Page 157 of Hide And Seek

“Yeah, he has been for a while.”

“Did he say anything?”

Rhys shook his head. “He’s still gagged,” he said. “But judging by the look I saw on his face when I went in there, he’s not too happy. That’s a good sign, though.”

“Why?” I asked, lifting a brow.

“It means I didn’t hit him too hard and scramble his brains when I knocked him out last night,” he replied. “That’s good, because we need him coherent.”

I nodded and unwrapped the bar. Once I was done with it, Rhys handed me a phone. “This is for the video.”

I slipped it into my pocket and rose to my feet. A tight knot had formed in my stomach. This was real now. Not theories or arguments whispered in the dark. Not me spiraling through justifications at two in the morning while Rhys lay ten feet away.

I’d made my choice, and in a few minutes, I was going to help a killer get away with murder.

Rhys watched me carefully as I stood, like he was searching for signs that I might change my mind.

Run.

Scream.

Turn on him at the last second.

But I wasn’t going to.

I’d spent years consuming stories about obsessive killers and the girls who loved them, but those stories had always existed safely behind screens and paperbacks, separated from me by fiction.

This wasn’t fiction anymore.

Every dark fantasy I’d ever had was standing right in front of me now. The dangerous man. The violence. The fear. The twisted intimacy of sharing a horrific secret with someone. And instead of running from it, I’d chosen to step deeper inside it.

I sucked in a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. “I’m ready if you are.”

Rhys nodded and stepped over to the bathroom door. When he opened it, Zach came into view immediately. He was sitting on the floor beneath the sink cabinet with his wrists bound behind him and his ankles tied together. Fury darkened his face as he glared up at Rhys.

Then he saw me standing behind him, and his expression changed instantly, eyes practically popping out of his head with confusion and disbelief.

Rhys reached into his pocket and removed a pistol and magazine separately. Without a word, he began loading the magazine one round at a time, making no attempt to hide what he was doing. The metallic clicks filled the tiny bathroom, and Zach watched every movement.

“If I take the gag off,” Rhys finally said, “are you going to start screaming?”

Zach’s eyes flicked between the gun and Rhys’s face. Then he slowly shook his head.

“Good choice.” Rhys crouched beside him and untied the gag before yanking it free.

Zach coughed hard. Then his gaze snapped toward me again. “So it was the two of you,” he said, voice rough with contempt. “That’s what this is.”

“Not quite,” Rhys replied. “Alissa’s involvement is very recent.”

Zach stared at him for another second before letting out a humorless laugh. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “You actually got her on your side.”

Rhys ignored that completely. “You know why this is happening, don’t you?” he asked instead.

Zach’s expression hardened. “No,” he snapped. “I have no idea why you lost your fucking mind and slaughtered fourteen of your own friends.”

“Fifteen, actually,” Rhys said. “Gen too.”

Zach went quiet at that.