Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“You have the footage of Claudia?” I ask.
“I have it,” Nova tells me. “Everett dropped it on the shoreline. I picked it up earlier tonight. It’s already on a hard drive and saved in the cloud.”
I stare down Everett. “So you made good on that, at least,” I say with an inferno amassing in my chest. Or maybe it’s been there all night. I feel it. On the verge of exploding.
Everett scans the storm shelter. Let me be very clear. He’s only looking at the people. At Oliver and his bloodshot, wounded gaze—a boy who has never broken. At Nova and the barrel of his gun—a boy who has never betrayed. At Phoebe and her rage—a girl who has never disobeyed.
At Hailey and her psychosis—his so-called daughter.
“What happened? Hailey?” His voice is edged with paternal worry. He steps toward her. I put a firm hand on his chest and back him all the way up against the wall.
“Brayden!” He grips the nape of my neck, since I’m shirtless, to thrust me back.
I thrust him forward. “Who are we?!” I shout, pinning him against the concrete wall. “Who the fuck are we?! And don’t lie. Because we know things. She knows things. So we will catch you in your own fucking web. Tell us the truth right now.”
He’s staring past me. He’s watching Hailey mutter to herself. His jaw tics. His throat bobs. He’s upset. This is upsetting him. Good. Join the fucking club. “She needs help, Brayden.” He fixes his narrowed gaze on me. “Let’s get her to a doctor.”
“We’re not leaving here without the truth. The entire truth.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. “That’s why you called your mother.”
“Is she my mother? The woman who gave birth to me?”
Everett loosens the bow tie at his neck. He’s tugging at his white collar. He unclips the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist. Like it’s all bothering him. It’s all too heavy as he controls his breathing. As he tries to control his skidding, flailing pulse.
I learned from him.
I learned everything from him.
“She’s not your mother.” Everett gets it out in the quietest breath. “Not in that sense.”
“What was my mother’s name?”
“Josephine Wolfe.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. “And my father?”
“Christian Wolfe.”
Pain and wrath ball up in my throat. I swallow them down. “How did they die?”
“Their car crashed into the river.”
“Did you have a hand in killing them?”
“Did I…?” His brows jut up. “No, not…” He gets choked up. He’s caught on my eyes, as if he’s crawling backward. Into the past. “We were following their car. Addy and me.”
“Why?”
“Because we knew what was going to happen that night.” Everett curls his grown-out hair behind his ears. “The four of us were working a job in Victoria. Me, Addison, Elizabeth, and Varrick.”
“You’re friends with him?” I question.
“Were,” Everett spits out in distaste. “He went rogue.”
“Oh, he went rogue? How fucking convenient. Place the blame on the friend who got cut out of the circle.”
Hurt flares in his eyes. He clutches my shoulder like I’m ten and he’s about to lecture me. I rip his hand off me.
His chest collapses, but then he steels himself on instinct. “You know us. You’ve known what we do. We entrusted you six with thousands of felonies that could send us to prison, and how many times have you ever seen us put a hit on someone? With your own two eyes, son. Tell me the number.”
Zero.
I grind my jaw.
Everett slides a hot hand across his neck. “He doesn’t operate how we do. If he did, he fooled us—”
“He fooled you?” I say with thick doubt.
“I’m not the best of us,” Everett admits. “Your mother—Addison is much better. Beth, too. But even they didn’t see what he was until it was too late. We were in too deep, and we were just…we were hanging on.” He drops his gaze for a beat, then lifts it back to me. “We were targeting the Wolfes. So when Varrick got close to William Wolfe, then when he proposed to Daphne—it was all part of the plan. What wasn’t was him killing William.”
“He killed Emilia’s husband?”
“I didn’t see it. Beth said he used potassium chloride and put the needle under his tongue. Varrick held the man down while he was sleeping. Everyone…everyone believed William died of a heart attack. No one suspected foul play.”
“So what’d you think would happen the night my parents died?” I question.
Everett tilts his head back against the cement. He turns away from me, like this next story is misery. “Beth was in a car with Varrick. They were tailing Christian Wolfe and his family.”
“I thought you said you and Addison were following them?”
“We were technically following Varrick, who was following them. Beth was trying to convince him to turn around. Addy and I were keeping our distance. He didn’t know we were there. We were afraid he was going to kill Christian’s entire family. He needed them out of the picture, and this was the best chance to do it, since they were headed to Vermont for a family vacation.”