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He was just a boy like me that night twenty years ago when he screamed at me over and over on this very spot.
You killed him. You killed our father. You bastard, you killed him.
I remember shaking Jonas as he knelt next to Kasper’s lifeless body, cradling my grandfather’s head in his lap. I told to him to come with me, to leave this place and the nightmares behind and start a new chapter.
He refused. He looked up at me and told me he’d make me pay.
Tonight, he’s finally making good on that threat.
He’s moving casually as he steps into the faint light, almost lazily, like this place holds no power over him. Like the ruins of our shared, broken past is his kingdom now.
He walks toward a car parked by the edge of the property. He climbs in and drives off until the low growl of the engine fades into the distance. He’s heading toward the nearby town of M?svinger.
I suspected as much on the flight here this second time. That’s why the place looked abandoned the last time I was here—he’s keeping Hana, Freya, and Kir hidden somewhere on the property while he stays in town.
The thought sends a rush of adrenaline through me.They’re here.
My phone buzzes. I don’t answer it, in case Jonas has hidden security measures in place. But after I deny Kenzo’s call, I text him back.
Me
I’m here. Jonas just left.
Kenzo
WAIT for us, Mal. We just landed. We can be there in forty-five minutes.
My teeth grind. I’m glad Kenzo is here along with Tak, Damian, and a forty-strong combined force of Mori-kai and Nikolayev men. But I don’t have forty-five minutes.
Freya, Hana, and Kir might not, either.
I text Kenzo back the complete lie that I’ll wait for him, so he doesn’t freak out or try calling me or anything. Then I turn off my phone.
I spring from the brush, my boots silent on the damp earth as I rush across the yard. I reach the house and push the door open, the stench of decay assaulting my nostrils.
My muscles tense involuntarily as I step inside, scanning every inch of the dark, crumbling interior. The memories of Kasper’s cruelty and the pain we endured in this place slam into my psyche all at once.
“Freya!” I call, my voice echoing through the empty space.
No response.
I move faster now, tearing through the rooms, desperate for any sign of them. I missed it when I was here before, I refuse to miss it again.
There’s nothing on the main floor. Just remnants of old furniture, and the ghosts of our tortured childhoods. The second floor is barely able to hold my weight, but there’s nothing there anyway. I head toward the basement, my chest tightening as I descend the creaky wooden steps.
This is where Kasper used to keep us. Beat us. Torture us. The horrors of the past gnaw at my insides, but I push through them, focusing on the present.
I search every corner, every crevice. Theyhaveto be here somewhere. I just have to find?—
I freeze when I see it. An odd piece of flooring in the far corner, strangely clean in the grimy, dust-covered space.
My gut twists.
I use the crowbar leaning against the wall to pry up the floorboard, and there it is: a metal door that opens to a metal staircase leading down into the darkness below.
My pulse thuds as I descend, the narrow spiral staircase winding down into the blackness. The air grows colder and damper when I get to the concrete floor at the bottom. With the dim light coming in from above, I can just make out a long stretch of hallway delving ahead into the gloom.
So that’s where I go, moving cautiously, all my senses on high alert. The walls are stone, perhaps some kind of ancient bunker. Every sound echoes off them in the stillness—my breathing, the dull thud of my boots, the distant drip of water.
