Page 196 of Brainwashed

My stomach does a backflip.

It feels good, watching Stephen die. As he gives up his last breath, lying in a puddle of blood, I see the memories of myself, tied and scared, twirling up into the air like smoke.

He’ll never be able to do that to anyone else.

And I can’t pretend that’s the reason I did this, but it’s definitely the cherry on top of the sundae of this slaying. A splendid notion to have.Felix will be proud.

The sudden urge to get back to him is insistent, my fingers twitching with the need to touch him. I want to see his face and hear his voice…

Fucking Manuel Blanco.

He’ll get Trevel… But he’ll take me back onto Alabaster Isle regardless of when he shows up. Because now I belong there.

Picking up the broken pieces of the picture frame, I store them to toss somewhere. Then I wipe down everything I touched and locate the keys to Stephen’s car.Since all I have are the clothes on my back, I go to his bedroom and change into some of his—jeans and a white t-shirt. They’re not a perfect fit, and not quite my style, but they’ll have to do.

Just as I’m finishing up, my phone rings, and I breathe out a sigh of relief.

“Sven. What’s the word?”

“So… We found him.” He sounds hesitant.

“Alright… that’s a good thing.”

“Well…”

My teeth grind. “Just spit it out.”

“He’s in Thailand.”

I freeze. “Thailand…”

“Yea. Turns out he immediately got onto a plane.”

Because he’s smart.“Okay… so how are you going to track him down?”

“We already have eyes on him. I just need to get down there and grab him. It’ll take a little longer than I originally quoted you.”

My muscles stiffen. “How much longer?”

“A week. Ten days, tops.”

Nope.“I don’t have ten days. Or a week,” I growl. “I need himnow.”

“I’ll try to go as fast as possible, but if we spook him, then we could lose him for good.”

Rubbing my eyes, I let out a long breath. He has a point.

But there’s absolutely no way I’m staying away from Felix for a week.I’ll go back now. Manuel will just have to take me at my word that Trevel is coming.

“Fine. Just… hurry up.” The line is quiet for a moment before I mumble, “How about the other one?”

Sven breathes, “Right. Yea, I found him, too.”

My body goes stiff as I grip my phone tightly in my fist. “And…?”

“Alive and well, living in LA,” Sven tells me, and I release a sturdy breath of relief. “I mean, wellenough…”

My forehead lines. “What does that mean?”