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I lifted a hand to pull it off, to shed some light into this room, but the moment my hand curled around a corner of the sheet, I heard the creaking of the old wooden floor. I stopped, my heart dropped, and I froze. Another creak, then another. The sounds together were like footsteps, and that told me I wasn’t here alone.
I turned around just in time to see a large, shadowy figure moving toward me. Whoever it was must’ve been hiding in the kitchen, because I surely would’ve seen the shadow of a person. They rushed me fast and hard, and my phone tumbled to the floor when that person grabbed me, spun me around, and laid an arm over my throat, pulling back hard enough to stifle my breath.
Whoever it was was certainly strong. Had to be a guy. The arm was too thick, the muscles behind my back too flat to belong to a woman. And he moved with efficiency. He knew exactly how to hold me so I couldn’t escape, exactly how to wrap that arm around me to make me woozy within seconds.
I tried to fight back, I did. But when you were fighting against an enemy who’d caught you off-guard, and a strong enemy at that, there was only so much you could do. He was like a stone, an immovable object, and I was nothing but a weak girl who’d apparently walked into a trap.
My eyelids grew heavy soon after, my brain becoming fuzzy. My whole body seemed to gain a hundred pounds. It happened quickly after that. I lost feeling in my arms and legs, and the next time my eyes closed, they didn’t open.
Not for a while, anyway, and when they did open, I saw just who had lured me here.
Chapter Fifteen – Brianna
The sheets on the windows had been taken down, allowing what little light there was outside to illuminate the room. I’d been set on the sofa, and I could feel its dusty, dingy fabric on my skin. It made me itch, but I was too busy wrestling with an aching head and a body that felt like it wasn’t mine.
I tried to sit up, but I slumped back over, and that was when I saw him: standing near the wood-burning stove, leaning his back against the wall, his arms folded over his wide chest, a smirk on his face that might’ve been handsome if the situation wasn’t what it was.
“Careful,” he advised, giving me a short nod of his head, “I gave you a little something while you were out, just to make sure you don’t try anything.” That smirk broke into a full-blown smile at that, like he was gleeful over what he’d done.
Who was I staring at? Not the guy I suspected was involved with Erin’s disappearance. In fact, it was someone I’d never suspected at all, because not once had I ever thought they could be connected.
Neo Banks?
I tried to say his name, but my mouth wasn’t working. All I could do was breathe and blink; it was a struggle to do anything else. My body felt like a weird mix of concrete and feathers. The whole room seemed to spin around me. I had no idea what he gave me, but it had to be some drug, something to keep me weak.
I ran my hands along my sides, in search of my phone, but then I remembered dropping it when he rushed me. Neo grinned at me, the look he gave me both deadly and amused. “Looking for this?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out my phone. “I had to admit, I was a little worried you’d talk to Gareth, but it seems you actually followed directions.”
It was a struggle. It took me far too long to get my mouth and voice box to cooperate and say, “What?” I could only say that word, but it was enough, and though my voice came out soft and broken, he heard it.
He slipped my phone back into his pocket, stepping away from the wall. He ran a hand through his blond hair, and he not once took his eyes off me. “You’re probably wondering a lot of things right now. Since you’re never leaving this house alive, I guess I might as well tell you.” He stopped when he reached the sofa, and he lowered to his knees, kneeling before me, that blasted smirk still on his face.
I’d been so wrapped up in Gareth and Alistair and Rick, in my feelings for them and my mistrust that I had neglected to see the viper right in front of me. Neo’s smiles never did anything for me because they weren’t real.
This was the real Neo. Vicious and monstrous. Cruel and cold. Secretively conniving and manipulative.
“Erin,” I managed to breathe out her name. What I really wanted to do was get up and get away from this asshole, but I couldn’t. My body wasn’t playing nice right now. It was the most peculiar feeling in the world, something I’d never experienced. It was like I was here, but not fully.
Neo pulled out another phone from his other pocket, flashing it at me. I recognized the case immediately.Erin’s phone. “I thought I’d have to say more to convince you to come,” he spoke with a smile, an evil glint in his eyes. The preppy jock was just a lie he showed the world. “But you came so easily. You’re so gullible, Brianna. Here I thought you might be something special.”
I was able to shake my head, just a bit, just enough he could see the movement, and he chuckled and went on, “Don’t worry. You and I are going to have lots of fun together.” After putting Erin’s phone in his pocket, he reached for my face, running his fingers down my cheek, and then he took hold of my face by the jaw and forced my head to turn, so I could look at him and see the rage written across every feature.
I tried to swallow. My tongue felt like ten pounds in my mouth, which didn’t even make sense. Eventually, I managed to ask, “Why?”
“Why what? Why you? Why Erin? Why you’re here and why I’m doing this?” He chuckled again, letting my jaw go. He got to his feet and paced the area before the sofa with slow strides. “Erin because I saw her leave Montgomery Manor, and you because you’re… well, you’re the youngest, newest member of the Montgomery family.”
My eyebrows came together. I didn’t understand what he was trying to get at.
“I was planning on you from the first moment I heard Alistair was marrying a woman with a daughter, but when I saw Erin leave in a daze, I knew I had to act. I’m surprised her and her family’s disappearance hasn’t made the news yet, but it will. I just have to figure out a way to pin it on Gareth and Alistair without having Sheriff Jones cover it up.”
My heart beat fast, faster than it had been before, a pressure in my chest unlike no other. “Did you…” God, it was tough to talk, but I had to try. “…kill them?” Laying there on the sofa like a lump on a log, unable to sit up while Neo paced the area around me was torture—although, I had the feeling, I’d know what torture was soon enough.
The smirk Neo gave told me my answer, and it made me sick to my stomach. “I did what I had to, just like I’m doing what I have to with you. Gareth has always been a hateful fuck, and Alistair… that smug asshole thinks that just because he owns this town, he owns everyone in it. Everyone else might be okay living under their rule, in their shadows, but I’m not. I’m done. I’ve been done for a while.”
He stopped pacing and turned to face me. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to take them both down for a long time. I spent some time looking into things. Did you know the number of missing persons in this county went up by quite a bit when the Montgomerys came around? It’s easy when you’re rich as fuck and can pay everybody off, but sooner or later you’re going to run into someone who doesn’t give a shit about all that, someone who’s man enough to take things into his own hands.”
It sounded like Neo hated the Montgomerys because of their money and because of the things they got away with. I knew exactly where he was coming from. And it was because of that that my mind started to formulate a plan.
“Of course, all this is harder while the head sheriff in Eastcreek is in Alistair’s pocket—don’t know how no one else sees how wrong it is that local law enforcement only got the job because of his relation to Alistair. He’s his damn brother-in-law, even if his brother is dead. He’s Gareth’s fucking uncle, so of course he’s going to cover up any laws that little shithead breaks.”
