Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

LYLA

W ith my multiple screens set up, I search the internet for anything I can find on Anne Hatt's trial. There's so much to sift through, so I put certain things about her and the prosecution on one screen and articles about the kids and husband on the other. It's easier to go through with it organized, and it's not long before I find one on Carl Hatt that I find intriguing.

"What is it?" Neo asks, looking up from where he's sharpening our blades.

"I don't know. It's a profile of Carl from before the trial, a description of who Carl Hatt is, and there's not much information that the media could find on him. He's an investment banker, has no record, and stays under the radar. The crazy thing is it says he has no friends who could be interviewed for this article and that he's rarely seen outside of work."

"Well, that's not so interesting. Loads of people are recluses, Lyla. Look at us."

I eye him. "That's my point."

His eyes light with understanding. "You think he's like us? Do you think he's the one who poisoned the children?"

I can see in his eyes that he doesn't want Carl to be the one we go after—not when he's not finished proverbially punishing his mother for what he went through as a child through his victims.

"I don't know, but I'm just noting it as odd."

"What about the kids? It says they changed their stories, and it's what got her released, right?" he asks, moving on to taking our guns apart and cleaning them.

He does it when he's antsy and needs something to do. I swear we have the cleanest weapons in the world.

"That's what the court documents say, yes. She came up for appeal, and the kids testified they thought their mother was innocent and believed she should be set free. They said law enforcement forced their confessions, and there's now an investigation into those accusations. The third and oldest kid refused to come to court and somehow got an excusal, but the record was redacted, so I can't read it."

"Maybe they're our in, then."

I nod. "Maybe. You can't torment some poor girl because you want answers, Neo."

He scoffs. "I know that, Lyla. You forget, I always made sure who I was going to kill was guilty beforehand."

I try not to take it as a stab at me and how I operate, especially when he's the one who made me this way.

"Well, it says she works in a bar in central London. Bar Termini. Maybe we go there and try to speak with her?"

"Maybe we do." He stands, cleaning up all our weapons and putting them back where they go before leaning over me at the small hotel desk. "And maybe we'll have a few drinks and lunch, too. "

When he kisses me, everything melts away. All the worry that's been tangling a web in my brain for the last few days.

His tongue takes over the kiss, and I turn my face to deepen it, groaning when he grips the back of my head tight.

He breaks from my lips, looking me up and down with his dark, restless eyes. "Fuck, you're always so perfect."

I'd beg to differ, but I love when he says shit like that to me. It makes me feel… loved.

Bar Termini looks like something out of another era, though many things in London do. Neo holds my hand as he leads us to the bar, where the bartender shines a glass behind it.

She looks like the only images released about Cecily Hatt, Anne's eldest daughter.

"What'll it be?" she asks us, not even stopping to look over.

"We're here to speak to you, actually," Neo says.

Cecily rolls her eyes. "Take your fucking recorder and get out of here. I'm not talking," she says, slamming the glass on the shelf next to the others.

"We're not reporters," Neo tells her, dropping my hand and walking around the bar.

"Sure," she says, placing her hands on her hips. She turns and pins Neo with a glare that makes her look like a damaged little girl.

Her emotions are raw and on her sleeves, whether she knows it or not. People like us can see them as if she's wearing her memories and scars every day as a display of her pain .

"We're here to talk to you about your father," he tells her, his voice changing.

That's the thing about psychopaths: we're charming. We know when to turn it on, too.

"My father?"

"Mmm," Neo says. "I met him the other day. Well, I saw him, I should say. Something about him felt familiar. People like me can sense when they're around a kindred spirit."

Her hands shake on the bar as she steps forward and eyes Neo.

"I don't know what role your mother had in your abuse, Cecily, but I bet your father was at the helm, steering the ship."

"What the fuck does it matter now? She's free, and he's…" Cecily swallows.

"He's what?" Neo asks her, prodding.

He's so close that it's making my stomach giddy.

"Tell me."

"Why?" Cecily says, but I know he's got her. Tears are streaming down her cheeks.

When someone gets close to a truth burning a hole in your chest, it's easy to let go of it—to let that other person take on the burden of the thing you've been withholding.

Neo leans over the bar. "Because I'm a man who makes men like him go away, Cecily."

Cecily looks at me, her eyes full of tears and her chest rising and falling at the idea of a world where her father isn't a part of it.

I give her a slight nod.

"I can't talk about it here," she answers, never dropping my eyes.

"Then, we can meet you somewhere," Neo tells her, and she turns back to face him.

He writes on a coaster and slides it over to her. "Get in touch when you're off work. We'll meet you."

She sniffles and grabs the coaster.

Neo grabs her wrist, squeezing. "People like your parents shouldn't have children. I'm sorry for what you've been through."

"I'm not alone, though. I see it in you, too. The way I feel… You're like me," she says, tugging away from Neo and heading behind the bar.

Neo walks back over to me, tossing his arm over my shoulder. "Let's get some lunch, stupid girl. I have a feeling tonight is going to be a difficult one."

My heart thrums at how he'd been with Cecily and let her see him.

Not in jealousy but in awe.

Sometimes, Neo opens up and gives rare glimpses of the man he could've been without what his mother and the world did to him.

They failed him.

But I won't.

After lunch, Neo and I get a text from Cecily to meet her at a park after dark.

Battersea Park.

"She said to meet her by the fountain," Neo says.

He's been a bit off since our encounter in the pub earlier in the day, and I don't blame him .

If I'm honest, I'm a bit off myself.

It's as if bits of the me before him are creeping back in. Like I'm awakening from the psychosis that my life has become over the last couple of years.

We don't have to wait long before Cecily emerges from a dark corner of the walk before us. The sound of the fountain behind us lulls me into complacency as she approaches.

Her blonde hair is up, strands curling around her ears, and her hands are stuffed deep into her pockets.

She stops before us, and Neo doesn't move. He says nothing, only stares at her.

He's giving her space to say her piece, I realize.

"I didn't realize we were being poisoned for the longest time. I still have trouble looking at my siblings because… Well, because I'm the oldest. I'm supposed to protect them."

Pain stabs through my heart, reviving a side of me I thought long dead.

"I started putting it together when I was around fifteen. We'd only get sick and get terrible stomach aches on days Dad cooked breakfast. He'd watch us, too. Stare at us over the rim of his coffee cup to ensure we ate every morsel of food."

"Did he take care of you afterward?" I ask. That's a thing amongst people with Munchausen by proxy. They make others ill, usually those helpless in their care, to nurse them back to health.

She shakes her head, and Neo stiffens beside me.

"She did."

I cock my head. "They were both in on this together?"

Cecily sniffs, turning her face to look far off as if digging for the memories of an old forbidden chest .

"I think so, but I'll likely never know the truth. It was like some sick game. She couldn't have any more babies. She had a bad birth with my little brother, and she had to have an emergency hysterectomy. It left her… different. She was always happiest when she had a baby in her arms, Dad used to say."

Cecily's thick London accent seems even broader with all the emotion she's trying to choke back.

"She couldn't have more of us, so Dad made her feel useful and loved. After all, who do you want when you're feeling ill?" she asks, tossing the question at Neo, sensing a kindred spirit in him.

"Your mother," he replies, not missing a beat.

She scoffs, anger coiling her face. "I still can't believe it. I went to the school counselor and voiced my suspicions. I never thought they'd be true. I couldn't wrap my mind around the notion that my parents could be so vile."

"But they had been," Neo says absently.

Cecily nods. "You're going to end this? They can't be allowed to worm their way back into our lives. They have grandchildren now. They'll do it again. Both of them are so sick and fucking twisted."

The rage inside my stomach for this girl, the little girl she used to be, is overflowing inside me. Rage is good, but it can also make you sloppy.

Neo taught me that after Kage Davis took me, raped me.

My anger on the subsequent few kills was unfathomable, consuming.

I feel more myself with the intensity slithering through me, however.

Neo stands, and I do the same .

Cecily backs up a few paces, knowing she's in the presence of someone she should fear.

Her childhood disillusioned her with the world.

"I'm going to end them both. They won't hurt you or your siblings again."

"Can I ask something?" I ask Cecily, sensing she's ready to turn and run.

She gives a curt nod.

"Why did your brother and sister recant their testimonies?"

She sighs, and it's shaky. "I don't know. They were young, and I knew it was risky for them to testify, but I never thought they'd change their statements."

I nod. Still, something in my gut is gnawing at me, clawing for attention when this seems like an open-and-closed case.

Cecily makes her way back through the darkness, and Neo and I remain silent, both lost in our minds for a beat.

"When do you want to do this?" he asks me.

I'm gaping, grappling with what to say in reply. "So, you're going through with this?"

He tosses his arm in the direction Cecily made off in. "I told her as much, stupid girl. Were you not listening? How unlike you."

I roll my eyes. "I heard you, but you don't worry that it's too easy? Too convenient. Her story was… I don't know if there's something we're missing."

Neo stands taller, looking down at me with eyes that say he won't be questioned. "I've already given much more time to this than I should've."

"But what if they're innocent?" I ask. It's a stupid question because I didn't look into some people I've killed recently, but it slipped out either way .

Neo snarls and wraps his hand around my throat, nearly lifting me off the ground with his grip. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing," I manage, gripping his hand around my neck.

"You always want to kill. You're always bloodthirsty. What has changed?"

"I just…" When I stutter, he tightens his grip on me.

"You just what? I'm growing tired of this game."

"Something in my gut says there's more to this than meets the eye. We're in another country; this is unfamiliar territory. Let's tread lightly."

He seems to weigh my words for a moment before he eases me back onto my feet and releases my throat.

"We'll do this both ways. We still prepare for the kill, but we stay alert."

I nod, gripping my neck as he leans down and takes my lips with a fevered kiss that feels as powerful as a lightning storm.

I live in a dangerous world with a dangerous man at my side, and I think I'm only just realizing it.