Page 44 of A Wild Darkness

His cloak dusts the floor as he takes a few steps backward. “Larry, hand them their phone,” he instructs, and the man standing to his right walks forward, but stops about a foot away from Stevie and me. He extends his arm, and inside his palm is a small rectangular burner phone. I recognized the model immediately. River and I have been using them for years.

I reach for it, but don’t let go of Stevie’s hand, so I take her with me.

“We will contact you both on this device going forward.”

After slipping it into my pants pocket, I step back. “Thanks.”

“Good to meet you both, and we look forward to getting to know you better shortly,” Silas says, as the door to the library opens from behind me, giving us the silent sign it’s time to go.

“Looking forward to it,” Stevie says. “Goodbye.” Her feminine voice is sweet, but level, like she won’t let them intimidate her.

We walk back into the lighted glow of the hallway. Once we’re halfway back to the ballroom and safe from earshot of the library, I turn to her and whisper, “How are you doing?”

She blows out a heavy breath. “Well, I can finally breathe now, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“You did really well,” I tell her as we make it into the ballroom.

“Thanks.”

“Oh, and the name…Annabel Lee?”

“What about it?”

“Poe?”

Her lashes lower and her lids narrow. “You’re familiar with the great EAP?”

“Obviously.”

“Do you like it?”

“I do.” I smile. “You did a good job tonight.” I grab a champagne flute from a silver tray as one of the waiters walks by and hand it to her.

She grins and takes the glass. “Thank you.”

I glance around the room one more time. “This is the last one, and then we need to head back to the manor.”

With a playful smirk, she downs the drink again. “Let’s go.”

And as I lead Stevie out of the mansion and into the cool night air, I replay the events that just transpired. Stevie handled herself well, but I struggled with being at the mercy of a group of serial killers.

So, I guess, now we wait once again for them to reach out to us. Something I’m not looking forward to.

CHAPTER TWELVE

STEVIE

It’s a little past one a.m. when Sebastian and I return to the manor.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Sebastian asks again as we walk into the house.

There wasn’t much spoken between us besides dry, uninteresting comments we exchanged about the weather on the ferry ride and drive back. But he did ask me how I was feeling about ten times, though, which I found both heartwarming and irritating. Each time, I replied with the same answer of “I’m fine.”

I place a hand on my hip, thinking about the masquerade ball. “You’ve asked me that already. I’m fine.”

“I’m just making sure. Tonight was a lot, and it’s probably when you saw those people in person in the library.”

“Like, this is all real?” I chew on the side of my lip, dumbfounded.