Page 52 of Volatile King (The Kings of Wayward Academy #6)

N ash

Memories clung to the walls of the Collier house and whispered taunts at me. The walls didn’t talk at the condo or Wayward…even Edmundo’s place was quiet. The shadows didn’t move, and I didn’t look for an attack around every corner.

I never thought I would willingly return once I got out of this hell, let alone want to sneak inside. I hated this house. Hated it almost as much as I hated my father and the abuse he inflicted.

Learning how to leave the property without being seen had been my mission when I was young.

I’d found an escape years ago, before I’d been able to drive away and not come home for days or weeks at a time.

Wayward had been a saving grace while school was in session, but there were always holidays and summer vacation to endure.

Liam and I jogged through the trees of the neighboring property. We stayed low and moved like demons through the dark, using the cover of night and Liam’s collection of stealth equipment.

The entrance was covered over with weeds, branches, and leaves that needed to be cleared to reveal the opening.

It wasn’t a door so much as a bomb shelter access point.

Pulling the key from my pocket, I slipped it into the unusual lock.

Without the key inserted, the handle spun continuously, making you think it was broken.

The hatch clicked and hissed when the mechanism disengaged, letting out a whiff of damp, moldy air.

“Keep the night vision on for now. We don’t want to draw any attention by turning on lights,” I whispered.

We stared down into the darkness together, but I went inside first and climbed down the ladder. Liam followed, closing the hatch quietly behind him.

“Any motion sensors or cameras down here,” Liam asked as he stepped down beside me.

It was a bonus for us that Lawrence was a paranoid lunatic.

He didn’t want anyone to have the ability to track his movements.

The only cameras that had been installed were at the front gate, any of the entry doors, and the hallways leading to his bedroom and office.

There were none inside those rooms, and definitely none down here in the pits of all his depravity.

“There weren’t. He didn’t want anyone to know about this, not even the guards. He doesn’t trust anyone,” I said, looking around to see if there was anything new or different that would indicate that Lawrence had been down here recently.

“Do I want to know how you found it?”

“No.”

Pulling my gun, I stepped forward like each stone was a trap and the place was going to Indiana Jones our asses. It took ten minutes to reach the end. There were no doors or windows and only vents for airflow. Sweat ran down my back from my body’s reaction to being in here again.

The tunnel had been where I came when things got really bad, and I thought he might kill me.

I’d once spent two weeks down here, licking the stone for water just to keep myself alive.

It was also when I learned you could eat bugs.

I could still feel the wiggling as I swallowed them.

Eventually, I had given up and gone back upstairs, unable to handle the pitch black, the hunger pangs, or the need for water a day longer. He didn’t even notice I was missing.

I shook my head to push the old memory away.

Liam grabbed my shoulder before I could open the door. I glanced back at him.

“What?”

“Something is off. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…just old memories.” Liam stared at me, not moving. “I’m good. I swear.”

He didn’t look like he believed me, but let it go. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the oddly shaped handle. It was a decorative skull that matched on the other side. With my fingers in the eye sockets and mouth, I turned it one careful inch at a time until the door cracked open with a loud thunk .

“Jesus, what kind of lock is that?”

I shrugged. “A big one.”

“Helpful,” Liam said.

“Ready?”

He nodded.

The door was stiff and groaned loudly as I pushed it open.

Shit.

Stepping inside, I listened for any of the guards who manned the prisoner area, but nothing moved.

My father used this office for his darkest and most depraved dealings.

It was set at the very back of his ceremony room with a hidden entrance that you couldn’t see at all if you didn’t know it was there.

Of course, this was where he’d built an escape tunnel to save his own ass.

Liam came through still wary, and we didn’t close the door in case we needed to make a quick escape. I’d never found where he kept the keys for the desk and files in this room, but after everything that had happened, I didn’t give a shit about remaining inconspicuous.

By the look of it, we were too late anyway.

The steel cupboards and drawers hung open and empty.

“Son of a bitch,” I grumbled, annoyed at myself for not coming sooner.

Liam searched every nook and cranny while I walked the short, twisted hall to the sliding door that led into the inner sanctum. It had been built for Lawrence’s fucked-up ceremonies.

Walking over, I hit the switch that lit up the torches that lined the walls. Yes, Lawrence needed a modern lighter for his gothic lighting. Crazy fucker. I pulled off the night vision goggles and looked around. Every corner held a scream, and every inch of the floor had been splattered with blood.

I hadn’t been in here alone since I turned sixteen. I stepped up to the altar and touched the cold stone. Too many people had died here. The weight of the violence had seeped into ever crack.

“I think the place is deserted,” Liam said.

“Yeah, he fled. Not really shocking.” My voice sounded faraway as I continued to stare at the altar.

“What did he make you do?”

I didn’t have to ask what he meant.

“Something that I can never forgive myself for,” I said softly. I glanced at Liam as he stepped up beside me. “Louis says I need to face my past to move on, but I don’t know how.”

Liam walked around the altar and stared at me from the shadows on the other side, his eyes reflecting the flames burning around the room.

“Tell me.”

Shaking my head, I looked away. I wasn’t letting him read my fucking mind, or whatever it was he did.

“Nash…you need to talk about it, or it’s going to eat you alive. It already is, and if you don’t do something, then it will ruin what you’re building with Ren. Look at me,” Liam said.

I ground my teeth together but looked up.

“I’ll never tell anyone, but you can’t carry this alone.”

Closing my eyes, I leaned my hands against the altar and let myself feel everything that I’d been hiding from…the truth. A single tear slipped from my eye and fell on the stone like a sacrifice.

My eyes opened as I let the memories rise.

“He didn’t wait until I was eighteen,” I said.

“What?”

“I told all of you he did, and that was when I started going to the gatherings. But he held my initiation two years earlier.” I cleared my throat. “It was a month after he killed Mya’s parents and took her. I was…distraught, unfocused…a zombie.”

“I remember,” Liam said, his voice soft but firm, offering support.

“He dragged me down here with Owen and Devin as the only witnesses. I was standing right there.” I pointed to a spot just inside the door.

“They kept me from running away as Lawrence brought in a girl. She had a bag on her head, her feet bare, and she wore a white dress. She tried to fight, but it was no use. He chained her right here,” I said, taking a shaky breath and running my hands over the stone.

“He wanted me to fuck her…rape her. I refused.” Another tear fell as I looked up at Liam. “Lawrence beat me, but I wouldn’t cave. I refused to become him. I told him to kill me.”

“So, what happened?”

My mouth moved to form words, but all that came out was a croak of pain. I blinked and saw it playing out all over again.

“He said, “Do it, son, or they will, and you’ll have to watch her scream as they do every depraved thing they can think of . ” He pointed at Owen and Devin.

I knew what they would do, how cruel they were.

She would have been tortured for hours, if not days.

He said that if I did it, then he would let her live and set her free. ”

My hands slowly clenched into fists. “So, I did. I kept whispering that I was sorry, so sorry. I hated every second, my father for forcing me and…myself. I’d never wanted to become him, and he knew exactly how to force me.

How to trap me into having that stain on my soul.

” The tears were steadily dripping onto the stone that had seen an endless amount.

I licked my lips, preparing to finally get the events of that horrible night off my chest. I lifted my head, expecting to see disgust in my best friend’s eyes. But Liam’s expression hadn’t changed. He wasn’t looking at me differently, and that gave me the courage to continue.

“After it was done, he unshackled the girl and hauled her off the stone. She landed on her knees.” I walked around to the end of the altar and stared at the spot where she had kneeled before me.

“Her crying was muffled because of the cloth bag over her head, but I’ll never forget the sound.

” I wiped my eyes with the back of my arm.

Taking a few deep breaths, I composed myself as the ghostly images of that night swirled in front of me. I was sixteen and terrified, my father, Owen, and Devin witnesses to what I’d done…what I’d been forced to do. And the girl…on her knees.

“Then he gave me another choice. Lawrence lied to me. He never had any intention of letting her go. I should’ve known. Even then, I should’ve known that it was just another ploy to get me to dance for him like the trained monkey I was—a puppet to play with and bend to his will.”

“What was it,” Liam asked.