Page 63 of Wicked Titan

Rushing across the room, I grab my keys out of my bag, shaking as I flip through the keys in search of the red metallic key. I’d felt silly keeping the key, but it had become a reminder to stay away from him before it became a reminder that something deeper was happening between us. Now I know it’s something far graver than I ever could’ve imagined.

Inserting the key, I slowly turn as the lock unlatches with a click before I pull the door open. Inspecting the safe, I notice a stack of papers. I hesitantly reach in, plucking them out to study. The top page is a receipt. From what I can make out, it’s for a wire transfer for four million dollars to a bank account. The next page is the same contract Detective Davis showed me at the school.

I flip through the pages, but the words jumble as my mind swims. I reach into the safe, pulling out a stack of photos. The same type that Asher develops in the darkroom at school, except the top photo isn’t one of the campus or a scenic landscape. It’s a picture of my dad and Candace.

Hastily, I flip through the pictures, many of them are my parents. To my knowledge, they hadn’t spoken since she’d left, so how and when were these photos taken?

Freezing, I can’t remove my eyes from the picture of my dad … and me. The memories of the day flash back to me. We’d gone climbing, then stopped to get lunch, but my dad wasn’t feeling well. Spending more time in the bathroom before he rushed out, saying we’d take our food to go.

“Quinn.”

The sound of Asher’s voice startles me as I jump to my feet, clutching the photo to my chest. I move away, my back slamming against the wall.

His hand grips his neck as he looks to the contents of the safe strewn across the floor at my feet before he steps forward.

“Stay away from me!” Screaming, I push hard against the wall as he abruptly stops, eyeing me as I tremble.

I don’t know what to think as I search his rigid stance.

That’s how he knew about me, about my dad. All the things he’s said run through my mind, especially “I know” and “Your dad is not coming back.”

He knew my dad was dead.

“Did you kill my dad?”

His expression is strained as he remains motionless, his jaw muscle tightening as an unnerving silence fills the room.

I don’t know him as well as I’d thought, but I do know that movement. He is holding something in that he doesn’t want to say.

Gasping, my hands clasps over my mouth, suppressing the painful cry before it comes from my mouth.

Moving towards me, he reaches out. I press against the wall, cowering, as my screams fill the room, causing him to halt.

“Please, Quinn, just let me explain.”

“Explain what?” The word squeaks out of my mouth. How can any of this be explained?

He backs up, his hands in front of him as he speaks. “You have to listen to me, please. I didn’t mean for you to find out like this. When I gave you that key, I was just hiding it, keeping it safe.”

I hear his words, but I don’t know what to make of them. Why would the key be safe with me when it holds answers to everything I’d been asking about my dad? Answers he refused to give me. Answers that are about to change everything.

I push past him. Running as fast as I can. Tears blur my vision, but I pray that I can get away before he stops me.

Things will never be the same.

Never.

* * *

I pull to an abrupt stop in the café parking lot. Unsure of where to go or who to trust, Detective Davis is the only one I want to talk to. Obsessively, I’ve dialed his number, but it goes straight to voice mail.

There’s a reason he’d given me that handwritten number and didn’t have me call the station, so I haven’t tried him there. I don’t want to talk with Detective Taylor or anyone else before I talk to Davis.

Hurrying out of the car, I stumble through the gravel before hastily pushing through the doors. Scanning the café, I don’t see Davis, so I look around for Lindsey, but she is nowhere in sight.

The hostess comes up to me, a bright smile as I look to her in a panic.

“Where’s Lindsey?”