Page 53 of Clever Deceit

I lifted my head, a glimmer of hope at the back of my mind.

“Really?”

“Really,” Rocco replied with a nod. “He might want to do worse to her, but this way, he makes it so you have to keep contact with him. From the sounds of it, that’s exactly what he’s going to want.”

I tried to calm myself down. He was right. And I was sure he knew way better than me how this worked. But there was still something nagging at the back of my mind—the reminder that Tony and his father had always been able to get what they wanted, no matter how hard I fought against them to stop it.

“Thank you,” I replied, and I managed to get to my feet. “I really appreciate you coming around to check on us. And we’ll be in touch as soon as we can with more information about how we’re trying to move forward. But right now, we really need to rest. My mom just got back from the hospital, and she needs some peace and quiet.”

I was running on empty right now, forcing the words out of my mouth because I knew I needed to. I wanted to be alone right now—or at least as alone as I could be.

“I’ll go too,” Barry agreed, and he gave my mom a quick hug before he followed Frank and Rocco to the door.

“Don’t wait too long to get in touch with that information,” Rocco called to me just before he left. “Remember what I said—they're not going to give us much time.”

“I know,” I called back, my stomach twisting into a knot. The door closed behind them, and I slumped back down into my seat, letting out a breath I didn’t even know I had been holding.

“I’m so sorry, Lily,” Mom told me, pulling me into a hug. I couldn’t even feel it. I was numb, looking in on my body from the outside and trying to navigate how I felt about all of this. I just wanted Silver back, safe, where I could make sure Tony couldn’t get to her. I could still see the way she had been cowering when Tony had rounded on her again, and it scared me to think of what else he might do now he had her alone.

Warren insisted on making us something to eat, and I managed to get a few bites down before I headed to bed. Warren lay next to me, his arm wrapped around me protectively.

“Remember what they said,” he murmured to me. “They’re not going to do anything to Silver, not now. They need her alive to make a case against her, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady, but the truth was, I didn’t really believe a word of it. I wanted to scream, wanted to tear my hair out right now and just beg the universe to give her back to me, but I had to act like I was being logical about it. I didn’t want to worry Warren and my mom any more than I already had, and the only way to do that was to focus on getting some sleep and letting go for the evening.

Warren eventually dozed off beside me, but I stayed wide awake, staring at the ceiling, my mind racing. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Tony would do to Silver now that he had her alone. Was he hurting my dog? The sound of Silver’s whines played in my head, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the images that were tormenting me, but it was no good.

I lay there for a long time, as it grew darker and darker outside, until the only light was the watery, pale blue moon pouring through the window opposite me.

I lifted my head to check that Warren was really asleep. His chest was rising and falling slowly, and he looked pretty out of it. I touched his shoulder and held my breath to see if he would react, but there was nothing.

As quietly as I could, I swung my feet out of bed and stood up, grabbing my clothes to get dressed. I knew there was no way I could just lie here and wait for something to happen. No, I had to do it myself—I had to get out of here, and I had to find Silver and make certain she was okay. I didn’t even want to think how scared she must have been at that moment, how terrified that I had left her behind.

But I would never do something like that. I had walked away from too much of my life as it was, I had allowed Tony to call the shots on way too much. I was going to stop that right here, right now. I was going to bring it to an end.

I didn’t even know what I was planning. But the anger, the rage, the fear, and the guilt were all clustering up inside of me, filling my guts until there was no room for anything else. Of everything he had done to me, this might have been the worst. Taking an innocent animal like that, knowing how much Silver meant to me, just to torment and torture her to further his abuse against me? Would he ever let go of me? Of wanting me under his control again? I had to pray the answer was yes, but I was getting less and less certain with every passing day.

I paused in the door and looked over my shoulder toward Warren. I knew he was going to worry if he woke up and saw me gone, but he couldn’t blame me. He knew how much Silver meant to me, and he would never have asked me to ignore that. He loved that dog, too, and seeing the two of them together again was a major driving factor pushing me to get my shoes on and get out the door.

I pulled on a jacket, grabbed a set of keys, and stole out into the night, making sure to double-check the door before I vanished. I didn’t know where I was going—but the longer I stayed lying in bed, the deeper my fear got.

CHAPTER 25

WARREN

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I CAME TO AND REACHED over to her side of the bed to pull her into my arms. Half-asleep, I wanted to feel her body against mine before I dozed off again.

But she wasn’t there. I sat up at once, looking around, half-expecting to see her wander through the door and slide back into bed with me.

That’s what I was hoping for, at least.

But there was nobody else in the room, and I couldn’t hear the sound of her footsteps out in the hallway, either. Panic rushed through my system, and I did my best to shut it down. It might have been nothing, right? Just my brain jumping to conclusions way quicker than it needed to.

I climbed out of bed and headed downstairs. The house was eerily quiet—maybe it was just because of how crazy things had been before, but the silence hung heavily in the air, the weight of it pressing down on top of me.

It was the silence of not having Silver around, I guessed. I still couldn’t believe she was actually gone. I wished Lily had let me take the fall for this one instead. At least I knew Tony wouldn’t have tried anything too dangerous with me—I would make way more trouble for him than a dog would. But Silver...yeah, I didn’t even want to think what he would do with her.