Chapter 12

Kali's Farmhouse

Lee

Calculated cruelty is what I see when I look into her eyes. She isn't going to tolerate anything less than complete loyalty. Years of planning her revenge. She's spent the past year delivering a flawless execution. Kali isn't going to leave any loose ends, which means I either die with the rest of The Illicit, or follow her into a new era of The Illicit.

"Tell me how I can possibly trust you?" I ask her.

She rolls her eyes. "You're still breathing. If I didn't want you on my side, I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble. I want a relationship, Lee. I want the one that wasn't stolen from me. Those are built on trust and mutual respect. I give you my word. Your little group of lovers won't be harmed if you join me." She holds up a finger. "Unless it's an act of self-defense. If they try to murder me, harm me, or bring any violence and ill will toward me, I plan to return it in kind."

Chanda nods. "That's fair."

Kali agrees. "Right? I thought so."

"Then how about your first act of good faith being to allow me to go to the bathroom?"

Kali actually smiles a full dazzling smile. "Does this mean you're on my side?"

"Yes."

Her eyes study me as she walks behind me. The metal of the blade slides between my skin and the binding rope. I'm startled when I feel her lips at my ear. "You've witnessed what I'm capable of. You know what happens to those who betray me. I'm trusting you, Lee. And if you hurt me, after I'm so very excited for our union… Oh. I honestly hate to think what I'd do."

How does her voice sound so sweet when it's laced in malice? There's a tug, and then I hear the blade slide through the rope. My fingers tingle as I flex them.

"Chanda, will you go get the Vaseline from the bathroom?" My head spins as I process what I'm hearing. Kali is asking my sister—our sister—to go get something for, but she's tied up.

Or so I thought.

Chanda easily slides her hands through the rope and stands up. Her voice is casual as she says, "On it."

This isn't happening. Chanda didn't betray me. She would've told me if she was involved with Kali. Hell, she would've told me the minute she knew Kali was the one behind this.

"Don't look so pitiful." Kali's voice has turned soothing. She comes to kneel in front of me. A vision of an angel, even her voice sounds ethereal. "Chanda only found out a couple of hours before you did. I talked to her while you were sleeping, and before you gained consciousness, I had them tie me up, and the rest is history."

"And she so easily agreed? You had one small conversation and that's that?"

Her doe eyes turn pleading. "Not that simple. I'd been communicating before with her. She just didn't know it was me."

Chanda walks back into the room and hands Kali a small tub of Vaseline. I remain stiff as she opens it and gathers a generous amount in her hand. Her delicate hand gently positions my arm so she can begin massaging the soothing ointment over the marks left by the rope.

My eyes cut to Chanda, who appears unapologetic. "Joined the other side so easily?"

"When you've spent your entire life being treated like shit, yeah, it's easy to view the psycho serial killer as the better option. That's how unfortunate life was for me."

Succo? What do you think he'll think of this?"

"He'll think I must have a good reason."

Kali looks up to Chanda and smiles. "He knows what you went through. He'll support you."

"I know what you went through!" I defend.

Chanda's sad smile cuts me deep. "Yet you still don't understand. You knew what I went through. You know how they lack any respect for me, yet you're so blind and brainwashed that you're shocked I'd want to change sides. I'd want to go against a group of people who treated me that way. You hesitated because, even though they treated your sister like livestock and a pawn, you wanted to remain loyal to the people who gave you power your entire life. I'm not faulting you. I can't even say I blame you. But you're better than that, Lee. I've always appreciated your kind heart. In fact, it's the only reason I'm not a raging bitter psycho bitch who's on a killing spree." Chanda looks to Kali. "No offense."

"None taken."

I'm speechless. I can't argue Chanda's points. Steffan is going to change all this in The Illicit. However, I'm not going to bring that up. They already accused me of being brainwashed and blind.

A pregnant pause hangs between us. Kali caresses and soothes the raw skin. Chanda stands back with her arms crossed.

I thought I had it rough growing up. All the pressure to be strong, powerful, and deadly. I had to make my father proud. But Chanda only wanted to exist. For him to treat her with respect. I, at least, had that. Now I feel disgusted. The same man to whom I longed to prove myself to was a horrible father to my sister, and murdered my mother. Possibly… He possibly…

My blood turns cold. Time stops. The only sound is my heart pounding in my chest, accompanied by a ringing in my ear.

"I need to know one thing. Do not lie to me. Answer this one question with pure honesty." Kali and Chanda stand side by side. Two sisters reunited. This would be a nice moment if it wasn't so fucked up. They nod, and I inhale a deep breath, preparing myself for an answer that could very well destroy me. "Who killed Bailee?"

Kali bows her head and then faces me head on. "Bryce. Bryce murdered his own sister. He was disgusted with her being with you. I confess that I didn't stop him, Lee. I knew he was going to. He used the snakes. The knife. We were all in on most of the murders together. I wasn't in the room when it happened, but I was there that night. And I knew when he arrived. He said he was going to try and talk some ‘sense' into her, but I had my suspicions it wasn't going to go well."

Her face reveals no emotions, no remorse. I suspected it was Bryce. How could anyone kill their own sibling? Could I murder Kali? Am I capable of killing her now that I know she's my half-sister? She didn't murder Bailee, but she had an alliance with the one who did.

"Who all is part of this?"

"Alex was. Bryce was. Walter Dupree."

"Walter?" Chanda and I both exclaim in unison.

A smirk plays on Kali's red lips. "Did you never wonder where I was getting the funding for everything? Walter Dupree heard what happened. He provided me with a steady allowance. Promised me if my grades remained good, he'd pay for my tuition. Did he expect me to go on a quest for blood-thirsty revenge? Probably not. I owe it to my mother and him. I know this wasn't his original vision."

Walter Dupree had been helping us. This doesn't make sense. "Does he know you were the one behind the murders? What about Lois?"

"That was Alex's own foolishness. Kind of like Bryce. Some people can't handle themselves and go rogue. Not my fault. When I first killed a pledge here and there, I showed him. He panicked. Took the bodies and hid them in the library basement and then disposed of them. He didn't want me to get captured. So I had to get more elaborate. I was going to do this, with, or without, his support."

That asshole. He acted as if he was as clueless as us. He's still protecting her. My best guess is that he views Kali as a daughter. It was the people from his dream brotherhood that put her in this situation. Dupree is the type to take the responsibility for something he had no control over.

"I want a list of everyone who has been involved in this, and is still involved. All your alliances."

"All our alliances, dear brother," Chanda corrects me.

"All our alliances," I agree.

Turns out, we'd been kept in the basement of a farmhouse that's outside the city limits of Blue Rose.

We've just finished eating when Kali's phone lights up. Her delicate finger slides across the screen and I notice her eyebrows furrow. Her throat works, and then she rubs her lips together. It seems like forever by the time she looks up from the phone.

"Taylor and Jose are missing."

"Jose! No, no, no." Chanda rubs her hands together.

Kali continues, "She was last seen at the gynecologist. Carmichael twins left, placing Jose Succo in charge. There was a copycat murder used as a distraction." She bites her bottom lip and then tells us, "Taylor is pregnant."

The room spins. Steffan is a father. Will this change our relationship? Or worse, a spawn of Soren. But she's missing. Someone took her and she's carrying a Carmichael baby.

"Congratulations. You could be a father. Oh my gosh. I could be an aunt!" Chanda's voice cuts through my thoughts.

Me? Fuck me, I could be the father. "I don't feel so good."

Kali hops out of her chair and returns with a glass of brandy. "We'll find her. I'm sure they haven't murdered her, yet. She's obviously bait."

"Or she and Jose are being used as a way to get revenge on us for going against him!" Chanda seethes. She's right. We might wake up one morning to find the two we love delivered in pieces in gift boxes.

"Are we sure it's Amir?" Both women give me duh expressions. "Then let's do this. It's war. Only this time, we leave no survivors."

Kali claps her hands together. "Oooh, that's what I like to hear!"

"We have to call Steffan and Soren. Father is going to be expecting us. Call all of our alliances, it's time for them to prove which side they're on."

My heart is beating too fast. I need to get some air. This is really happening. I'm going to face off against my father, and I could possibly be a father. I wonder how Steffan is taking the news of Taylor missing and potential fatherhood. I'm not ready for all this change. I want change for my sisters, but this is too much, too fast.

I step outside to call Steffan. He answers before the phone even finishes the first ring.

"Lee?"

The hope in his voice makes my chest tight. "Steffan. Yeah, it's me."

"What the fuck, man? We've been going insane. Where are you? I'll come get you!"

"Wait. Taylor is pregnant and missing."

"I know. I think the killer might have her."

"No, the killer doesn't. I'm with her."

"Her? Taylor. You're with her?"

"The killer. I'm with her, not Taylor."

There's a long pause. "Who is it?"

"Kali. And she doesn't have Taylor. Also, Kali is my half-sister. This has all been a vendetta against The Illicit."

"Wow. That's heavy. I honestly can't even process all that right now. So then it's Amir who has Taylor and Jose."

"Either way, it's someone from my side. As if my family couldn't get more fucked up, I have a half-sister who is a serial killer."

"How are you loose? How's Chanda?"

"Chanda has been bonding. They're working on The Illicit Sisterhood. Worried sick about Succo. And I got loose by promising to be a nice new brother and not kill her, not get upset if she kills our daddy, and in return she won't harm you or Taylor. She's ready to help get Taylor and Jose back."

"Why wouldn't she? She and Taylor became besties, and this will give her a chance to ax her father for abandoning her."

"He did more than that. Apparently, she was supposed to be killed with her mother."

"Damn."

"Yeah. She was left with nothing until Walter Dupree found her."

"Come again?"

"She's like his adopted daughter."

"No wonder we couldn't figure any of this out. It's too fucked up."

"How do you feel about possibly becoming a father?"

"What are you talking about possibly? I am becoming a father. We all three are. I don't care who the biological father is, that's my baby."

"We all are? You mean that?"

"What? You think I'm going to let you abandon me and my baby? I'll cut your balls off, fucker."

"So this changes nothing?"

"Hell no. I'm hoping having you and Soren in the mix will mean fewer nighttime feedings for me."

The relief that fills me. We're doing this together. Steffan must know I'm anxious because he keeps teasing. He always knows what to say to calm me. I end the call and then sit on the front porch. I need a minute of fresh air and quietness to allow myself to digest all that's happened.

And what is to come next.