EVIL VILLAIN (The Royal Court #3) - Rebel Hart Page 0,45

knew that to be true.

Brayden did a couple of circles with a look of determination on his face, and then he started walking up the block. Nathan noticed first and started following, and the rest of us eventually fell in line. Both expectedly and not, he stopped in a spot and bent down and picked up a black bandana that was laying on the ground and he handed it over to Nathan.

Nathan ran his thumbs over the fabric and then nodded. “Yeah. This is my dad’s handiwork.”

My stomach bottomed out. “You… recognize it?”

Nikita was next to Nathan in a second, rubbing his back. “Let’s not talk about that right now. If it’s confirmation that it was Connor’s, then we’re on the right track.”

“Bray, do you think if we blindfolded you again that you could walk backwards like you did last time?” Kyle asked.

Brayden was totally unresponsive. He had a look of horror mixed with sadness on his face as he watched Nikita console Nathan. It only took Kyle a few minutes to take notice of the situation and he looked away, his expression breaking as he did. It was heartbreaking.

Someone exhaled next to me, and I jumped a little before realizing it was just Jaxon. He was watching the scene before us with a pensive look that was befitting his more observant nature.

“Things are pretty fucked aren’t they?” I whispered to him.

Jaxon shook his head. “You have no idea.”

“So maybe we don’t do the blindfold,” I said, louder. “Maybe just close your eyes?” I was less concerned with finding the place, and more with breaking up the unexpectedly tense situation we’d found ourselves in.

“I can do that,” Brayden said.

He closed his eyes, his chest raising and lowering a little more dramatically as he did so, then he turned around a couple of times again and started off. Kyle trudged behind, and I rushed up to stay between Nathan and Kyle. It wasn’t that I thought Kyle would hurt his best friend for any reason, but they needed some space. We followed Brayden down the block and across the street, and then he started to hesitate. He started to go left, then backtracked and tried to go straight. His movements got uncertain, and every time it seemed like he was off, he’d stop and turn around.

“Lost?” I asked.

He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. “I hadn’t slept or eaten in like two days.” He looked at me. “I can’t really remember. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay,” I replied.

“I mean, we can just do some spatial deduction from this point anyway,” Kyle said. “Although we’re a little far from the original building.”

“Oh!” I yelped, then turned around and ran back to where we found Brayden’s blindfold. “Brayden,” I called. “It’s not that you don’t remember. You went too far.”

Everyone came back to where I was as Brayden asked, “How do you know that?”

“You said before that they just sort of dropped you and eventually you pulled your own blindfold off, right? You didn’t walk for that long blindfolded.” I pointed at the doors nearby. “The first building he led us to is over there, but maybe there’s an underground tunnel or something that led here.”

“That would be very like my dad,” Nathan said.

“He walked pretty confidently up to the end of the block,” Kyle said, and then put his hand on a door right near the corner. “Here maybe?”

Brayden looked down the brick wall and then his eyes widened. “Yeah! It’s that door! It opened to the right. I remember bumping against the open door frame on the left side.”

“He’s right,” Nikita said. “The rest of these doors look like they open the other way around.”

Jaxon walked over to the door Kyle was standing near and started to fiddle with it. Kyle and Brayden watched over his shoulder, and I did a quick cursory glance for any onlookers or cameras. Security was low in a place like North Postings, I knew all too well, but I still wanted to be able to see if someone was coming.

Eventually, Jaxon managed to get the door free and opened it. Brayden stepped inside and then back out. “This is it. I remember going upstairs. Two flights.” Jaxon pulled a gun out of his waistband and held it up as he led the way in, and we all filed in behind. Nikita propped the door open so we wouldn’t somehow get locked in, and then we followed Jaxon and Brayden down two flights of stairs.