“They said you needed to forget. I just didn’t think that was fair. When my wife passed, I… never mind. I just thought this would help. He’s with you, Eliana. I know you can feel that, but now you have a physical part of him too. I’m so sorry you hurt, Sweet Girl.” He wipes the tears from my cheeks, holding my face in his hands.
“Yeah, I do feel him.” I glance up the stairs, thinking about last night. “I miss him so much, Richard. I just wish I could go back.” I sniff.
“I know, but you are so young. You will be okay. Things will work out; just wait and see. Now, how about I help you with that?” He gestures to the pendant. “I assume you want to add it to the necklace with your ring?”
“Yes, please,” I stand, turning my back to him, lifting my hair from my neck, and allowing him to slide the small urn onto the chain to join the other important pieces.
“There, perfect.” he adjusts the charms and places them back against my chest. “I need to be going, but before I go, I want you to think about the answers you are looking for. Eliana, you can’t un-know unpleasant things, and sometimes those things can alter your entire world. Consider the cost before you go looking, okay?” He looks meaningfully into my eyes.
I nod because I truly do understand.
“Okay, if you decide it’s worth the risk, I think you already know where you should start.” He glances in the direction of the basement door and back to me. “Sometimes you have to dig a little bit deeper to find what you’re looking for. An extra layer if you know what I mean.”
“I think I do, Richard. Thank you.”
“Let me know if you need me, okay? I know your dad can get busy, but I’m only a phone call away. I’m here for you, sweet girl.”
“Thank you for being honest with me, Richard. I don’t get much of that.” I hug him tightly.
“Thank you for trusting me, Eliana. See you soon.” He rubs my back then turns and leaves the house.
Looks like I’m checking the basement then.
Chapter Eight
Costin
Once we arrive at the Laporte place, Douglass meets us on the porch.
“Took you all long enough,” Douglass huffs out, clearly out of breath.
Opening and closing the door a few times, Abel speaks up, “Someone kicked this in?”
“That’s what I told Andrew. Can we focus on something we don’t already know?” Douglass rolls his eyes and turns to Andrew. “They were in Joshua’s room. I have no idea what they could have taken, but his desk has been emptied, and someone was in his computer. I haven’t been in there since… well, you know.”
“Yes, let’s take a look. Jaxx, you’re with us. Costin, you and Abel look around down here.” Andrew heads up the stairs, shooting back a look that I know well: What’s Douglass hiding?
“Cos, someone kicked in this door? What’s wrong with this story?” He steps back, allowing me a clear view of the frame.
“What the fuck? There’s no damage to the jamb. The deadbolt was locked?” We both look back at the door. “No fucking way. Look at the print on the door, clean. It should at least be smeared a bit, and only one kick opened it? This door is solid.”
“If someone came in this house, it wasn’t this way, man.” Abel nods up the stairs. “He just sat his fat ass here and waited for us? Something isn’t right.”
“Yeah, why target Laporte anyways? After what happened with Eli-” My blood runs cold, and both of our eyes go wide. “Who is with her? We’re all here!”
“Jaxx! Home!” Abel shouts on my heels, running back down the walk to the bikes. We speed back home, hoping we’re wrong and knowing that whatever this was, it was probably meant to get her alone.
Eliana
Deeper, huh? I walk to the brick wall at the back of the main room in the basement that I saw Daddy disappear through years ago. I never made it down there because Abel stopped me, but like Richard pointed out… no one’s here to stop me now. Shrugging, I feel around the exposed brick for- there it is. I compress the button and gasp when the door slides open after hearing the clicking of the lock disengaging.
Well, well… can’t get much deeper than this. I giggle. I’ve gotten hella sloothy. Too bad the guys are too alpha macho dumb to appreciate it. Richard is the only one who has looked deep enough to see how strong I really am. I’m going to figure this out and shove it in their grumpy faces.
At the bottom of the stairs, I enter a short hallway with two doors on each side and one at the far end. I check each room as I pass. They look like cells, but they are all empty. This must be where Daddy is keeping Puckett. Costin did say the subbasement. I hesitate at the last door, wondering if he’s tied up.
Reaching out, I slowly turn the knob, hoping to catch him off guard so I can slam it shut again if he isn’t restrained. The room is dark, and I’m immediately overwhelmed by a revolting smell. I breathe in heaving when the thick, slightly sweet air hits my tongue, but I search for the switch. Feeling around on the wall, I nearly gag again when my fingers slide across the tacky switch and quickly flip it up, freezing when the scene in front of me is revealed by the overhead bulb.
“No!” I scramble to leave the room, but my foot slides beneath me, and I land with a squish in the puddle of blood. Puckett’s dull eyes are frozen open in fear, his throat slashed, and blood is still dripping from the tabletop his body is slumped over. I try to stand, but my bare feet slide in the slightly warm blood. I reach up, trying to pull myself from the carnage, but my hand lands on something small and soft. I pull in a trembling breath and squeeze my eyes closed in an attempt to calm myself. Opening my eyes, I look to the table, seeing Puckett’s tongue right where my hand was. Screaming, I pull myself to my knees and crawl out the door, sliding painfully across the hard floor.
Once in the hall, I kick the door closed and pull myself up by the handle then bolt towards the stairs, my slick feet slipping only once in my retreat. When I hit the basement level, I turn, sliding the wall back into place, putting another barrier in-between us, and run again, not stopping until I have locked myself in my bedroom.
Ripping my bloody clothing from my body, I leave a trail of gore from my door to the bathroom. I crank on the hot water and step under the scalding stream, scrubbing my body raw as my knees give out. Richard was right; I can’t un-know, and I will never be able to unsee… what kind of monster is capable of that kind of torture?
Costin
I burst into her room with Jaxx and Abel right on my heels.
“Blood, it’s- Eliana!” I shout, running for her bathroom where I hear the running water.
“Baby? Where are you?” Jaxx shouts.
We all freeze when we find her bright pink naked body rocking on the floor under the shower. I reach for her, shouting back.
“Kill the water; it’s scalding! Get me a towel!” I move to touch her, but she jerks away.
“Princess, are you hurt? What happened?”
“Did you all kill him?” she whispers.
“Kill who, baby?” Jaxx walks around, draping a towel around her, and I lift her from the floor, carrying her into her room. Sitting on her bed, I rock her soothingly, earning a nasty look from Jaxx. Yeah, fuck you, too.