“I watched you break Falcon. I was left with the pathetic man he became after you walked away. He showed you who he really was, and you ran for the fucking hills. You’re a whore. A worthless bitch, like all women are,” he snaps. “You destroyed him. Those fucking letters—why couldn’t you have let him be? No, you wanted your cake and to eat it too, didn’t you?” Spittle lands on my cheek.
“After you forced Falcon to kill himself, my life was never the same. Nothing was the same. He was my best friend. The three of us were inseparable until you decided to move on, to go to university then dump us for that dumb fuck husband of yours. I tried to save Falcon, but I couldn’t do it alone. I couldn’t save him.” He leans into me. “Drugs became my escape. Everyone I loved disowned me because of who I had become as a result of your actions …. It’s all your fault, Morgan. You. You’re responsible for everything. Those twelve other women who broke hearts, who took men for granted, stole from them, used them, just like you did to Falcon—their deaths are on your head.”
I can’t stop shaking.
“You’re evil, Morgan.”
“You were my friend,” I manage to whisper.
“Pfft! Friends, yes, once, but you left and never looked back. He showed you. He gave you all of him.” His eyes narrow. “And you walked away. That’s not what a friend does. Where were you when he died? Where? Not back home. Not at his funeral. Nowhere.”
“I-I didn’t know. I swear.” I’m petrified.
“You never should have left him.”
“Falcon wouldn’t want you to do this to me,” I plead, hoping he’ll realise this to be true.
“He would, Morgan. He couldn’t do it himself, but I have more balls than that broken-down man you left behind. Instead of taking my life, I’ve taken the lives of the people who were really responsible—bitches like you.” His anger booms into an evil rage.
“Please, please! I didn’t know. Don’t kill me, Logan. I don’t deserve to die.”
He throws the gun onto the ground. Blue eyes, eyes that look just as Falcon’s did, stare into mine. “You do deserve it, Red. Shut up!” A small vein protrudes from his forehead. “You had to be number thirteen. You know, as a tribute for my fallen friend.” His nose crinkles as he smiles. “Justice is about to be served.”
The sound of wailing sirens fills the air.
“Help!” I scream. “Help me.”
He smothers my mouth with his hand. “You treat everybody you meet like shit. You treated your husband like shit, too. He’s better off without you.” He has angry eyes and a devilish frown to match. “I’ve been watching you, Morgan. You and your family. I’ve seen everything that goes on in your house. I’ve heard it all and seen everything.”
“You hear that, Logan?” The sirens grow louder, more urgent. “You can kill me, but the police will know it’s you,” I mutter against his palm.
He shakes his head. “You really are stupid. Aren’t you? They’re not coming for me. They, too, have been playing a game, and their clues lead right to Winston. You remember him, don’t you? Falcon’s brother. He’s about to spend the rest of his life in prison for not protecting his brother. I didn’t forget him when it came to my punishment. I was more family to Falcon than his own flesh and blood.” He removes his hand from my lips. I take a needy breath.
“They’ll figure it out,” I say breathless.
He laughs. “I was a fucking cop, Morgan, before you destroyed my life and I had to do all this to my face. Before I had to move from Melbourne to this shithole. I know what I’m doing, you dumb bitch. People are stupid. Your husband, for example.” A wicked grin is all I see. “That dickhead has left your children with my uncle. You really made this so easy for me, moving in next door to them. Uncle John knows what you’ve done, what you stole from me. He knows who’s to blame for my fall from grace. He didn’t abandon me, because he loves me.”
My eyes are bug wide. Vomit seduces the back of my throat. Time stands still. Aleeha. Brax. They’re in danger.
“Oh, don’t worry that ugly little face of yours. I probably won’t hurt them. After all, they didn’t do anything wrong—it’s not their fault they were birthed by you.”
My tears begin to stream at thoughts of John, my friend, someone who was like a father to me, who’d known all along that this would be my fate.
“You’re insane, Logan. Reid will find you. He’ll figure it out. Mark my words, you’ll see your end.”
Logan’s hand reaches for mine, and before I can snatch it away he clutches my middle finger. “Don’t say his name.”
Crack!
“Fuuuuuuck!” I wail. “Oh fuck!” I suck air through my teeth as a fierce throb creeps up my arm.
“Time to die, Red.”
Don’t let him do this. Fight, God damn it! Morgan, fight. Your babies are in danger.
I scream. I don’t stop screaming.
Reid
The grass stands waist-high. Trees surround us in every direction. Cruise is a metre in front of me, and all I keep thinking is he’s taking me on a wild goose chase and we’re wasting our time.
Before we stopped the car and took to the bushland, we were not far from the turn-off that would have led us to the cabin. I shouldn’t have followed Cruise down here. I don’t believe he heard anyone crying for help at all. Maybe this is a ploy to give the police more time to get to Morgan instead of me. After all, Cruise hasn’t stopped pointing out how under-prepared we are to be entering such an environment with no idea of what we’re walking into.
“Just listen,” he says for the third time.
I do, but I hear nothing.
Cruise walks forward. The sun beats down on my brow. It’s so hot in here, it’s like the pit of hell. I stay still, contemplating leaving Cruise behind and racing back to the car now idling on the shoulder of the highway above us.
“Come on.” His arm flicks in the air, indicating that he wants me to follow.
“I don’t hear anything,” I snap.
“I heard screaming. I swear, I heard it.”
I glimpse a flicker of light, but then it’s gone. My eyes narrow as I explore the area from which it had beamed. I can’t see anything apart from tree after tree.
This is pointless.
A woman’s high-pitched scream beats against my eardrums. I search for Cruise, and run, as he does. Hot air fills my lungs, cramping them. I push through the pain and a heat-filled airway and continue to race in the direction of the screaming we just heard.
I stop when I hear the voice of a male coming from the direction we’re heading. Cruise stops also. We squat, side-by-side in the long grass and listen.
I can’t understand what’s being said. I jump to my feet and take off only to be crash-tackled to the ground. My mouth is covered. My body is pinned.
Cruise places his finger to his lips with one hand while he continues to cover my mouth with the other.
“We are unarmed,” he whispers against my cheek.
I don’t give a shit that we’re unarmed. I don’t give a shit if I die, as long as Morgan doesn’t, and Cruise is here to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I bite his hand. He shows his teeth as he traps the bark I know he wants to let out behind them.
“For me. Do this for me,” I mouth.
Cruise nods.
“If it’s Morgan on the other side of this hill, you save her, you hear me? Get her out of here and don’t look back,” I say in a strained whisper.
Cruise nods. “I’ll save her. Promise.”
“Get off me.”
“We move slowly, okay? Until we can get a visual.”
“Okay.”
We both stalk in approach. I have no idea what we’re about to face when we climb over the huge overgrown hill in front of us, but if Morgan is on the other side, together, we can save her.
Morgan
I spit into Logan’s face. He stands abruptly, hovering above me and wiping the saliva from his cheek.
“Fuck you,” I sneer, kicking my leg upright into his groin. His face reddens as he crumbles. I roll out of the way of his falling limbs.
Run, Morgan. NOW!
I pull my protesting body upright and begin stumbling back toward the incline, my legs pumping, pounding hard against the earth.
“Help! Somebody please. Help!” I scream.