Callum and Aaron, in gloves and rain jackets and hairnets, are at the bottom of the hole, covered in dirt and hefting the corpse of Danny Ensbrook up to Hael and Vic. Oscar stands off to the side, watching carefully and taking notes. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing, so I just stand there and try to process.

Skeletons in the closet indeed.

We’ve stolen two more cars today—a 2013 Nissan Armada and some 90s Suburban—and covered the interior of the Armada with tarps. Vic and Hael carry Danny’s rotting body over to the dirt patch where they’re parked and then chuck him unceremoniously onto the ground, like so much garbage on its way to the dump. The smell though … that’s what’s really getting to me. My head spins, and I try to reconcile those years of fantasizing about Havoc with reality.

They’re … awful. In so many ways. So, so, so, so many.

I wet my lips, but the smell gets to me, and I almost vomit again.

“Remind me of the plan,” I choke out as I watch Hael and Callum start to fill the hole in with dirt. The oddest thing about this patch of woods is how many fresh mounds of dirt there are. My skin ripples with goose bumps. “Nobody is going to find Danny out here.” We’re two hours from Springfield, and about four hours from the house where the Halloween party took place. “Why are we moving him?”

“Because Mitch pissed me off,” Vic explains, using a gloved finger to press the button on the automatic hatch of the SUV. It opens on its own with a cheerful chirp. “We’re delivering a message. This isn’t just a game of high school chess anymore; it’s real. He can either fall back and get in line, or he can play on our terms.”

Hael starts to unwrap the body. I tell myself I’m not going to look as he peels the plastic and tape away from the corpse, but I can’t stop myself. Danny died because he lifted his gun to my head; Callum killed him to save me. This isn’t something I get to stick my head in the sand over.

It’s only been a few weeks since Danny died, but holy shit if he doesn’t look like a zombie. His eyes are sunken in; there are bugs; he’s bloated as shit. I gag and turn away, choking back the bile. I don’t want to leave any sign that I was here.

“There are bodies everywhere,” I say instead, looking around and wondering what the actual fuck I’ve gotten myself into. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so keen on joining Havoc, after all?

“Not so many as it seems,” Callum says with a shrug, pausing to rest his hands on the end of his shovel. He could hit me with it, knock me into this hole and bury me alive. But for whatever stupid reason, I feel certain that he won’t. “We have other things buried out here, not just bodies.”

“Like money?” I ask, and Vic smiles, moving close to stand beside me. Meanwhile, Hael moves the body to a fresh tarp and ties it up with a bit of rope into a mummy-like shape.

“Money, weapons, drugs, you name it.” Victor shrugs and sighs, peeling off his gloves so he can press a warm hand to the side of my face. I just hope he doesn’t try to kiss me; I’d probably upchuck yet again. Shit, maybe I am pregnant? I think, fear slicing through me like a knife. I can’t remember when I had my period last, but that’s nothing unusual. My period’s been irregular since I started when I was twelve. I’d go to the doctor, but we can’t really afford it, and it’s not like Pamela has health insurance for us. Fucking laughable.

“Who owns this land?” I ask, and Cal grins at me from across Danny’s empty grave.

“Vic’s mother’s boyfriend,” he says, and I lift both brows.

“It’s a timber investment property,” Victor explains, scowling. “But he’ll never sell it. Not the trees, either. Not even if he’s destitute.”

“Why do you say that?” I ask, and Vic gives me a look.

“Because he killed his best friend and buried him here,” he explains, and I have serious trouble keeping my feelings to myself.

“He … what?” I manage to choke out and Vic frowns.

“My mother cheated on him with his best friend. Tom killed him and buried him out here. I know because I saw the whole thing and followed him. The guy is buried about a quarter mile north of here, close enough that even if Tom were to break the land into parcels and sell it, this area should be safe.”

“But far enough away that we shouldn’t run into him,” Callum adds as Hael mutters curses under his breath and deadlifts the body into the back of the Armada. Impressive. “Tom has enough connections that it’d be hard to nail him with the murder anyway, so we figured we’d rather use it to our advantage.”

“The dead guy was a total prick anyway,” Vic explains, lighting up a cigarette, like this is business as usual for him. Well, not like it’s usual. It is usual. Jesus. What I’ve experienced with Havoc thus far, that was like, baby bootcamp or something. His face tells me nothing, cigarette hanging from between his lips as he talks. “His death is serving the world far better than he ever did with his life. Now, when we take out the trash, we have somewhere to put it.” Vic turns to me. I should probably be scared of him. Instead, my body ripples beneath his stare, soaking up the attention. Be very, very careful, Bern, I tell myself. If I’ve figured out that I have his balls in a vise, it’s only a matter of time before Victor realizes he holds me by the ovaries.

“And Danny …?” I start, exhaling sharply. Part of me recognizes that I’m not as tough as I thought I was. This is a lot to take in. And yet … I’m a lot happier than I should be, standing beside a teenager’s early grave.

Havoc, spilling its secrets out and into me.

Almost literally, if you consider Aaron, and Hael, and Vic …

“Mitch asked for him back, so we’re going to make a special delivery.” Vic smirks at me and winks before heading over and grabbing a pair of shovels that are leaning against a tree. He tosses one over to me and I catch it in my gloved hands. “Start digging, your majesty,” he says smiling with too much teeth around the cigarette.

Oddly enough, he doesn’t sound like he’s being mocking. Glancing over in Oscar’s direction, I see him frowning and that, that makes me smile.

Aaron looks up at me from across the grave and gives a smile of his own, but his is tinged at the edges with melancholy. It says, I’m sorry, Bernie, I told you, and I was right.

“Nantucket,” I murmur, swallowing and pushing the end of the shovel into the pile of dirt. “I know, I know.”

Mitch has been driving a new car the last few weeks, another restored classic that makes Hael whistle like he’s just spotted a hot piece of ass out the window of the Armada. It’s currently parked outside of Kali’s place, this boring ass ranch home that her grandparents probably picked out of a Sears catalog. It used to be an okay house before they died, and her parents inherited it. They’ve trashed the place.

“Oscar, the cameras?” Vic asks, and Oscar nods. He passes the iPad forward, releasing it into my hands with reluctance.

“Try not to break this one,” he oozes, and I have to resist the urge to rabbit punch him. I yank it from his fingers, glancing down to find a graphic video of Mitch and Kali fucking. My brows go up.