Page 48 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. Two

There’s nothing else of interest in the transcript, but I go over it again anyway. Then I start wracking my brain, trying to think of any kids Ludo could possibly use as a backup plan. The only one I can think of is Maria, and she’s far from a child. She’s only a few years younger than Oliver.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any child Ludo could be talking about. Somehow, that makes it all much more unnerving.

At some point, I hear Wren and Rhett get up. I never heard her screaming or crying, which is a good indicator that she didn’t end up having a nightmare. Fuck, I hope so. She could use a good night’s sleep.

When their bedroom door opens, I drag my eyes away from my laptop and take her in. She has a throw blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and she looks like she needs to go back to bed. “Morning, love.”

With a sleepy groan, she sits in the chair next to me. “Morning.”

“You didn’t have to get up if you weren’t ready to.”

She starts to reply, but a yawn overtakes her before she can. Then, “I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t.”

“Too much on your mind?” I ask as Rhett comes out of the bedroom and grabs himself more coffee.

Guilt shrouds Wren’s features as she fiddles with the edge of her blanket. “Yeah. I think… I think I have some stuff to tell you guys.”

I’m bracing myself before I even realize I am. Never in my life has that phrase led to anything good. It means fights, yelling, slamming doors, and an underlying hostility that never truly fades. So when I turn to face her, I’m already preparing for the worst—although I’m not sure what that would be in this situation.

“Rhett?” Wren says. “Can you sit with us?”

Based on his hardened expression, he heard what she said to me. He sits across from us and folds his hands, resting them on the table. “What do you have to say?”

“Aubrey is… very trusting.” Wren squirms. “She told me some stuff about Ludo. Stuff I don’t think most people would tell a practical stranger. I think she could be really helpful.”

“You don’t sound too happy about that,” I say, hiding my relief. If all she has to talk about is her conversation with Aubrey, that’s so much better than whatever I was gearing up for.

“I wasn’t expecting to like her,” Wren says. “I thought I’d hate her as much as I hate Ludo. And now I don’t know what to do or what to feel. I know we can’t let her in on our plans. It just feels wrong to use her for information, that’s all.”

Pulling her chair closer, I put an arm around her. “I know, love.”

Over the years, we’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices. One of the hardest things to let go of was the adherence to a strict set of rights and wrongs. We’re murderers for hire, for fuck’s sake. Of course we do questionable things. Alotof questionable things. Still, I’m familiar with the struggle. It took me a lot of time to get past it.

“But my priority is you guys and your plan,” Wren says. Her eyes lock with Rhett’s. “To get justice for Sammy. If getting close to Aubrey helps get us closer to our end goal, then it’s worth it. Besides, Aubrey seems to hate Ludo. I think she’d agree with our cause.”

“Why don’t you tell us what she said,” Rhett suggests.

After taking a steadying breath, Wren outlines her conversation with Aubrey last night. The things that stick out to me the most are why Ludo is here and how much information Aubrey volunteered without Wren even asking. It almost sounds like a trap.

“How the hell does a kid fit into all of this?” Rhett mutters.

“And what’s Ludo need a backup plan for?” I add. “I don’t like this.”

Rhett’s jaw is set, and his arms are crossed. No doubt, he’s thinking about the last child we know who crossed paths with Ludo.

“What are you guys talking about?” Wren asks.

“Here.” I pull up the doc again and angle my laptop so Wren can read it. “This is the audio from the sunglasses.”

She perks up. “It worked?”

“Yeah.” I kiss her forehead. “You did a good job, love.”

That seems to lift her mood significantly. Unfortunately, it only takes a few minutes, and then she’s frowning again.

“Ludo wants me and Aubrey to become friends? That’s… weird.”

“I agree,” Rhett says darkly. “I’m not going to tell you who you can and can’t hang out with, but there’s absolutely no way you’re spending time with her without one of us present. You’re not goinganywhereby yourself.”