Two days after the therapy session, things seemed to get relatively quiet as I was putting my focus on my tests before the Thanksgiving weekend and joined the swimming and diving teams to win our first championships (of course, practices would still go on to keep us at our prime). And with the following week being a week-long holiday, I was looking forward for a relatively stress-free holiday.

Or it would've been if Oliver and I weren't surprised with a phone call from Mr. Peavey as soon as classes let out. "Can you come over so my family and I can talk?" he asked me hesitantly over the line. "I know that Ryan was dead wrong for exposin' your past and nearly having you killed and all, but his mama and I raised him better than that. Or at least, we thought we did."

I inhaled sharply as my crew came to my side alongside the Callaways. "What's going on?" Holly asked me.

I held up a finger to tell her to give me a moment. To Mr. Peavey, "What do you mean?"

I heard him inhale deeply. "Well, it seems as if Ryan was holding some deep obsessions involving that Hillman kid and you, son," he answered, his voice tired and concerned. "And I thought it'd be best for you to know of this alongside your boyfriend and your foster folks. Can you come over to our place later, or is it going to open some wounds from your past. I mean, you don't have to come over if you don't think-"

"I think it might be best to talk about this now before it gets too complicated," I told him. "Are Joel and Taylor over where you are now?"

"They're on route right now," he answered honestly.

"Then I'm on my way," I replied before hanging up and recapping everyone with what's going on.

"Demario, this is going to be a bad idea," Holly insisted. "As your bestie since my mom sees you as her godson, it's only fitting that I tell you that you need to tell him that you can't make it. Who knows what could happen with the Peavey clan? And who knows if Ryan could be watching you?"

"But this could be an opportunity to get to know what secrets Ryan is keeping, maybe get a glimpse of what's going on in his mind," Oliver rebutted. "Like they say, better to know your opponent's past early before you look at his future too late."

"I dunno about that," Epiphany commented uneasily. "I mean, Theo and Ryan could be lurking anywhere and there's bound to be another unexpected murder. No one's safe anymore and Demario has the most to lose if we're not careful."

"Guys, I need to get some answers about Ryan's twisted fantasy world," I replied. "And if it means going inside the home that he used to live in, then so be it."

"And I'm coming with you," Oliver told me. "Who knows? Maybe this is the perfect opportunity to play 'I Spy.' And you're not going to be alone. Your foster dads will be there as well."

I nodded. "Then let's get a move on."

"Be careful, boys," Principal Callaway warned, his eyes full of concern. "Something tells me that the next kill will be sooner than we think and hit a little too close to home and too close for comfort."

"That's the truth," Serenity hummed. "If I were y'all, I'd focus on your plans for your move to Boston and keep low. But keep us posted."

"Given."

**************

Thirty minutes later, Oliver and I were soon in the large living room of the Peavey residence with my foster dads, Judge McGillivray, and a few officers on standby. "Ryan was the shining, all-American quarterback that had everyone admiring him for days on end," Mr. Peavey noted as soon as everyone was seated. "Even with him being engaged to Jillian before he officially came out of the closet, he was bound to go places since the day he got his hands on a football. But when things started getting complicated with that Hillman boy moving in a while back before the incident; it wasn't long until Ryan soon got a little too obsessed with the transgender teenager, especially when they started sleeping together even as Jillian was starting to get them to break up in hopes to get my boy back."

"I know that much," I told him, "but how did the incident with the party from last year come into play and how did it affect Artem?"

"In the same matter that might've happened to you if you sung at Serenity's party when Jillian made the offer to you," Mrs. Peavey commented. "Yes, Jillian knew that Artem was a talented singer just like you are, but Artem made the mistake to accept the offer and endured fake promises and delays before the party. When Artem sang, he only sung the songs that Jillian liked- you know, the bubble-gum pop music no one really cares for instead of the songs that had meaning. Artem didn't care, though. He only sang for the love of it. Then he drank that spiked punch and...well, his parents were lucky enough that it didn't get too serious and it was Serenity that made sure her party was shut down."

"Ryan didn't take it well, immediately breaking ties with her and denouncing her for her part while secretly seeing Theo," Mr. Peavey added. "Those boys put it on hold when you came into play, hoping that you would easily fall for Ryan's charms, Demario. But you were the one to resist him and played by Jillian's rules despite how things might've looked from your point of view. You didn't want to get caught up in that tangled web and even Jillian knew that you wanted to focus on your life. And when Artem came back and your past was soon revealed...it all snowballed from there."

"Wow," Oliver breathed. "I never knew that things got like this."

"Neither did we," Mrs. Peavey commented. "And Ryan never expected you to get into the same bed with him and Demario when you all drank that punch at the game a while back, Oliver. But when you and Demario spurned his offer for a throuple, I guess you can say that you got caught in this mess as much as Demario is caught up in it."

"What do you mean?" Judge McGillivray asked.

"Ma'am, these boys should know that Ryan isn't one to be denied anything," Mr. Peavey explained. "You already know that he and Theo are in cahoots to get anyone who they thought betrayed them or got in their way or is linked to anyone that they displeased. I don't know how Demario's ex-kin are involved, but they got put down like rabid dogs. But something tells me that Ryan and Theo are going to keep at it until they get what they want: a suffering Demario Bader who is ready to die or ready to give into their dark desires. If only my wife and I had known beforehand how this was going to end up, we might've warned Demario to stay away from Ryan."

To me, "Son, we mean no offense to what we said. But in retrospect, we should've never let our son met you back in the summer."

"None taken, sir. From the first time I met him, something told me that he was too much trouble and I needed to stay away from him," I replied.

My cell buzzed with a text from Aunt Denise. I opened it, my blood turning cold from the most-disturbing news. "Oh, God," I said weakly. "They didn't."

"What the hell happened?!" Judge McGillivray demanded. "Demario, what's going on?"

I felt another fresh set of tears crash from me. "It's Yvonne," I croaked. "She's dead."

Yvonne Bader, the one good egg from the Bader family who suffered a botched abortion thanks to my mother, was shot and killed by none other than Ryan Peavey and Theo Blake. And Denise and Trey narrowly escaped.

Fucking hell on Earth, what has my life gone down to?

DAMN! I bet y'all didn't expect that, didn't you? But yeah, Yvonne is dead no thanks to Ryan and Theo, thus making things more and more chaotic and messy!

As for the infamous duo themselves? Well, you're going to be in for one gag-worthy surprise in the next chapter as one of the two will pull off a double-cross like none other when their latest kill started to get sloppy. Hold on to your hats, boys and girls, because it's going to be a shocker as we're close to the end!

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