Midnight Secrets

Chapter 39

Well my plan for them to tell me everything after breakfast dwindled quite quickly. There was a pointless chatter at the table between us four, when Claud decided to join us and add his own kind of jabs to the mix.

At first it was irritating and then I slowly started to enjoy every comment he threw out. And with Nate smirking at the stupid things Claud was sharing, I began to appreciate this moment. Momentarily, I even envisioned that this was my family, that I was a part of this group of people and that I was longed for.

It felt good. Beyond good.

Andres was subtle in the gazes he shot my way but something tells me he wanted me to know that he was looking. A man of his calibre could easily make everything seem unnoticed. I wondered what kind of power he really had. Was he the same as my father? Was he trying to make it in this world. I needed to know.

A short ring of the phone ruined it all.

Andres perched up in his seat and dug inside his chest pocket. He glanced at the screen before he stood up quickly. "Excuse me." He muttered whilst he pivoted around and stalked out the room.

Everyone was silent at the table.

"Do you think it's another one?" Nate asked in a low voice.

"Most likely." Claud answered.

"What other one?" Asked even though I knew there was a high chance I wouldn't get an answer. I still wasn't one of them.

Nate turned his body slightly to me. "Dad sends out people to some area he needs intel on. For years they've managed to stay under radar. Now it's like they're dropping like flies." I was stunned to silence with how quick and easily Nate confided in me. There seemed to be no hint of regret and not a slightly reservation before revealing their biggest weakness to me right now. Not that I would ever go running and reveal everything to my dad. To him, I was an enemy to be hunted and killed right now.

I sucked in a breath. "Do you think it's my father's doing."

Claud let out an humorous chuckle. "Your dad is an evil bastard but the way our people are getting returned to us shows us there is someone else entirely at play."

"How so?" Did I really want to know the answer? This world seemed to be much darker than I anticipated. I knew I lived in a world filled with corruption and greed, and now murder was coming to the forefront much easier than I thought.

"They are carving letters on the dead bodies," Claud's voice carried a mix of dread and disbelief, his eyes reflecting the horrors he had witnessed.

A sickening sensation churned in the pit of my stomach, the mere thought of such cruelty causing bile to rise. How could anyone descend to such depths of depravity?

I felt like I was reading some script or some crime novel. Nothing of the sort can ever really happen in this world.

"And a lot of it tells us that they were alive when they did that," Claud's voice tightened, his words heavy with the weight of empathy. It was as if he could feel the anguish of those victims, their suffering becoming palpable even in his retelling. I saw him glance away, lost in his thoughts, perhaps imagining the faces of people he knew, their fates unknown.

My heart raced as I tried to comprehend the scope of the horror before us. "What are you guys doing to stop it?" My voice quivered with a mix of fear and horror. People were being tortured.

Nate's appetite seemed to disappear with the gravity of the conversation. He let go of whatever he was holding, the clatter against his plate a stark reminder of the seriousness of our situation. "My dad is bringing everyone back before the messenger shares his message," he explained, a sense of urgency underlying his words.