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“Has anyone approached you off the street? Come to the house? Sent you letters?”
He shook his head. “No, no, and no. I’m telling you, there’s been no contact whatsoever. As far as I’m concerned, Thaddius didn’t even know where we fled after the trial.”
I watched his every reaction and knew that he was telling the truth. I mean, I wasn’t an expert at spotting lies, but I knew how to draw them out under pressure from clients. Every single reaction my father gave, however, was completely genuine.
So, whatever the hell was happening, he had no idea what the fuck was up.
BRRRRRING! BRRRRRING! BRRRRRRING!
I heard the ringing of a phone somewhere, but didn’t see one out in the open. It didn’t sound like a cell phone, but there was no desk phone to be had in Dominik’s office. His eyes locked with his desktop screen, though. They stared blankly at it, causing me to rush around so that I could see what he saw.
And as I watched a little phone icon dance around the front of the screen, I placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s restricted,” I said.
He reached for his mouse. “I know.”
“Where’s your desk phone?”
He moved the mouse cursor toward the green button. “I may or may not have thrown it against the wall.”
And as he clicked the green button, he reached for the volume key on his keyboard.
Turning that sucker all the way up.
“Nice to speak with you again,” he said as he picked up the call, “I’m presuming this is my new friend?”
The faceless voice spoke back, and the sound alone sent shivers down my spine. “My, my, what chatterboxes you all have been tonight.”
“Checking the hallway,” I whispered as I soared away from his desk.
Dominik cleared his throat. “Look, if this is your attempt to scare me, then you’re going to have to do better than this. My dreams are made of this kind of stuff, and I always wake up with a smile on my face after the fact.”
“Fair enough,” the voice said as I unlocked the door and threw it open, “what about this, then?”
“No!” Mom shrieked.
“Eden!” Em exclaimed.
I whipped around, standing in the doorway of Dominik’s office. He leapt to his feet, eyeing me carefully as Dad started rushing toward me.
And it wasn’t until I looked down at my chest that I saw a red dot tracing the outline of my heart.
“Take me! Take me instead!” Dad bellowed.
“Don’t you move another inch,” the voice through the speakers growled.
I held out my hands to stop him, watching as his face grew angry with rage. I pumped my hands, trying to get him to stop his movements so that no one pulled the god damn trigger. It almost didn’t feel real. None of this felt real any longer.
What in the hell has my life become?
“You can threaten me all you want,” Dominik said curtly as he stared me down, “but you sure as hell won’t threaten them. Tell me what you want.”
“It’s simple, really,” the nameless voice said, “I want you to get out of my way. You’re meddling in things that don’t concern you, so I’ll repeat myself one last time: stop your research. Stop your help. Stop trying to solve the puzzle.”
“And if I don’t?”
The red dot slowly inched up my chest. My neck. Along my face, and my hairline. It stopped directly in the middle of my forehead and Mom cried out, sobbing openly as she fell to her knees. Em doubled back over, vomiting onto Jackson’s shoes as he got down on the floor with her in a measly attempt to provide her comfort.
