Page 88 of Total Control

Why the fuck is my heart racing out of my chest then, fucker?That’s what I want to yell back at him, but I can’t force the words out of my mouth. I don’t understand what this system is and why it’s got my entire life on it. But I know with every damn inch of my soul, I don’t want to either. River was right, some truths you don’t want. I never should have come back here. I never should have tried to search for answers. This is scary shit.

The door bursts open. “Fuck, Jay, she’s not ready for this,” Kasen’s voice booms through the room.

“You ran out of time, Brother; you want her to hear this shit show from Keller’s lawyers? That’s just cruel.” He presses a button. “She needs to hear it in a safe space with friends.”

Hear what? I look between them, feeling so lost I don’t know what to do. Kasen is furious, but he doesn’t move to stop his brother when he presses play on some other part of the system.

“Miss Dove Dawson. I need you to know Juliet was… the great love of my life,” comes Keller Throne’s voice, and I know I’m about to be sick. “My family will take care of you in your mother’s absence. Throne was always more than just a business, it was a family started by the two of us. And now you can share in the spoils of your mother’s dedication and hard work to our cause. A ten percent share of Throne Enterprises is now yours; you will also sit on the board alongside Kasen, Jayden, River, and Bodhi. I know you have suffered in your mother’s absence, and now you will be rewarded with the pleasures life has to offer the wealthy.”

Kasen shoves his brother out of the way, stopping the recording. “Fuck, Jay, now is not the time,” he growls out, shoving a shaky hand through his hair.

“A small snippet I grabbed from his will reading.” Jayden grins at me. This man knows what he’s doing, causing chaos, and he doesn’t give a shit what his brother thinks about it. “Creepy, I know, when it was supposed to be a surprise heart attack that killed him.”

Kasen flinches. He knows what his brother is implying, that either his father planned his death or there is way more going on here and the man might not be dead at all. Either way, I’m not sticking round for what comes next. This is all creepy as hell. And for the first time since my mother died, I get why someone would want to kill her. Ifshe and Keller created this personal file system that’s storing all sorts of shit about people it shouldn’t, she really is as terrible as she said in her voicemail. This is how they know every fucking detail about me. I’m sure this is the worst thing they could ever do to me. To anyone. And I finally get it, this is how they control this town. They know everything and use it to play with the people of Deadwater Bay like some fucking video game. My whole body trembles, adrenaline taking over.

Without another thought, I bring my knee up and get Jayden in the junk. He doesn’t even flinch or act surprised, he simply releases me. And I run like the fucking wind.

I can’t go through the door we came in because Kasen is too close to it, and he probably secured it again when he came in, so I go in the opposite direction.

“Dove, get back here,” Kasen calls, his voice angry and desperate.

I don’t look back at Kasen to see how close he is to me; instead, I sway through the aisle of monitors and run around a corner, hoping I’m out of his sight.

The lights dim, making the memories of my life playing on all the screens like a fucking horror film, voices I haven’t heard in years catching me off guard. But I can’t let them distract me. I’m sure that’s what they want, my head so fucked up that they win. Trying to block it all out, I run from aisle to aisle searching for an escape, but this room goes on forever.

I come to a dead end. Heavy footsteps clomp down the concrete behind me. I know one of them is there, and fresh panic erupts through me, but I don’t stop moving. I come back the way I came and shoot off down another aisle. If they catch me, I’m fucked. I won’t let this be my life, trapped with them all because of some bad choices my mother made. She was the dumb one, falling for a man who corrupted her. Changed her. Used her for her brain then killed her when he gotwhat he wanted. Pure fucking evil, that’s what he is, and I’m sure his kids are the same. I have seen the signs. I should have listened to my gut when it was warning me.

A flickering neon-green sign up ahead catches my eye, and I head right for it, shoving open the emergency door and out into a parking garage that stretches on for days. Sweat trickles down my forehead, and I swipe it away. This place is like a maze; just when you think you might escape it, there is more. Fear consumes me as I look from left to right, trying to work out which way to run.

“Dove, stop running.” From somewhere in the distance, I hear Slater’s voice call to me. It vibrates off the concrete walls as if he’s coming from the other side.

From up ahead, I see a shadowy figure that could be any of them. He’s tall with wide shoulders, but I can’t make out his face. I duck around a corner and stop, trying to suck in a breath before I pass out. My lungs burn and my legs feel like jelly.

“Hey, babe, stop running from us, we just want to help you,” comes River’s voice from not too far away, and I know they are closing in on me.

This is an actual nightmare, one of those ones where you pray to wake up just to get you out of it alive. Frantic to get away from them, I turn a corner and run straight into a wall of muscle and the sharp tip of a blade. A pained, terrified cry flies from my lips as I grip my side where he got me.

The shadowy man leers over me from under his dark mask, his lips twisting. His shoulders are broad and his frame tall, at least six feet. “You think you can run from me.” His voice is a low murmur and a puzzle, difficult to understand. Then there is nothing but gut-wrenching pain as he pulls the sharp object free, my bloodglistening on the sharp blade as he inspects it. “I know what you did, little bird, and it’s time for you to pay.”

I sway on my feet, nausea consuming me.Fucking move, Dove!I scream at myself, but my body is trembling so terribly, it’s hard to know how. When he moves to strike me again, my legs finally catch up with the program and forge ahead. Holding my side where blood is leaking out at an alarming rate, I run as fast as my legs will take me down the side of the parking garage and out onto the sidewalk of the main street.

His boots slap the concrete behind me, and I know he’s closing in. But I can’t die like this. I refuse to. The evening traffic flies past me in a blur of lights and car engines. Sickness swims under my skin, both cold and warm at the same time, as my body shakes violently. I take a quick glance over my shoulder. The man’s shadowy figure not far behind me, I do the only thing I can and run out into the busy street, searching for help.

Bright lights blind me from all directions. A car swerves to miss me, their horn blasting my eardrum as it screeches to a stop just inches from me. I blink several times, trying to get my balance, but it’s like I’m on a boat, swaying from side to side.

The piercing shriek of tires echoes in my ears, along with the blinding white blur of headlights from an oncoming car that is far too close, and I know it’s too late for me. I turn from one way to the other, trying to find a way out. Glass shatters, the scent of petrol fills my nostrils. My head swims as pain erupts throughout my body, and I fly to the dirty street below in a crumpled mess of limbs.

And then, just like the creepy room where my life was playing out on film, everything flashes before me. I hear my name murmured by voices around me, but it doesn’t make any sense.

No, no, no, not him. In a surge of panic, my mind begins to race, a chaotic jumble of fears. “You’re safe with me, birdie.” My vision dims, leaving only Kasen’s dark eyes as he holds my still body, the sharp pain dissolving into nothingness.

The End