Page 56 of Mercy & Malice

My father speaks on the other end of the line, “You know how plans change at the last minute.”

There’s one plan that won’t change. He’s dead. “Come face me, motherfucker.”

The line is silent for a minute before he has the nerve to claim, “I was doing you a favor.”

“Run like the fucking coward you are but understand that I will find you. And the longer I have to wait, the more time I have to consider ways to kill you.”

He laughs, but I hear the unease as he speaks, “Dream all you want, little boy. You’ve never been a real threat to anyone. I bet that precious pussy had to help you get out. I know you couldn’t have done it alone.”

“Talk all you want. You’re dead when I find you.”

“And how will you explain that? Have you told her it was me?”

When I don’t respond, he tsks. “Secrets are deadly. But I’ll keep yours if you keep mine.”

Gripping the phone tightly, I say, “I’ll reveal every-fucking-thing to make sure you suffer and pay for what you did to her. So, keep watch over your shoulder, because I’m on my way to find you. When I do, you’ll beg for mercy.”

Ending the call, I drop the phone on the table as Tara rushes back into the kitchen. “Are you sure Brooke is okay?”

She will be. “She’s on her way to get checked out at the hospital.” I explain that it’s a precaution then tell her mom which hospital. What I want to tell her is to take her daughter as far away from this house and my father as possible, but I’m too selfish. Because if she’s gone, I can’t protect her. I won’t be able to see for myself if it’s okay. It’s not a logical thought process. Decisions regarding Brooke always have a way of making me do things I normally wouldn’t think twice about.

Tara says, “I’m going to get changed and go to the hospital. Do you want to get checked out too?”

I’m sure the dried blood all over me is the reason for her question. But I can’t help gauging her posture and reaction to all of this. Surely Tara is unaware of what my father did. It’d be crazy for her to have known. But she is the same woman who kept her daughter in the house with a man who abused the both of them for years. Would she let my father do the same? I don’t believe so, but I’m not fully convinced just yet.

29

MICAH

TWO AND A HALF MONTHS AGO, DARE 13

Sacrifice if you dare.

Meet at Old Belgrave Academy at midnight⁠—

Or beg for Mercy.

The message has disappeared, but the aggravation is still in me. It has been four days since I walked out of the mausoleum after Brooke incinerated our chances of winning and handed the game to Luca, who claimed he was done. I’ve tried to speak to her, make sense of it, but she’s relentlessly avoided me. I’ve been dodging my father, not wanting to tell him I blew it, because I know deep down in my gut why Brooke refused. She’s the Deceiver. That’s why she backed out of playing initially and why she wouldn’t take the simplest step to make it into the final round. She’s still in the game as the Deceiver, so nothing else makes sense.

Driving to Old Belgrave feels useless since I’m not in the running. But I need answers. And to figure out how the hell I recover from this. The game I’ve prepared years for is blown, and my brother has a chance to be the champion. The person I blindly trusted played me.

I trudge through the cemetery and enter the mausoleum. Decider is standing at the bottom of the staircase. “You will be escorted to your seat at the table. Resist and you’ll be forced to comply anyhow.”

Another Keeper guides me into a darkened room, and I drop into the wooden chair he motions to. The dim lights fade as he straps my hands to the armrests then fastens a gag over my mouth. That’s when I glance around, spotting other players already bound and gagged, watching me. But it’s Brooke’s frightened eyes to my left that I hold until the lights go completely out, leaving us in pitch-black darkness.

The next time the dim lighting is turned on, we see an unconscious Ivy being tied to a chair. It’s seconds later when Luca enters, yelling and shouting from the doorway.

The Deceiver tells him, “She’ll be unharmed if you cooperate.”

He watches her then moves to the chair beside her, his gape catching mine. Once he sits, they bind and gag him, then the lights go out and we’re in dark again.

There are faint sounds of motion around us, but being unable to see it is unnerving.

Eventually, the lights turn on. All of Mercy’s surviving players appear unsettled and edgy.

Decider stands nearby as he states, “The final dare. Thirteen. Sacrifice. But only one team has earned the right to partake.” He waves around the table. “The rest of you are here to earn your freedom. The price—silence.

“Mercy is sacred. It must remain veiled in secrecy. There’s no alternative. You can all walk away from here. The agreement is you will never speak of Mercy to anyone. Ever. And if you do, the price will be grave.”