn’t she?”
“Only because I was training the kid.” Something was slammed shut. “He’s dead. Lucas said that Ariana attacked him. Samuel tripped and hit his head on the edge of the desk.”
“What are you planning on doing?” Emeric asked. “Bury the body?”
Grayson was silent for a few minutes. “I have to make sure that he’s dead first and then I’ll figure shit out.”
“Take my truck. You might need it if you have to bury the body.”
“Stay here and make sure that the girls stay in their rooms,” Grayson ordered.
I hurried down the stairs and snuck out through the back door. A glance around assured me that nobody was in sight. Creeping along the wall, I hurried over to the cars.
There were two trucks parked side by side. Which one was he going to take?
My eyes darted between the two as I hesitated. One was an old black pick-up truck and the other a newer, double cab 4x4.
I had never seen Emeric driving so I had no clue which truck belonged to him.
Swallowing, I glanced around once more before I hurried over to the double cab. The windows were tinted and that would hopefully work to my advantage if it was indeed the right truck.
I held my breath as I tested the door.
The air left my lungs when the door opened without an alarm going off.
Getting in, I closed the door softly behind me and then squeezed in behind the driver’s seat.
All I had to do was keep as still as I could.
***
For once luck seemed to be on my side because Grayson had chosen the double cab.
It felt like we had been driving for hours. The position wasn’t exactly comfortable and I was starting to get a cramp in my leg.
Finally, the truck slowed and then pulled to a stop.
Grayson sighed loudly.
There were a few more minutes of silence before he got out of the truck. I silently counted to thirty before I moved.
A peek out the window assured me that we were at Lucas’s house. He had parked in the drive and was slowly making his way up the porch steps. Grayson didn’t even glance around to make sure that nobody was watching him before he entered the house.
I waited with a racing heart to make sure he didn’t return and then slipped out of the truck.
Running to the back of the house, I slipped inside the same way Ariana and I had entered the house a few hours ago.
Grayson wasn’t downstairs and I couldn’t hear him moving around upstairs either.
If this went wrong then I was going to be in so much shit, but it would be worth it if Lucas got exposed.
The walk up the stairs was made with legs that felt like jelly. Every sound from outside that reached my ears made me freeze in fear.
I blew out a breath when I reached Lucas’s bedroom. For a moment I froze in the doorway and stared down at the mess.
Samuel’s body was still there. All that had changed since we left was the colour of the blood on the floor.
I hesitated for a few seconds before I slowly entered the room. I forced my eyes away from the body and glanced around the room.
My eyes locked onto the desk. There could be more evidence there. I took a step forward but froze when the floorboards outside the bedroom creaked.
*Shit, shit, shit!*
Hurrying over to the closet, I slipped inside just in time because Grayson entered the room a second later.
He stared down at Samuel’s body for a few minutes and then pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled a number.
“Can you talk?” he asked. “No, he’s dead.
A low chuckle fell from his lips.
“She did me a favour, actually. If they had returned with him still alive I could have come here to kill him myself.”
He walked closer and crouched next to the body.
“No, I’ll do it. I can handle one or two humans if I have to. Besides, I won’t be moving the body.” He paused. “There will be too much evidence left behind. The best thing would be to blow the house up to get rid of everything. I have to grab a few things from the basement first that might be useful.”
Straightening, he turned and stared at Lucas’s bed.
“I’ll be home late,” he muttered as he ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to take care of things here and then go pay Spike a visit.”
After a few more words, Grayson hung up and pushed his phone back into his pocket.
My mouth dropped open in surprise when he flipped the bed onto its side. What was even more surprising was the knife strapped to the underside of the bed. There was another knife in the drawer of the desk and a gun strapped to the underside of the chair.
Grayson glanced down at the body again and then walked out of the room.
I waited a few minutes to make sure that he wouldn’t be returning before I stepped out of the closet. Spinning around, I moved the clothes aside to reveal the wall behind. My eyes once again darted over them. They lingered on a photo of Mom before darting away.
*It ends tonight, Lucas. *
***
But things didn’t go as I had planned. I didn’t even get the chance to show them the photos I found because Dad and Granddad weren’t at the house.
I went to bed with the plan of showing them first thing in the morning.
A hand being pressed over my mouth woke me.
My eyes snapped open as my hands shot up to dig my claws into the intruder’s arm. There was a low his before the arm was jerked away.
“Don’t scream.” The sheets were thrown off my body and a hand reached down to grip my arm gently. “Come with me.”
“What—”
“Eva,” he growled.”Shut up and come with me.”
I pursed my lips and silently followed him out of the room. The house was dark and silent which was a bit surprising because Dad wasn’t an early sleeper.
The moment we stepped out of the house, my eyes darted up to the man. It was easy to identify him with the bright light of the moon. Grayson glanced at me over his shoulder. His hand slid down my arm to grab hold of mine as he started guiding me down the drive.
There was a van parked between the trees a few feet from the road.
“You can still back out,” Grayson said as we reached it.
“With your plan?” I asked for clarification.
“Yes.” He took a step closer and cupped my cheek. “I’ll be close by and in case something happens that prevents me from getting to you, someone else will be there to get you to safety.”
“What about Ariana?”
His hand dropped as he took a step back.
“She’s sleeping, and so are your father and grandfather. If all goes well we should be back before the wake up.”
Depending on how they were planning on doing this, I might actually be able to ask Oliver a few questions regarding Lucas.
“Let’s do this.”
Grayson hesitated a second before he reached out to slide the back door of the van open.
I blinked at the sudden bright light that greeted me.
Once we were inside the van, the door slid closed again, blocking out the outside world. My eyes darted around.
Emeric was busy fumbling with something that had a lot of wires. Behind the wheel sat a man I had never seen before, and next to him was a man I wasn’t expecting to see.
Jason gave me a small smile that instantly disappeared when Grayson cleared his throat.
“Oliver had approached Jason with an offer for him to kidnap Ariana and deliver her to him,” Grayson explained. “Jason called me yesterday to inform me and since we were already planning on taking him out, I had him agree. They will be meeting tonight in an hour at the park.”
“Here, drink this,” Jason said as he held out a small glass bottle with light pink liquid inside.
I frowned at it. “What is it?”
“Something to make your animal dormant for a few hours,” he explained. “You should be back to normal in the morning.”
“What about side effects?” Grayson asked as he took the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and then raised it to his nose to sniff the contents.
“She’ll have a mild headache and some drowsiness that should set in once it starts to wear off.”
I took the bottle from Grayson when he held it out to me and repeated his actions. The liquid smelled sweet.
“Where did you get it?” I asked him.
Jason winked at me. “It’s my little secret.”
A nudge against my leg made me tip the bottle back and swallow it. My face scrunched up as my senses were assaulted by the overly sweet liquid.
Ariana was the sweet tooth not me.
“It’s too risky to put any wires on you,” Emeric said as he turned to face us. “You’re going in blind, both of you. I’ll be listening from the van to alert Grayson if something goes wrong.”
“H-how will I know if I’m in danger?” I asked softly.
Grayson’s eyes caught mine. Instead of answering, he gave me a wink. My mouth dropped open when he climbed out of the van and closed the door firmly behind him. I glanced at Emeric in confusion.
“Grayson will meet us there. It’s too risky to have him arriving with us.” He pushed a bag towards me. “You have five minutes to change your appearance to match Ariana’s.”