“How… why would you not tell us any of this?” Karl inquires as if hearing my inner thoughts.
Expecting our questions, a screen rises from the stand at the front of the table. An image on the monitor appears.
“Elise Lockwood, or Seline Bishop as she’s been going by, was high on our radar, but we couldn’t confirm our suspicions until Emma’s arrival to town.”
“Lockwood? As in the Lockwoods?” I ask, remembering one of the families that left Calloway when they felt snubbed for not being part of the founding families because they had no male heirs at the time. Women aren’t allowed to be Fraternitas members. It’s not allowed and will never be done.
“The very same. Seline Bishop was born under the alias of Seline Stephens, a name she was given at birth to hide her true identity. She was given up for adoption to a family to hide her true lineage but raised under the tutelage of the Filiae Bellonae.”
We stare at the birth certificate of both names. This group has been planning for a long time.
“Do we know who the members of their leadership are?” August asks. His hands balled into fists, no doubt trying to reign in the rising anger- evident by the reddening tips of his ears nearly matching his ginger hair.
“Not enough. They’re hiding in plain sight. We’re slowly gaining some insight based on the members we’ve identified.”
“Do we think Samantha Davenport is a member?” Liam voices.
“We’re still unsure. After she was taken and assaulted, we believe she may not be a member, but suspicion remains. We’re just lucky the idiots that took her didn’t realize that the pin she was wearing had the GPS chip in it,” my father replies.
When news of Sam’s rape broke, I felt horrible for my initial suspicion of her, but then I remembered who she is. Would someone stage their own kidnapping and rape? That would be vile even for her usual antics.
My father continues, “We’ll be keeping an eye on her, but for now, given all that’s occurred, we will pull back on our surveillance to give her time to heal. She’s bruised and has a broken cheekbone so she’ll be home resting for the foreseeable future.”
“How can they be so hidden? Why don’t we know more?” Liam starts. He pulls his hair from its bun and redoes it, a sign of his mounting frustration with being so far out of the loop. But Liam knows we never get all of the information. He needs to tread lightly here.
“If we had known even a quarter of this information, Emma might not have been taken. We could’ve done more,” he growls.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I finally recognize where his frustration lies- his guilt. He’s trying to make sense of a fucked up situation.
“You were all told what you needed to know,” my father barks, his patience with Liam’s outburst spent. “With the information you did have, you didn’t discover enough to do what’s required. See that you all rectify that moving forward. You’re all dismissed.”
We rise from the table, silent as we make our way to my side of the house, so we can discuss everything festering after the cluster fuck of information dump we just received.
“How the hell did we not know any of this? How were we supposed to keep her safe without knowing all of this?” Liam snarls, punching the wall as we enter my room.
This is more than just guilt. I snort, “Let me guess, you’re team Emma now?”
He works his jaw, glaring at me.
“Will you cut it the fuck out? We don’t have time for your shit, Rowan,” Sebastian snaps. “We have a serious problem on our hands and too many variables up in the air. Liam’s right. We need to know everything if we’re going to keep her and any of the other girls safe. They didn’t just take her. They took Sam and killed two other girls.”
Sebastian’s words illuminate the severity of the situation. I know Liam’s right, and I know I’m being a dick, but it’s hilarious to see the change in him. He was more anti-Emma than I was.
“You three can bicker like housewives trying to decide who gets to throw the next garden party later. We need to discuss our next steps so I can go see my Riri,” August demands.
“So we can go see our girl,” Karl adds, giving August a pointed look, and I know Frick and Frack are going to find a way into her house tonight.
Agreeing that we need to do something to get a handle on everything so that we can keep Emma and the rest of the girls safe, I state, “You’re right. Let’s plan.”
EMMA
I sit in the chair across from dad, whose reappearance I’m still trying to wrap my head around. He’s here, in front of me.
“Where have you been?” I need to know what has happened in the last two years. No. My entire life. It seems to have been a complete lie.
He grunts as he raises the back of his hospital bed from a lying position. “There is a lot I can’t say,” he mumbles.
I narrow my eyes, clenching my jaw at his bullshit answer. “What do you mean there’s a lot you can’t tell me?” I whisper yell, aware that people are walking in and out.
“Ry, there is so much that’s happened that I can’t begin to apologize for, but I need you to know it was all done to keep you safe. As soon as I knew your mother-” he starts, but I cut him off.
“That woman is not my mother!”
“Right. Well, I discovered Seline wasn’t who I thought I married after I was taken as I was leaving the Fraternitas to return home two years ago.”
His words register, and my mind tries to make sense of what he just told me.
“Are you telling me that my moth- Seline knew where you were the entire time you were missing?”
“Yes, and she was responsible for my prolonged absence. After I was released from the Fraternitas, I was taken while on my way to the airport. That’s where I discovered Seline Bishop was really born Elise Lockwood.”
The sheer number of revelations I’ve received since I stepped foot in this town is baffling. Sel-Elise having an alias is high on the list of shit I wasn’t expecting, but my mind kept repeating, ‘after I was released from the Fraternitas.’
What the fuck?
“What do you mean released from the Fraternitas? They took you too?”
“I was trying to keep you safe for a little longer,” he starts, reaching his hand for mine. “I needed to let you be my baby girl a little longer, and they just wouldn’t let it happen.”
My brows knit together, even more confused. Who was he trying to keep me safe from? I want to ask him, but his eyes begin to droop, and I know his latest dose of medication has been distributed.
The door to his room opens, and a petite nurse with mahogany hair and pixie features steps inside.
“Hello, I’m Sarina. I’ll be your father’s nurse for the night. I’m just here to check his vitals before he goes to bed,” she explains, walking to his side and examining the machine measuring his blood pressure and heart rate.
As she writes the information on her tablet, she speaks. “While it’s okay for you to be here a bit longer, I recommend you don’t spend the night and give your father some time to rest.” Lifting her eyes from the device, she pauses, surveying my still unkempt state, “And you should go get yourself properly checked out.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.