AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, Kip and I talked about it at length, and we chose to take care of him. Not only was he our brother, but he wasn’t killing innocent people. The first time Kip and I tailed him, he killed a guy trying to rape a woman in an alley. The next, a dad beating the hell out of his kid. Finally, Death stayed out long enough to talk to Kip and me again. He told us how he stalked his victims, making sure that they were truly hurting others before he, as he says it, ‘washed the earth with their blood.’”
“He’s said that to me before too.” I stared at the couple walking by, holding hands.
“Things took an interesting turn when Bass talked about wanting to build Safe Horizon Society for women and children. We worked on that project for three years and just helped local families at first. Bass has a heart of fucking gold even with his rough edges, Ella.”
“But how does he pay for it all? It’s not cheap.”
“Nope, it’s millions of dollars every year, but he doesn’t care. He works at the bar as a cover, so no one suspects what he’s doing behind the scenes. When we were still in college, his uncle in Australia passed away and left Bass his money. His uncle was a rich motherfucker. Then, Bass turned twenty-five, and he received the trust his parents left him. He bought the penthouse with it. The equity in that place after fourteen years—shit, he could sell it for ten times what he paid.”
“Equity is a good thing.” I chewed on my thumbnail, trying to process the information. “So, you guys built the Safe Horizon Society to help the families. How did that play into his other persona?”
“It gave Death targets and we were able to move him around so bodies didn’t pile up all in one place. Some of the significant others we were helping these women escape from were straight-up evil. They were into the skin trade, drugs, and illegal weapons. You name it. Sebastian, Kip, and I help the women and kids, and Death kills some of the men. In our opinion, he was saving people, no matter what. Not once has he targeted an innocent. Now when Kip and I research to see what families need help, we make sure that the guys are fucking sickos too.”
I did a double take, digesting what Dope had just said. “Shit, that’s kind of genius.” I bit my lip. “I’m not a killer, but one less sick bastard around isn’t a bad thing.”
“Exactly. Now we take on a few really big relocations because I hack into bank records and take money out of the target's accounts. We pocket the funds for the Safe Horizon Society, but what the investigators see is that he moved the money to an offshore account or paid off gambling debts. It’s all different shit, but we’ve been able to fund the organization from them instead of Bass’s pockets. He’s still sitting on a pretty penny, though.”
My brain sifted through the abundance of questions, choosing one to start with. “What about the accident?”
“Kip was following him. He probably got too close, and Bass caught sight of him right before the accident. Kip knew Bass was starting to change, and we were worried it would happen while he was driving. It did.” Dope paused, appearing to collect his thoughts. “But Bass does hallucinate sometimes. Lately it’s when Death is trying to overtake Sebastian. Bass gets a horrible headache before he changes. He said it’s like knives being shoved into his skull. My guess is that he was Death, then he flickered between personalities. Death thought he was pursuing Sebastian, then right before he hit the tree Sebastian fully appeared. And as for Kip? He’s been running around like crazy cleaning up behind Death in order to keep the cops off his scent. Kip would die for Bass. We both would. Both personalities have saved our asses so many fucking times. We will always watch out for our man.” He chuckled. “Bass kept us busy as hell the last three weeks we were moving women and children. When we were in Montana, he kept disappearing, and I would have to tail him. Each time it happened, he went straight back to you as Death.”
“That was one of the pieces that had me messed up. How could Death be with me when Sebastian was in another state with you?” I shook my head, mulling over everything I’d heard.
“His plane made it easy. I can track his flights and car.” Dope folded his hands in his lap. “Ella, what are you going to do now that you know the truth?”
Chapter 46
Ella
Istared ahead, unfocused on anything or anyone except what Dope had just shared with me. Would I stay with Sebastian? I wasn’t sure, but at least I finally understood that the push and pull inside me was for the same man. Could I handle Death now that I knew the truth? One thing I was certain of was that he would never hurt me. Not after he had killed Stephen for me and how he had taken care of me after he chased me through the woods. As hard as I tried to shut off my feelings for Death and give myself to Sebastian, I couldn’t. I couldn’t ignore the connection between us that went beyond how he’d protected me and his gentleness at times.
A sharp knife stabbed me in the chest and pierced my heart, leaving me crying tears of blood. As I sorted through the details like a massive pile of dirty laundry, more questions flooded my mind.
“If Sebastian and Death are the same man, can you explain how I was getting text messages from Sebastian when I was with Death? It happened multiple times.”
Dope popped his knuckles before he responded. “Easy. It was me covering his ass.”
“What? How?”
“I’m a hacker, Ella. It’s what I do for the Safe Horizon Society. Bass pays me really well to get into websites, phones, and camera systems. Given enough time, there’s nothing I can’t hack into.”
Cocky much? “Government files and information?”
“Yup. Done it. I’m just careful when and how I do it.”
“Shit. Where were you when I needed to shut down …” My brows raised. “Oh shit. He was Shadow Whisperer on the … uh …”
“I know about the work on the website, don’t worry. Bass wouldn’t let me watch the videos. He took care of you in that way.”
Warmth seeped into my chilled body at Sebastian’s protectiveness, then my brows furrowed together. “Do … do you know about Stephen?” I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“Yup. Thank god we didn’t have to clean up that mess in your house since Death dissolved the son of a bitch.”
I placed my palms on the sides of my head, holding it together in fear it might explode. How was I going to digest this?
“I suspect Sebastian paid my outstanding balance when he learned about the web cam job, but the hospital just said it was paid by an anonymous donor. Death made the new medical trial happen. That part of Sebastian has shown me some kindness. Possessive, dominating, and at times feral, but I got used to it.” I pursed my lips, refusing to share our personal moments. They were mine. Death was mine, and I was his. A part of me had wanted what Sebastian offered, but it felt as if I was smothering the other side of me. I forced myself to take a deep breath.
“I have to go back to the penthouse and pretend that I don’t know anything. How the hell am I going to do that?”
