If I didn’t hate the bastard so much, I might’ve been impressed with his creativity.
I grabbed the phone and powered it on, but just as the screen lit up, the timer on my phone went off. It was too late. Our time was up.
Liza looked at me with tears in her eyes, and I couldn’t find the words to comfort her. We were fucked.
Once the phone powered on, the screen lit up with an incoming call.
I pushed the green button and put the call on speaker phone.
My heart dropped as Castro’s voice echoed off the library walls. He chuckled. “Wow, I’m impressed. You all weresoclose.”
His words hung in the air as the rest of the team gathered around. Nico pulled out his phone and recorded Castro as he spoke.
“I commend you for figuring it all out. To my own surprise, I’m feeling a little generous, considering you were only seconds off.”
My anger was its own living, breathing entity. Liza pressed against my side to try and keep me calm, no doubt sensing my rage.
Dad spoke up. “What the hell do you want from us, Castro?”
Castro laughed in his own sadistic way, making the hairs on my neck stand at attention. “Is Liza there?” He laughed again.“I’m sure she is. She’s the actual brains behind figuring all of this out, isn’t she?”
My hands tightened around the phone as I imagined squeezing Castro’s neck until his face turned blue, choking the very life out of him.
“My request is simple,” Castro began. “I want Dominic to tell Liza just how he massacred her clan.”
What the hell? Liza already knew all about it. What was Castro getting at?
“He needs to tell her that, even though I was the one who pulled the trigger, her parents were still breathing when she ran from the cabin.”
Liza’s entire body went stiff as she pulled away from me. “No. That’s impossible.”
Castro sighed into the phone. “I shot them in the chest, but they weren’t dead when I left the cabin.” His voice was stern as he turned his attention back to Dominic. “Go on, Alpha Keller. Tell Liza how her parentsreallydied.”
52
LIZA
My body automatically recoiled at Castro’s voice booming through the speaker.
Ty turned to face his father, who stood frozen like a statue. “What the fuck is he talking about?”
The look on Dominic’s face told me he was just as bewildered as the rest of us. Nico leaned over and whispered something into his ear.
Dominic’s perplexed expression quickly morphed into devastation. “I didn’t know,” he whispered, his breath catching in his throat.
My voice was much smaller than I intended when I finally spoke up. “What’s going on? I don’t understand.”
Castro’s voice boomed once more. “My patience is running thin, Alpha. I don’t have all night.” He paused before yelling louder. “Liza needs to know who really ended her parents’ lives!”
Dominic cleared his throat and eyed Nico, trying to decide what to say.
“If you don’t tell her right this fucking second,I’lltell her. I’ll tell the whole fucking country. This secret will be exposed tonight. So, who will it be, Dominic? You or me?”
My mind raced, trying to make sense of Castro’s demand. What could he possibly be referring to? Castro had killed my parents. I saw it happen, and I finally remembered every gory detail of that moment. He had shot them in the chest. Two more victims, he decided, were necessary to have me to himself.
Whatever Dominic had to say must’ve been severe, and the last thing I wanted was for him to broadcast information about my parents to the entire country.
I turned to Dominic, pleading with my eyes, gesturing toward the phone. No matter how horrible the truth was, he needed to speak now before we lost our chance to keep the secret between us.
