Page 73 of Deceiver

“I figured it out,” Bill goes on, his voice a singsong tone. “It was actually hilariously obvious once I put the pieces together.”

I’m panting now, fingers gripping the wheel as I drive.

“He’s smart, I’ll give him that.”

He’s baiting me, wanting me to react, to answer, to say something that’ll sink all of this. I’m not going to do that. No, when I take them down, they’llallgo down, Western included.

“All along I knew he was involved, I knew he was trying to bring me down, little did I know that fucker was outsmarting me.”

I grit my teeth.

Yes, Western was paying for the boys Bill was selling, and then selling them for more. I got that loud and clear when I just discovered what I did. My mind is racing to come up with a plan. Something that will get me out of this alive. All I need is to free myself and run, then I can find a way to put them all away, right where they belong. In prison. Rotting.

“I don’t know how he was doing it for so long, buying those boys off me and acting like an outside buyer, and then sending them off to start a new life with a new identity. I didn’t follow up, why would I? I got my money, got my sale, and the boys stayed gone...until they didn’t. When one returned, I knew something was going wrong. A little bit of digging lead me right to your biker.”

Wait.

What?

What is he saying?

That’s not...

That’s not what I thought.

No.

This can’t be happening.

This can’t be true.

If he’s saying what I think he’s saying, then Western has been saving them all along.

I’ve made a mistake. A big mistake.

How could I have gotten this so very wrong?