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“Let's just say I was watching…a lot.” She nods toward the papers. “Start reading them. See if there is any familiarity in what’s said. Maybe a link to someone you might know. Someone who might have it out for you. Possibly, someone else who knows your secret.”
I do as she says, starting with the first one.
IF YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME, YOU’RE DEAD WRONG!
Then another.
BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER!
My eyes lift, and I read it again, this time out loud. “Blood is thicker than water.Think that’s a clue?”
“Oh for sure. This person definitely knows your secret.”
I raise a brow, then tell her, once again, why I’m sure it’s Jude. “If it were Jude, it would make sense. Because he’d be…my brother. My blood.”
Riley’s silence is telling. I’m slowly convincing her, so I read more, in hopes of her seeing the truth.
THE GAMES HAVE JUST BEGUN!
Yeah. No kidding, asshole. You’ve played your fair share of games, but they’re coming to an end.
I read through a couple more, then my body goes numb.
I WAS AT EVERY BIRTHDAY. YOU JUST DIDN’T KNOW.
I remember finding this one in my room. It was the night Neo threw a party…
Neo, being the control freak he is, snags the envelope from Jagger’s hand before he can see the contents. His finger slides under the lip, and he reaches inside. When he pulls his hand out, he’s holding a picture.
It takes me a second, but I come to realize, it’s a picture of me.
“That’s me…when I was only a child. It looks like one of my birthday parties. Why would this guy have a picture of me as a child?” Panic ensues, and I take it from Neo. It looks like it was taken through a window. Like someone was standing outside of my family home, watching us. I look at the guys, who are all staring at me like they’re waiting for me to lose my shit. No one says anything, so I take it upon myself to ask the question that I’m sure we all have. “Where did this come from?” I flip the picture over and there’s something written on the back.
I push away the memory and read the note to Riley. “I was at every birthday. You just didn’t know.”
She snaps her fingers, pleased with herself. “You see. It can’t be Jude. Why the hell would Jude take a picture of you at a birthday party as a child? He wouldn’t. Unless…”
Chills skate down my spine as I finish her sentence.“Unless his dad did.”
“Of course. Because he knew you were his daughter.”
Riley thinks long and hard, and I know she’s trying like hell to acquit Jude, but the evidence isn’t working in her favor. “But Jeremy Beckett is dead. If I had to guess, Jude took over his game after he killed him.”
For the first time all night, I’ve rendered Riley speechless.
I stuff the notes back in the lockbox and close the lid. “It’s late right now, but as soon as class gets out tomorrow, we’re going to talk to Jude, so he can tell us everything he knows. Until then, girl talk in Maddie’s room.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
NEO
This morningI should have woken up feeling relief. Instead, I have a pounding headache from drinking myself into oblivion last night. Haven’t heard from Scar. Not that I expect to. She got what she wanted and probably hates me more now than she did before last night.
When all is said and done, there’s one person who I know I’ve always got at my side. I knock on Maddie’s door, because she asked me to. Apparently, we’re not kids anymore, and I can’t just barge in whenever I want. So here I am abiding by her wishes.
“Who is it?” she asks, as if I could be anyone else.
“Your favorite brother. Who else?”
