Chapter 12 Not once, but thrice
ADRIANA
With the GPS map on the bike, I was able to navigate my way to the location he had written down on the paper. I parked the bike in front of the large, dark Rouge Wood and got off.
I felt chills rush down my body as I stared at the dark, vast woods before me. I stared at the wristwatch strapped around my wrist and sighed, then swallowed hard before trudging in.
I took my phone out of my bag and walked into the woods, then navigated my way to the west side of the woods. I walked as fast as I could, constantly looking around for the sight of any living being or animal, until I spotted a building at the far end. My heart raced and I increased my pace, almost breaking into a run at some point.
When I got to the house, which looked like it was about to crumble, hesitation kicked in. I brushed the feeling aside and took a step closer to the door, ready to take whatever risk was needed.
A little push at the door caused it to fall open. I slowly stepped in, swinging my head around and clutching my jacket as cold, damp air caressed my skin.
I turned on the flashlight on my phone, then used the glow of light as an aid to find my way around the little, cramped room.
Everything in the room was disorganized and covered in dust that seemed to have been there for months, if not years.
“Is this where Salvador stays?" I whispered, my voice dripping in disbelief.
There was no way Salvador would stay in a place like that, not with that fastidious character of his.
I almost laughed out loud when I remembered when he cursed me out and accused me of being lazy and dirty.
I watched my steps, wondering and hoping the creaking ground wouldn't sink in at any moment.
Even though the place looked unkempt, it was still a good place to hide things. I forgot about the dirt and condition of the little house and focused on what I was here for—the truth.
I began looking around, turning bent tables over and flipping open drawers that my eyes caught up on.
Everything seemed to be turning useless as the time ticked by, and my patience wore out with each passing minute of experiencing disappointment.
I groaned loudly on my seventh failed search and dropped to the dusty ground, running my hand through my hair.
I should have been ready for this from the onset. This was Salvador's typical behavior and way of making someone suffer.
I threw my head back and sucked a deep breath in while listening to my stomach rumble.
I was hungry, yet nothing felt more important than finding those damn people behind that mark and killings.
“Where did you keep it, Salvador, where?" I whispered on the verge of giving up.
Thick silence reigned in the room, causing my skin to creep. I never noticed the silence until then. I was all alone in a falling house on the west side of a thick wood. If anything should happen to me, no one would ever know. No one.
‘You could be buried alive, right beneath you,’ a creepy voice whispered in my head, and my eyes, which were shut, snapped open.
Chills broke out on my back, and I swung my head toward the door, which stood tilted to the side.
“Why would I be buried alive?" I whispered to myself, shivering at the thoughts.
‘Why don't you find out, right beneath you?’
My eyes widened when I realized that the voice in my head was real. It was speaking to me, reading my thoughts, and listening to my words, but what dismayed me was that it wasn't my wolf. It was something else.
Could it be Salvador?
I waited for a response, but got nothing aside from a low, dark chuckle that definitely sounded like that of Salvador.
I wanted to curse at him with his words, but stopped myself from doing so.
I staggered up to my feet and looked down at the floor beneath my feet. My heartbeat increased as I raised my foot and stomped it on the ground. The ground made a creaking sound and seemed to bounce at the stomp.
My heart clenched, and a gasp left my lips as I stared down at the ground. I raised my foot and did it again, then concluded that I wasn't hallucinating.
I dropped to my knees and began to look for a line, a small handle, or something strange that stood out on the ground.
As I searched, my eyes drifted to the large cupboard before me, and excitement rushed over me. A thrilling feeling filled me as I got up and rushed towards the cupboard. The moment reminded me of the years I used to hunt for hidden treasures in my brothers' study and the training ground whenever they were away. This was the way they always hid things.
I wondered why my mind never clicked to things like this.
I grabbed the cupboard by the side and began to push with every strength left in me until the cupboard shifted away from its position. I didn't stop pushing until I had completely moved it to a different space, then rushed back to the spot.
I rolled away the dirty Persian rug under the cupboard and finally saw what I was looking for. A grin broke out on my face, and I bent down and gripped the handle on the ground, then pulled the floor open. It revealed an underground room and a ladder that led down to it.
I took a deep breath and grabbed my phone, then slowly began to climb down the old ladder that could break at any moment.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips when I safely landed on the ground.
I turned on my flashlight again, and what I saw made my heart stop.
Some distance away from me was a large board filled with pictures of familiar faces and red lines that connected them. It looked similar to the one planted in my room. The only difference was that this wasn't a serial killing plan board.
Goosebumps spread over my skin as I walked gingerly towards the board. At the top right was Salvador, my brothers, and me, and connected to my brothers was the head of the gang that kidnapped me years ago, who was murdered by my brothers. His photo had been cancelled since he was already dead.
I looked at the other side and found the picture of Ma'am Felicia and the three men whom I was accused of murdering, the same crazy men who harassed me.
“If I had known you bastards would die, I would have given you a better kick in the ass," I spat out, filled with hatred and disgust.
Below them were other faces I couldn't identify. I darted the flashlight to the middle, ready to find out who was responsible for them being there, but what shocked me the most was the realization that the one connected to all of them was none other than me.
I gasped out and staggered back with a dropped jaw.
How could I be connected to all this? I was only kidnapped by these same people! If I were connected to all of them, then does that mean that Diana was connected to them, too, since she was kidnapped as well?
“This is crazy," I shook my head.
I took a deep breath and began to read the reason why I was connected to them.
Lucian and Killian Nox were connected to me because they were my brothers, while the man they murdered was connected to me because he kidnapped me. The men who harassed me were part of the gang who ran off and were assigned to publicly harass me to get forgiveness from them. They ended up getting killed in the end. They were used to set me up, same as Ma'am Felicia. Though Ma'am Felicia had a question mark on her head, which meant her connection remained a mystery.
I looked through the others and realized that they were my stalkers and people told to watch my move.
“What could they want from me?" I whispered, but that was a question I needed to answer myself.
And to do that, I needed to find out who these people were.
I jerked away from the board and dug my hand into the drawer beside the board, then pulled out a file.
Curiosity gripped me hard as I flipped the empty pages until a pile of photos stuck in the middle of the file caught my attention.
That was it! The true faces behind the mark and organization.
I grinned widely and stared at the name written in bold letters at the top of the page.
“The Scorpio," I read out and twitched my lips in disgust. I dropped the file on the drawer and leaned on it, then began to separate the pictures one by one.
A familiar face caught my attention, and I picked up the picture. I felt my breath cease as I stared at the stern face before me.
“Diana's father!" I blurted out in shock.
I gasped and looked at the back of the photo, and my breath hitched when I realized that I was right.
It finally made sense why Diana wanted me to drop the idea of hunting them after we were saved. She knew her father was part of the organization that kidnapped girls and killed them.
I gasped again and staggered back, causing some of the photos to fall.
I dropped to the ground, dismayed. She stabbed cruelly, not once, but thrice.
But that wasn't the end of horror. That was just the beginning.
My eyes flickered to one of the photos lying on the ground, and my heart stopped beating. My breath ceased and I felt the bottom of my belly constrict as I stared at the face on the photo a few distance away from me.
My trembling lips parted, and I whispered the name echoing in my head.
“Miles."