“God, Georgie, listen to you,” Camden said, his voice a low growl of frustration. “Do whatever it took to get rid of her? You sound like Ms. Wykes.”
Georgia let out a gasp. “How dare you? Until five minutes ago, you were just as on board with this plan as we were.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, well, things changed.” My priorities changed.
“Yeah, because Scarlett Lattimore opened her legs for you. What a good guild member you are.”
“For the love of God, stop this, you two,” Mason said, standing up and lacing his hands behind his head as he paced. “This is ridiculous. Georgia,” he said, turning to her. “I’m sorry, but I’m with Camden. Our plan . . . it needs to be adjusted. We can still seek answers, justice. That’s not going to change, okay? That part is bigger than just us. But I don’t want to be ruled by vengeance either. I want . . . more.” He looked at her so adoringly that Camden glanced away. He sometimes wondered if Mason ever admitted his longing for Georgia, even in his own head. What he did know was that Mason was inspired by the work he was doing on Lilith House. It’d become a passion project for him, not only because he was good at what he did, but because it was filling something inside him to be given reign over the structure that had imprisoned him for most of his life. He was turning Lilith House into something different than she’d been, inspired by the vision he had for her. Camden could see that it provided a cleansing for Mason, one long past due, one taking the place of what they had previously planned. This one feeding the good wolf inside, he could see it in Mason’s eyes. “Don’t you want more, Georgie?” Mason asked softly.
She glowered at him. “You want more than us?” she asked. “Suddenly we’re not enough for you anymore?”
“You’ve always been enough for me, Georgia,” he said softly. “But I also want to be happy.” He looked at Cam. “I’ve never seen Cam happy . . . until now. And I want that for you too. I want that for me,” he finished. “We deserve to have a life, Georgia, things that bring us joy and satisfaction. Things that don’t only revolve around Lilith House and the damage done to us.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she choked, her face still turned away from them. Camden’s chest gave a hard knock. He glanced at Mason and they exchanged a look of empathy. Yes, she’d had it harder than both of them, not just at Lilith House, but after that when she went to live with the head of the guild, Clarence Dreschel. That man had paid for her surgery, and then promptly exacted payment in the form of another slice of her innocence, which she’d only divulged to him and Mason when they’d begun setting their plan in motion. He would give anything to change it, to change all of it. He’d give anything to have had the power then to rescue her. But he’d been a kid too. Traumatized. Confused. And God, he admitted it, so desperately relieved to have been swept away from Farrow.
“I still hear his cane on the floor,” she said, her gaze faraway. “Coming toward my room.”
He went to sit back down next to her. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Nothing like that will ever happen to you again. You’ll always have us, Georgia. We’re family. We will never ever desert you. But, look at me.” For a moment she ignored him, but then her face turned his way. She had tears in her eyes. “We—all three of us—have to make it our end goal to build lives that are bigger than what happened at Lilith House and even after that. We have to, Georgie, or we’ll turn into the very people we’re trying to punish. The people who hurt us so badly.”
“It’s always been us. Just us,” she whispered miserably.
A tear slipped down her cheek and Camden wiped it away. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be. Maybe that’s not healthy, Georgie. There are others out there who will love you too.”
Georgia let out a humorless laugh. “How could they?” Oh, Georgia. She still saw herself as that damaged, unwanted girl. An ugly reject. An unlovable castoff. He had seen himself in a similar light for a very long time. It had been an awakening, a long-awaited miracle to find out he wasn’t the loathsome mistake he’d been taught to believe he was. To discover that a person like Scarlett Lattimore could find him worthy. But it was his decision to choose her word over the lies of all those who had manipulated him so terribly. And he hoped to God someday Georgia and Mason would be able to do the same.
“Easily,” he said softly but with great surety. He looked at Mason, who watched them from where he stood. “I think it was a mistake to think that by recreating our situation on our terms, it would give us power, help us move on.” He bit at his lip for a moment. “I think instead it would’ve just left us stuck in the past. Forever those three invisible children. You deserve more, Georgia. We all do.”
Georgia let out a slow breath, giving him the ghost of a smile.
Mason came to sit down on the other side of her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He nodded to Camden who did the same.
After a moment, Georgia let out a sniffy laugh. “You’re crushing me.”
Camden sat up on a smile, his phone dinging from his pocket. He stood as Mason grabbed a tissue and started blotting at Georgia’s eyes as she let out a teary laugh.
Camden looked down at his text, everything inside him stopping cold.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Camden raised his fist, banging on the door. He heard footsteps rushing toward it and a moment later Scarlett flung the door open, her expression frantic.
“How long has she been gone?”
“Hours.” She wrung her hands together. “I told her she could go out and play in the yard.” She shook her head. “This is my fault. I got distracted with the damn wallpaper and then some designs I was working on and by the time I looked up, it was getting dark. I went out to call her in and it was like she’d just . . . disappeared.” Oh Jesus, Scarlett. Her face crumpled and Camden stepped forward, taking her in his arms, but just as quickly letting go. Time was of the essence.
“We’re going to find her.” The alternative was too unthinkable.
She bobbed her head, swallowing, her face awash in misery. Fuck fuck fuck! He felt sick with worry, desperate to find that little girl. “I went out to the woods. She’s always been so cautious. I couldn’t imagine that she went farther than the tree line. I called and called . . .” A small sob came up her throat but she quickly gained control of herself. “I didn’t dare go any deeper into the woods and get lost myself.”
“Okay. Listen, we’re going to have to form a search party.”
“My God, Cam, this is exactly what happened to Kandace. She walked out into those woods and was never seen again.”
“That’s not going to happen.” And yet even as he said it, a ball of lead formed in his gut. Don’t go there. Chances are she just wandered away and lost her bearings. She’s out there right now, curled up under a tree, waiting to be rescued.
Cam brought his phone from his pocket, but Scarlett grabbed his forearm, halting him. “Can we trust them, Cam? They might be behind Kandace’s disappearance. What if—”
He ground his jaw. “We have no choice. We need lights, equipment. We need as many hands on deck as possible if we have any chance of finding her.”