Phantom Rider - The Aftermath | Book 1

It Was All a Lie

Bill's POV - Tokyo, Japan

"So you faked your death? How, why?" Bill had many questions.

"Victor found out about me. From none other than Kristina (character in "My Living Nightmare" ). I was preparing everything silently to move just in case we had to. I got an apartment in Prague, right in the middle of the tourist hot spot, so we could be safely hidden in the crowd every day."

"We?" Bill wondered sarcastically.

"Yes, we! All four of us. And Taylor," Tom said guiltily.

Bill's train of thought stopped for a moment at the mention of her name. "Taylor... Tom... is she?"

"She is the reason I took off alone," Tom quickly mumbled.

"But is she alive?" Bill was scared to ask.

"I barely saved her. Killing everyone in the hospital was an improvisation, but I also believed she was dead. I needed enough bodies and blood so they could never uncover if it was me there dead or not." Tom explained.

Bill nodded, knowing all too well how that feels. Mila wasn't dead, but he'd already been killing people left and right. If she died, it wouldn't be just a hospital - he would burn the whole world down.

"We ran off to Prague, just the two of us. I mean... three of us."

Bill's eyes widened in surprise. Who else was more important than him?

"Bill, we have a baby at home. A baby girl. She started walking her first steps a few days ago." Tom said softly.

For Bill, it was information overload. Too many shocks in a short amount of time. Also, he was hellishly hungover from the past night, so he said nothing about the child.

"You could have called me, sent me a fucking post mail letter." he spit.

"I had to make it believable. Bill, Victor was monitoring your every move too. He would catch any inconsistency, and we all would be dead." Tom tried to explain himself.

"So he sent Mila to finish me off..." Bill realized how big of a fool he'd been all this time.

"Victor knew about Taylor. He sent his people and almost killed her and my unborn child. My only chance of ever having a family again. I am still hiding them. When you have kids, you will understand what it means to go beyond everything to save your family." Toms eyes filled with tears.

"Tom, I am your family too. You almost made me give up on life! If Mila didn't show up..." Bills voice cracked.

He saw her car outside the window. He was impatient to know why. To be completely honest, he wanted Tom to skip right to the part where he tells about Mila.

Whatever Tom said, somehow Bill couldn't connect to it. Tom felt like a complete stranger to him.

"So you live in Prague, happy family life with Taylor and your child, while all of us are left to fight to clean your mess up, tear ourselves apart, and suffer? That's very egotistical." he finally said what he actually though.

"I wanted to come back! I swear! But Taylor's pregnancy had many complications. She had no one. I couldn't leave her alone, and I couldn't risk contacting you. Bill, please listen to me. You know what it feels like to lose a family. You remember what we went through when our parents were killed. I didn't want to go through it again. You are the strongest person I know, and also I felt that you felt I was alive. I sometimes even talked to you like some kind of fool, and I swear you replied to me."

"I did reply..." Bill remembered all the lonely nights in Germany. "Just give me time. I can't process it all."

"I am afraid we are running out of time. Victor has put a target on our backs," Tom said very seriously.

"Then why didn't he just kill us already?" Bill had only questions left.

"It has something to do with Mila why we both are still alive," Tom said and saw Bill shiver instantly.

"When I saved your ass in the car race, Victor took me," Tom started to rush the story as if someone were watching his back.

"It was you?" Bill's head spun.

"They held me captive, beat, and starved me for weeks, then took me to Germany, and she got in the car." He still rushed.

Bill was disgusted at the thought that she even had sex with him and lied that she loves him just to get her way.

Tom saw his look and quickly interrupted his thought process. "Bill, she was scared. When Victor said he would kill you, she almost jumped out of the racing car."

Suddenly, Bill's disgust turned towards himself. How could he downgrade her to that level and not trust her enough?

"What else happened? Tell me more. Where is she?" Bill got nervous.

"Victor talked to her and then let her go. They took me back to Russia and a few days later just let me go, giving me that car. A gift from Miss Petrova."

"Miss Petrova... so she doesn't use Matt's surname." This was all Bill was waiting to hear. He didn't give a shit about Taylor, Tom, or Alice by this point - he had just confirmed that he was allowed to keep up his hunt.