I raise my chin defiantly. “You’ve not told me what you know about Sarah.”
A cold hard wall drops over his expression, and his fists clench at his sides.
“I need evidence,” I say. “I have to know what happened to her. She’s my sister.”
“What about what happened to us?” Aiden asks. “We can tell you what really happens here.”
My back hits the wall. There’s nowhere to go. I’m cornered. Whatever I’ve stumbled on is bigger than myself, my father, and Sarah…
“Let us show you,” he says.
I yelp as he lunges, grabbing my arm to tug me into one of the rooms. It has a desk with two chairs that face multiple screens, and shelves on the walls are filled with video tapes. There are hundreds of them. He forces me to sit in a chair, holding down my shoulders.
He bends to hiss in my ear, “Do you want to know the real reason your father holds this event every year?”
I shake with fear as Eli and Lex join us. They stand to the side, watching us and blocking the exit, but don’t intervene.
“I don’t—” I begin.
“He uses tonight to help fund his projects,” Aiden interrupts. “Others are complicit. The mayor, the sheriff, and the rest of his sick friends. They all know what he does here. That’s the real reason Sunnycrest opened, to do experiments no one else dares to and make money from them.”
“No.” I shake my head. “He wouldn’t… He can’t…”
“Do you want proof?” he sneers, nodding at Eli, who inserts a tape into the player. “We’ll show you.”
A blank screen in front of me powers on. Lines ripple across it until an image of a boy strapped to a chair appears. I recognize him instantly. Lex. In the clip, he looks around fourteen years old. His burns are redder and more raised. His ankles are bound to the chair legs, and his wrists tied to the arms. He thrashes to free himself. There’s no sound, but I lip-read him screaming “Help” and see the sheer terror on his face.
No, Dad helps people. He does bad things sometimes, but he always thinks what he’s doing is for the greater good, right? He wouldn’t intentionally cause harm for the sake of it. I can’t take the word of three criminally insane escapees over a medical professional. Can I?
I look away, but Aiden grabs my chin, forcing me to keep watching.
A man approaches Lex. My father. He’s not alone. He’s flanked by two men in white coats carrying clipboards. Seconds later, two more figures enter the frame. First, Devon Lewis. He laughs, unperturbed by the shrieking boy pleading for release. Next to him, Robert Gilsmear chuckles.
What are they doing?
“Keep watching,” Aiden says.
My father selects a device from the host of mechanical appliances on the shelf. The footage is blurry, but I gasp as Dad fastens the object to Lex’s face.
My bottom lip quivers, watching him drop a substance into Lex’s eyes that makes him wail and convulse uncontrollably. The onlookers laugh, while the men in coats furiously scribble notes.
“No,” I whisper.
My eyes fill with tears as my father picks up a cattle prod. His two helpers tug off Lex’s sweater, exposing his chest. Even the pixelated footage doesn’t mask his existing wounds. He’s covered in bruises and gaping gashes.
“Watch, Little Ghost,” Aiden says. “You need to see how your daddy was able to give you everything you ever wanted. Your music lessons, a beautiful house, and closets full of clothes you don’t wear. This is how.”
Dad jabs the prod into Lex’s chest. Next, Gilsmear steps forward to take his turn. I wince when he pokes Lex even harder, debunking any chance that this was a medical procedure. Nothing can justify this. It’s abuse. Pure and simple.
“Turn it off,” I plead, tears dripping down my cheeks. “Please.”
“Why?” Aiden sneers. “Don’t you want to see what’s been under your nose all along?”
“Make it stop,” I whisper, wincing as they torture Lex onscreen.
“Your father takes money from people who want to experiment on children and make them suffer,” Aiden says. “He’ll do anything for a price. He likes to see how much pain a person can withstand, pushing them to the limits of what’s possible.”
“Aiden,” Eli intervenes. “She’s seen enough.”
