Chapter One Hundred and Eighty
He forced himself to watch the rest of the videos. The sixth video was dark and grainy until a light was switched on and Kelley gripped the edge of his desk as the blood drained from his face. It was one thing to listen to someone tell the story, but it was a completely different thing to see it happen.
Lee sat in a cage, a collar around his neck with a leash attached to it. A bowl of water stood to one side and then a man came into view as he hit a stick against the bars of the cage.
Lee flinched and cowered in another corner as kibble was poured into another bowl. Kelley leaned forward as the camera zoomed in. Lee’s eyes were dead, they held no emotion and the man laughed as he walked away.
The second last clip had his fists clenching by his sides as Marley stood in the same study where he now sat. Two men watched her and one actually licked his lips. Marley was around twelve or thirteen and when she left the study, Charles negotiated her sale with the two men.
One of the men looking directly into the camera was Ernesto Romano. Kelley felt physically ill as Charles listed off Marley’s qualities. They were negotiating a price when Kelley stopped the video. The man was fucking with his mind, even from the grave. Marley had never told him about it and anger flowed through him. She'd been a child and her suicide attempt a few month's later now made so much more sense to him.
The last video had him sitting upright again, his fists clenching. The images flitted through his mind as the woman told Charles exactly what she’d done. Kelley’s anger knew no bounds and he pulled the memory stick from the laptop and felt the room spin. It was too much, all of it and Kelley felt like he was going to pass out.
He couldn’t breathe, his heart was beating too fast and it felt like he had stumbled his way out of the office. He tried to pull his tie off and get the buttons undone. His throat felt restricted and he sunk to his knees in the hallway and gasped for breath as an odd sound tore from his throat.
“Kelley!” Connor reached him first, pistol in hand.
“Can’t … breathe …” Kelley was gasping, his eyes wild and his fingers were white as they gripped the carpet in the hallway.
“Fuck,” Connor hissed and pulled his fist back.
The punch pushed Kelley backwards and his head snapped up. Blood burst from Kelley’s lip and he inhaled sharply. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”
“What the fuck was that, Kelley?” Connor looked worried and Kelley leaned forward on his knees with his hands on the carpet. His hand went to his chest and he gulped the oxygen into his lungs.
Kelley got to his feet after a few seconds, his face pale except for the blood dribbling down his chin. “I don’t know.” He leaned against the wall and breathed deeply.
“I’m calling Drummond,” Connor said.
Kelley shook his head. “I’m fine now.”
“Kelley.”
“It’ll be fine, Connor, I have to go see Ulrich later anyway.”
“Promise? I’ll drive you. Jeannie can wait an hour for me,” Connor said.
Connor finally relucted half an hour later and Kelley headed to his car. He disconnected his SUV’s GPS and turned his phone off after sending another text to Blair. He breathed easier once he drove through the gates and headed towards the highway.
Kelley’s hands gripped the steering wheel as he sped up once he took the exit for the highway. Too many emotions flitted through him and he couldn’t make sense of that last video. He felt sick every time he thought about it and he wished he’d never seen it.
Charles might be dead but The Club was still operational. They’d just moved their headquarters and he intended to find out. All of the information they had was now useless. He’d been such an idiot, making peace with Marcus. The Club would never die but now he knew exactly where to find them. They'd discussed their extraction plan and Kelley's fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
He’d been duped, played, fooled, call it what you want. He’d walked right into their trap and gave them a window of opportunity to move somewhere else. Kelley felt the panic rising in his chest and he lowered his window.
He had to breathe, breathe and count. He needed to keep himself grounded. He needed answers and he intended to get them. Kelley counted as he kept to the speed limit and every time he reached one hundred, he started over.
He took the off ramp for Meadow Lake and slowed as he entered the town. Kelley didn’t notice the shimmering lake or the pristine parks as he drove towards his destination, his mind was too filled with the horrors of his new reality.
Kelley pulled into a parking lot and powered his phone back on. “Hey, where are you? I tried calling you earlier.”
“You need to take Kyzer and you need to run. There's enough cash in the safe in my study. You should run as far as you can get, somewhere I’ll never find you …”
“Kelley?”
“Mila, listen to me. I’m not who you think I am. The darkness isn’t in me, it is me. I’m the darkness. Take Kyzer and run. Do you understand me? Run, Mila.”
“Kell …”
Kelley ended the call and clenched his jaw as tears gathered in his eyes. He’d realized the truth the moment he decided to come to Meadow Lake. He was just as bad as them. He was the biggest asshole, like Marcus had said.
He was worse than them because he knew exactly what he was going to do and he didn’t blink an eye as he dialed the number of the person he’d come to Meadow Lake for.
“Good afternoon, Kelley.”
“I’m in town and I want to meet. In private.”
“The house is empty for the long weekend. I’m still here and I await your arrival.”
Kelley ended the call and pulled the pistol from underneath his seat. He tucked it into the back of his belt and drove the five minutes to Ernesto Romano's estate.
