Page 105 of Tricked By Jack

“No one important is hurt,” Shelby says coldly, yanking her arm free. She turns to face him fully, knife still held loosely at her side. “Don’t tell me you’re getting squeamish now, Ned. Not after everything they did to us.”

“This isn’t about them,” Ned argues, but there’s hesitation in his voice. “This is about you. About what you’re becoming.”

Shelby laughs, the sound bitter and hollow. “I’m becoming what they made me. What Jack made me.” She steps closer to her brother, voice dropping to a venomous hiss. “He took everything from me. Everything.”

Each word drips with a hatred so personal, so consuming, that it seems to fill the room like smoke. I watch it wrap around Ned, seeping into him, and know with sinking certainty that he won’t resist it.

“And Jack?” Shelby continues, eyes flashing. “Jack’s the worst of them. He used both of us. And now he gets to play house with his pretty little wife while I have nothing?”

I flinch at the way she says “wife,” like it’s a curse, something foul she needs to spit out.

“The Knights destroy everything they touch,” she says, turning back to me, knife catching the light. “And it’s time they know how it feels.”

“Shelby,” Ned says quietly. “It’s not too late to stop this.”

She stills, something fragile passing over her face. For a moment, I think she might actually listen. Then her expression hardens again, eyes turning to flint.

“You’re either with me or against me, Ned,” she says, voice flat. “Choose.”

The tension stretches between them, thick enough to choke on. I search Ned’s face for any sign, any clue about what he’s thinking. Is he genuinely conflicted? Or is this all part of their plan?

“I’m with you,” he says finally, shoulders sagging with the weight of his choice. “You know I am. Always.”

The betrayal crashes over me in a cold wave. Whatever small hope I had shatters, leaving nothing but the stark reality of my situation. I’m alone, bleeding, dressed in the tattered remnants of Ruby’s life, with no one to help me.

Shelby nods once, satisfied. “Good. Then help me get her to the van.”

As Ned moves toward me, his eyes meet mine for the briefest moment. Something flickers there—regret? Fear? Or just my mind twisting shadows into hope?

“Come on,” he says gruffly, taking my arm. His grip is firm but not cruel, and I can’t help wondering if there’s meaning in that small mercy. Is he truly with Shelby? Or is he playing along, buying time?

Instead of being in the back, I’m shoved into the front with them. Shelby’s driving, trusting her brother to keep me under control.

The uncertainty aches almost as much as the betrayal. I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I know is that whatever happens next, Jack will be the one who suffers most. And that knowledge cuts deeper than any knife ever could.

As the van jolts over a pothole, it sends pain shooting through my bound wrists. I gasp as I’m lurched to the side when Shelby takes a corner way too fast.

“Oops,” she sing-songs.

“Watch where you’re going,” Ned barks.

When Shelby’s attention is back on the road, he leans closer. His mouth right against my ear. “Play along,” he murmurs softly.

My mind races, thoughts colliding and splintering like glass. This can’t be happening. But it is. My best friend has turned into a stranger, driven by a hatred so deep it’s twisted her into someone I don’t recognize. And I’m the canvas for her revenge.

But it’s not myself I’m most afraid for. It’s Jack.

Jack, who still wakes in the night calling his sister’s name. Jack, whose grief runs so deep it’s carved into the very marrow of his bones. Jack, who’s finally starting to let me in, to show me the man beneath the monster he pretends to be.

What will this do to him? Seeing me like this, staged in Ruby’s final moments?

I close my eyes, fighting back tears that won’t help me now. Part of me wants him to stay away, to never find me. Better to disappear than to become the instrument of his destruction. But I know he’ll come. He’ll tear apart the city looking for me, and when he finds me—when he sees what Shelby has done—it will break something in him that might never heal.

The van slows, and through the windshield, I catch glimpses of familiar streets. My stomach drops as recognition hits me. The meat district… the warehouses… fuck.

This place was all over the news back in February. After the human auction that went wrong, the one only the elite knows about, the media spun it like a gang war. One where Ruby Knight and the esteemed Professor Valentine Grant were ruthlessly gunned down.

No one mentioned what only a few know; Jack killed Ruby and Valentine.