Hunting Adeline - Book Report

Welcome back Smut Squad, we are finally finishing the Cat & Mouse duet with Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton. Spoilers ahead. 

We recorded this episode hours before HD Carlton announced, the release date for My Dreadful Darling which is going to be a duology with the first one coming April 21, 2026 and the second one titled My Darling Reverie releasing May 19, 2026. This is not Cat & Mouse world related but it is still going to be top notch. Keep your eyes on Amazon to order paperback editions of these both very soon. 

Any questions email us at smutsyndicate@gmail.com

Live, Laugh, Mortal Trash 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Hello, Smut Squad, and welcome back to Smut Syndicate.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

I am Charlie. And I am Danielle. It may have taken us some time, but we are finally gonna finish the cat and mouse duet. Woo! We are mood raiders, so you can't blame us for this taking as long as it does.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Yes. That is right. We are talking about hunting Adeline, and I'm gonna try not to call it haunting Adeline, but I get confused. And holy dick, are we going dark today? So check those trigger warnings. Like this, this is some of the darkest shit we've ever done. Um that's true. And as always, we're gonna try and make it light, but you heathens voted for a dark, dark, dark romance book, and uh, we aim to please.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Yes. So, quick refresher in book one, we have Addy, an author living in her granny's haunted old mansion, and then we have Zaid, he's an underground vigilante who's been stalking Addy, and they're now in a situation ship relationship. Um, Addy was trying to solve the mystery of who killed her great-granny by reading through her old journals, and her and her bestie solved it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Hell yeah. Um, at the end of book one, Zayd was finally going to stop the society, and this is that underground group of pedophiles that were like sacrificing children. And just as his plow was about to take action, somebody put a gun to his head.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Yeah, and then Addy was last seen after she rushed out of the house because Daya, her bestie, and basically 911 to her, and as she was driving to her place, she was run off the road by a van with two strange men in it.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Yes. Now, a couple quick shout-outs. We have Michelle Sparks as our Addy just killing it in the game. We have Teddy Hamilton as Zayd Meadows.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

And this was one of the first times that I heard him as a narrator. Like, not like this time reviewing the notes, but like in the way, way back machine, like four years ago. In your first audiobook adventures. Woe nelle. Woe nelle. Um, also, we may possibly have a new H.D. Carlton book on the horizon. I'm so excited. Uh, My Dreadful Darling. It has a release date right now of March 20th of 2026. I've heard that this is a placeholder. I don't know if it is. I like we have so little, but also I have seen her like release and do certain things without a lot of hype about it. She just like secretly slips it under the rug there. But if she writes it, I reads it.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Me too.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Um, and so now on to haunting Adeline. Nope, no haunting Adeline. I already did it. First one! First one! I'm gonna start a tally. So, spoilers ahead, turn back now. Um, Addy comes to and she's remembering what happened to her. She has her two kidnappers, and they're talking about how she's the diamond. She's the girl that's worth millions, she's Z's girl, and she's gonna be sold at auction.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

It's honestly so gross that this is like actually happening in the real world. Yes. Luckily, I'm a fucking troglodyte, and this I'll never have this problem.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Well, some people are into troglodytes, so not big money. Not no big money is not into what I'm on. I will make one wooden dollar. But you know what?

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Somebody has that wooden dollar. I would pay a wooden dollar. See?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

I told you the risk is always there. Be vigilant. Um, luckily, she is taken to a doctor so they can check her injuries because she was driven off the road. So obviously, shit got real. Um, and this was like as they were kidnapping her. This shit cuts deep because she is channeling Zayd in her mind, like how he would comfort her, what he would tell her to do. Because, like, at the end of the last book, you know, she was finally starting to like accept the relationship, yada yada yada. And she's like, What how would Zaid like pump me up? Which is so, man, that's heartbreaking. Um we get a new letter at the end of each chapter. It's Molly. We're not gonna be covering this too much. Why? Because maybe they get their own book, and maybe we want to cover that book later on. That's why. Yeah, so there, yeah, so there. So, quick summary. They sound like they're also from another girl who was held captive and she's worried about her sister in this. Um, then we flash to Zaid, him and his number two man, Jay, are on their knees with guns to the back of their head. They're taken by Mark's wife, Claire Williams. He was the senator from book one, whose dad actually killed Addy's grandmother. They were all like grossly interconnected. And she tells him, him being Zayd, we have Addy, and guess what? I'm gonna sell her to the highest, sickest bidder, and they're going to ruin her.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Yeah, so Zaid is obviously having a mental breakdown about this. And Claire is shit from a butt.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yes, yes. She is shit straight from the dick. 100%. Um shit, Claire. Clitoris Claire has been the one pulling the strings in the society. She fooled us all. She wasn't actually like the abused like wife. She was the abuser. Yeah, plot twist. Of course, she's a redhead. Like, my people have been villainized for too long. Okay? Too long. That's true. That's true. I feel like this is a thing that keeps happening to you. It really does. You know, I'm just out here, I'm trying to spread the good word, and it just time and time again, they're like, oh, who should the bad guy be? A redhead. Why? There's a lot of nice blondes out there, there's a lot of nice brunettes out there. Maybe they deserve some heat. Nice. Okay.

unknown 6:01

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

You couldn't even describe us with anything other than nice. Uh this hoe is straight up saying, if the world is going to be full of rapists and pedophiles, that she may as well profit off of it, which neat.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yeah, that's nice. You're garbage. That's such a nice way to see things. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so the duos move to a van. And again, I love how Zaid is written because he's like constantly planning, scheming, working his way out. And also his concern never strays from like Addy and her safety.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Which honestly, it just wipes away every trace of a red flag.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Yes, it does. From one. Million percent. And so while they're like in this van, both him and Jay, they kind of like remember that they have their Bluetooth headphones in and they make a phone call. Zaid's men track them and they drive the vehicle off the road. I love that this is the way that we solve problems.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Yeah, I think I'm gonna start solving all of my future problems like this. Like when the fitted sheet corner comes off of your mattress while you're sleeping. Yeah. Drive your vehicle off the road. Yeah. If you're walking and your socks start sliding down in your shoes, drive your vehicle off the road. I pushed a pull door in front of a group of people. You fucking guessed then. Drive the vehicle off the road.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yes. Yes. It just it's the solution for every problem that you have. You know what? Yes. I'm also going to do this.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Um that's probably why we have problems still is because we haven't been.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

We haven't been doing this. I know. I know. First, let me cancel the insurance on my car, and then I'm gonna take this approach. Um, so the team has rescued Zayd and Jay. They take them to the hospital. Zayd determines that it was Max who was Archie's friend. This was Archie Tenenbond III in the first book. He was the guy who uh Zaid cut his hands off. You know, that'll he should have just driven a car off the road. Come on. Should have driven his car off the road. And it turns out that he is responsible for kidnapping Addy.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Yeah, of course he is. Because$12 million was the price to kidnap her.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

That's sad. Um, then we get back Addy, she's with Dr. Garrison, he's the one who was helping her after the car accident, and he's like, I'm gonna be the one to save you. So he is uh shit from a butt.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

He just makes me feel so icky, but also Addie knowing that he would be worse than the people who kidnapped her is insane.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Well, there is, you know what, again, uh I really like how HD writes these books because she does portray that like women's intuition where she's like, okay, like I'm in a real bad situation. It could get worse. This this is worse, so I'm gonna pick door number one, please. Um she turns him down and he tries to kill her because of that, because that's how we handle rejection. And then the bad guys kill him. So yay!

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Yeah, so she tries to kill this guy with a scalp uh with like a scalpel, like the little doctor knife first, and he slams her head into the ground and then tries to choke her out. Ryo, we'll get a little more on him, but he comes in, fucking blows the doctor's head off, and she's basically like underneath him, eating his brain matter. That's not I don't know if door number one was the right choice, but it was the choice she made.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

It was the choice she made, and we're gonna live with it now, okay? Yeah. Um, they are now gonna bring Addy to meet Francesca. She is uh the madam? Is that is that kind of what she is calling? I think that's what I would call it. That's that's what we're going with. She's the mean madam. Um, and she runs a house where the girls are being kept at until they are sold at auction.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

And we do get a little bit of insight into Molly's note at the end of this chapter about the culling. And that's where the girls are literally released into the woods and hunted like animals. It's dark. And you know what? That's not even the darkest part of this.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

You guys asked for dark. We said, hey, do you want a contemporary romance? We said, hey, what about romanticy? We said, hey, what about a happily ever after? And you guys said, hit us with your deepest, darkest. And we went, okay, well, here's one. Here's but this is fun, right? Yeah. I'm having a great. I didn't do this. I'm an innocent bystander.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

You are.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

You're right. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

We we get back to Zaid's point of view. He carves a rose into his chest. Because I mean, that just feels like the right step to take when your girlfriend is kidnapped. And you're like in the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

And you know what? I really have to have a little sit-down conversation with my husband about our marriage. You do. Because what am I? Dog shit? Why no rose carved into your chest? Like, have you been kidnapped? No. That's the problem. That's the problem. This, okay, so we're missing steps. We're missing steps. We're missing crashing our cars, driving them off the road, and missing for a wooden penny or a wooden, what am I calling it? A wooden dollar. A wooden dollar. I was like, Looney, I can't give away all my Canadian secrets right away. Looney. Looney. I was like, what do other people call this form of money? A dollar. Yes. Um, once he's out of the hospital, Zayd is like, I gotta go see Max. Like, let's go. Come on. Everybody's gonna get their shit rocked. And Max is like, oh, yeah, I did it because you killed my dad. And he's like, You idiot. I didn't kill your dad. That was a society. They were just framing me. Like, did you even check? Yeah. Did you even do any research? And he obviously didn't. So he's gonna torture Max for his part in this. And honestly, if you won't do this for someone that you love, do you even love them? Do you even care? No. And like Zayd's character and how drawn I am to him makes me think that I should like look into therapy or at least another dark romance book. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

One or the other, whichever one comes first. Zayd's Torturing Max to the soundtrack of Bodies by Drowning Pool. Dasha is so funny. Also, do you think that he has a playlist for these things, or is it just like a spur of the moment thing where he was like, Okay, this one. I'm gonna scroll through my Spotify and just like see what happens, or do you think he went to like his day list and was like, let's just see what today has to offer? And that was just like I think it's a vibe.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

And I think it's like, what am I in the mood for? You know, like he started with like Gangnam style and was like, no, too peppy. And he went to like Spice Girls and was like, oh my god, no, we're not doing throwbacks, and was like, Yes, bodies, hell yeah, this is where we're going.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

It's like divorce dad rock because he's like kind of single now that Abby's been kidnapped. It's like depression playlist, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Um, but also we talked about this with Edge of Darkness and Cade, where it was like he couldn't fight people unless he had the tunes. As soon as he didn't have the tunes, he was like, What? I can't even take out this one guy. But as soon as he had like the right playlist, he was like hundred Russians in this like warehouse, no problem. Like really playlist literally changes the dynamic debate. It makes your day. I listen to a lot of disco before work, and let me tell you, I am buzzing all day. So people are wondering what's wrong with me, and I'm like, uh, you can ring my bell, like it's the disco. It's the disco. Anyway, so Max brings up Daya, which is Addy's best friend, and Zaid's like, oh, fuck, I forgot she existed. Yeah, where has she been? And he's like, Oh, wait, she's been missing since Addy's been missing, which has been seven days. Seven days, yeah. And he's like, Oh, fuck, I should probably look into that. And she's with Luke, who was Archibald Tennebond III's other friend. That was the one who she had slept with, and then was like, oh, he's like kind of shitty in bed, and just like ditched him. So Zaida's like, I gotta wrap this up. Cuts off Max's dick, shoves it down his throat, cauterizes the wound, and is like, your girl got chores to get done, and he's out. Damn.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Like, that's a series of events. We're going dark. We're going dark. What song was playing for that? Spice up your life. Spice up your life. Zaid slips on down to Daya's. She's tied up to a chair, she's duct taped. Luke is there, and Zaid's like, no, no. My lady's best friend gets treated at least 10% better than us. So he fucking gets Luke gets his knees capped for essaying Daya.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Which he deserves.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Literally nails this guy to a table. And reading the scene had me smiling like a fucking psychopath. Could you want to get it nailed? Literally nailed to a table.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

You should look into either therapy or more dark romance books. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

Whichever comes. Zaid also gives Daya the knife to kill her rapist.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Which that's a green flag. I know that this is like a very controversial topic with this series. People are either really on board with Zayd or they are really off board. Um his green flags definitely outweigh the red flags, in my opinion. Don't fucking come at me. I'm allowed to have one.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Um, I'm not uh He's doing it for the people, okay? I'm not disagreeing, but I like bad bitches, that's my problem. So like Yes. It uh I don't know. I honestly there's not a lot of like I read almost exclusively dark romance. Like I read either romanticy or dark romance. So I there's not a lot that I see in the books where I'm like, oh, that's horrible. It's a book, like it's it's imagination land. So if you're like, oh, I disagree. Well, we can't sit here and talk about weird theories about imagination land because it's not real.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

So yeah, fair enough, right? We hop over to Addy. She's finally meeting Francesca. Um, she's as horrible as horrible of a person as we thought she would be. She's like basically cut from the same cloth as Satan himself. Addy is going to get a tracking device and a slave ID tattoo. And then she will be left unconscious for a while so that she can heal before she gets acclimated to the house.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Like she's a fish or something.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Yeah. You know, she's just gonna heal from the fucking beating she took from the doctor in the car crash, and she's now she's gonna be in a hoe host.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

We don't want her to look like shit. We want Lenny. Like, oh, okay. Yes. Love her.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Addie also meets Sydney. Yes, she's a little weirdo.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Yes, not in a good way.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

No, the girls all go, they have to go meet Francesca in the pretty room, they call it, which is like full of lingerie, it's got heels and makeup. The girls are lined up. Francesca is making sure that all the girls feel like ugly, useless hoes. We also meet Rocco. I do not like him. Ah, that is the correct response to have. He gets called in and literally switchblades one of the girls' moles off of her face because Francesca's telling her like what an ugly feature that is. Like, pardon me. Yeah. It happens. So basically, everyone in this house is straight out of hell. We're only like 5% in, and don't worry, it gets much worse. Yay. Rocco rapes Addy in front of all the girls for standing up for the girl that he cut up. When he finishes on her, she's like gagging. So he punches her in the head. If this is going to be like, I don't know. I remember when the first time I read this book, I was like, oh, okay, so this is just the beginning. Yeah. It's only gonna get worse from here, and it gets worse, and then it gets more worse, and then it gets worse than the last worse, and then it's uh we're gonna kind of just like taper it from there.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

I think this book is 20 chapters of unhappiness. Like at least it's a really when like this book. Uh I I like books where I cry. I just finished a book today and I think I cried like six times, and I was like, wow, like that was a lot, which not really a lot for me, but for the average person. I'm sure they're like, you cried six times in this one book. It was very emotional, okay. But like I like crying at books where it's like really happy or like really sweet. This, this I did not cry for that. This I was like depressed crying. Yeah, like it made me feel sick. It it hurts, it actually hurts. Like, don't eat while you're freaking reading this. Um, yeah, and we find out that like fuckhead Francine or whatever the hell her name is, Francesca has been doing this for 13 years now. So that's nice, at least you know that she's got a career. Um and like Adinus has this darkness that's like creeping in, like going through this literal hell. And again, she hears Zayd's voice. And I'm just like curious, whose voice would you hear? Like the Swedish chef, probably.

unknown 20:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

So just total gibberish. Yeah. Um, yeah, or like Pepe Lepron, you know, like the the huge, the ones that like help me get through everything.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

My go-to, yeah. Those are my two main men.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Yeah, that one or like Homer Simpson, like something just totally unhinged.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

I'll just be giggling for the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Or you're just like laughing to yourself, and they're like, Yeah, that girl is trash. Something is not right with her. Um, Rios tells her, like, I know who Zaid is, and um, like he's gonna kill all these people. Like, he's gonna, or he's gonna kill me as well as everybody else for my part in your kidnap and torture. Like, it's just all around shit time. Uh, Franny basically explains to the girls like how this shit is gonna work with the buyers, that they how they want you to behave. This shit would break me. Not being able to fight back. Uh I can't.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

There's there's no way that I'm not chomping a peener or to clean off and then just killing myself. I'm not down for survival. I'm not built for survival.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

I have the will to live this much. I'm weak. I can't even handle the sun.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

You think I can handle this kind of stress? It's not even like if you're strong enough, you'll survive this. No, you're literally in this to be sold and then killed. There's like there's no kind of light.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

There's no light.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Exactly. It's Sydney also gets threatened with a crossbow. So like there's literal like medieval insane weapons being used, too. It's not just like guns and knives.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

That's the kind of shit that they terrify you. Like, that's everybody knows what a gun looks like. You know, and you're like, oh my god, I know what kind of damage that can do. A crossbow does I don't I don't know what that does.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

I don't want to know what it does. That's not fair. But she she also tells Francesca, like, the only reason I try to run away is because I want to stay. I want to be caught and brought back.

unknown 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

So when I said she was a little weird, I may have undersold a little.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

Yeah. I feel undersold on this one. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Um, so we have like we get back to Zaid's point of view. Addie's now been missing for 12 days, which again, that's that's why I really, really like this. Because a lot of times, you know, when you see something like this or like shit goes awry, it's like, oh, they caught them, but then we got them right back. No, no, no, no, no. This goes real bad. The girl's gonna be going through it. Like, I'm going through she going through it. It's not good. Yeah. Um, he's got Daya now helping him because remember, Daya used like worked for Z and his little secret society. Um they lost the van that took Addy. It made its way to Oregon, and they were like, okay, where'd it go? They go into this building that the vehicle is abandoned in front of, and they find the doctor dead and rotting.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Okay. This scene reminds me so much of a time that you and I went to Portland. We went to a very famous donut place. I won't name names, and we had to wait outside in a lineup to get in. And there was this unhoused lady uh that we saw giving that guy a blowjob in the car that was parked right outside the front doors. It was like a station wagon, and like the door was open. Everyone, everyone got like a front row show while we were in line for this donut shop. And there was security like blocking people from coming in and coming out.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

We finally got in. This girl snuck into the donut shop washroom and fucking blew it up. The girl that was taking our order literally had to stop mid-sentence to get there's shit everywhere. And like, every time I get like a picture in my mind of like just something like really gross and like icky, I think of the shit covered donuts.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

We still ate those donuts. We still ate those donuts, girl donuts. They were delicious. I would do it again.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

So good.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

And honestly, I hope they're still hanging out in that busted ass station wagon in front of the. Yeah, you know they are.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

So Jay hacks the video and they see that Addie fought for her fucking life against this doctor. Because remember, they're like tech geniuses. They just everybody that's somebody in any book we read can hack cameras. Hell yeah. That's just a thing that everybody is.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

I can't even like figure out my email.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Um, this doctor was also essaying hundreds of patients while they were unconscious. This Dr. Garrison rotting corpse now. Um, so Zayd torches the building where Dr. Piece of Shit's body is, and we just dip from there. Hell yeah. We get back to Addy. Um, Fran is making the girls practice for the culling using plastic arrows. So remember, this is where they're gonna go out, they're gonna release the girls out into the woods, and then the bitters are gonna go out there, and they literally hunt them. So to make sure that they're like not just giving up and dying, she's she has them practice running away and she shoots them with fucking fake arrows.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

It's what like not only that they do the culling, but that also they're like practicing it. So their adrenaline at all times is probably just through the roof. Like they're always on edge. Like, is this the day? Is this the day? Is this the day? Like, I hate it, I hate it.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Puts me on and it's just it's the whole dynamic between like the girls in this house, they're all going through the same shit, but Sydney is still being a fucking weirdo, and she's like jealous of the attention that Addy's getting because she's the diamond, she's the queen bitch in the house. So the punishments are a little lighter, and she only gets assaulted by certain men, and they have to use protection when they assault her, and it's just that doesn't happen to the other girls. Yeah, so uh there was a punishment for Addy after she fought Rico. Oh no, Fran makes Addy lick her shoe, and uh when she like busts open Addy's door, she like shoves the shoe in her face and it's destroyed. All of her shoes were destroyed, and Fran is blaming Addy for this. This scene is fucking atrocious. I don't know where her brain went to have to write something like this, but Francesca rapes Addie with the shoe while she is being held down by Sydney. It's this part of the book actually made me want to throw up.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

This part is what makes this like cements it into my top five darkest books. Like, you know, because we've talked about like gun storage, we've talked about a few other things that are like wild and out there. I haven't encountered this in any other books. Like, where it's not just a cruel and unusual book. I'm not talking like we, you know, there's definitely there's books out there and like don't come for me like hey, this is the darkest book. I I know that there's dark or whatever, but we're still talking about dark romance where we kind of still get that happily ever after at the ending. This, I hate it. I hate it so much. It's so aggressive, it just it hurts you on so many levels.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Yeah, and like we have really shortened this. Yes, it is so explicit and horrifying.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Ugh. Don't rob yourself the joy of reading this book. Yeah, I mean, it's great. Go check it out. Good time to pitch the book right there. Yeah, you'll really enjoy it. It's a great time.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

Yeah. We hop back over to Zaid's perspective. He's still obviously trying to find Addy, he's not gonna stop at anything. He tracks down Mama T. Hell yeah. Who she calls her boys over to help Zaid, and they were on some of the video footage and might have some answers. Hell yeah. Um back over on Addy's side of things, the buyers have shown up, and I want to kill all of them. Appropriate. We have Xavier. He is this important rich douchebag that Francesca was talking about, and of course, he's the one that's going to choose Addy. Um they have body cams that they put on the girls during the calling so that they can live stream the event to other viewers.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

That that shit is so twisted. Like that's just it just adds, man, HD. She just writes it.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

Like, I feel like she's been on the dark web a lot.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Right?

unknown 29:23

She had to have.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Like, yeah, she has done some research because the the little tiny little treats that she sprinkles in here. You're like, ooh, it just it hits you from so many different angles, which again, this is what books are supposed to do for you. They're supposed to make you feel things. And you know, it's not always supposed to be good things. And we kind of like we talked about it a little bit uh when we were talking about psychotic obsession. It is really good to have these kind of books because if you're not a lot of people in their life, if you just work a regular nine to five job, you don't realize that a lot of this stuff exists, you don't realize that a lot of stuff is going on. Obviously, now we're seeing like a lot more stuff in the news and yada yada yada. But it it's kind of good to put it in your mind, not in a positive way, but in a like, hey, the world is really fucked up. Hey, we should like be careful. Hey, maybe we can do something to like support a lot of these causes. And that's a really nice thing about HD Carlton is if you go on her website, you can see a lot of the causes that she like sponsors, and a lot of them help with like victims of these type of crimes, and like so. She really like she puts her money where her mouth is. Is that yes, she does? That's what it is. There we go. I said it right. Yeah, I said it right the first time. It was the heart of you. Ooh, hunting Adeline. I did it.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

And on that note, we're also going to start the calling. Yeah, literally. I'm so excited. One of the girls in the house, her name is Phoebe. She basically latches onto Addy. And even though they can literally die, Addy is like, nah, girl, I got you. I'm gonna help. I'm gonna help us. Yeah. So Addie basically in the practice knew that she would have to hide her tracks. Um, so I think she had like tied some like tree branches or some shit like to her waist so that when she was running through the trees, it's like cover her tracks.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Covering her tracks. Which, man, thank you. Yeah, now I know to do that if this kind of shit ever happens to me.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Just tie some trees to you. Which of course, Phoebe's pursuer and Xavier find them. So they're literally running for their fucking lives. And Phoebe gets caught, but holds this like tripwire because she's not dumb. Remember, they had practice. Um, she's holding this tripwire until her buyer is at her, and then he's the one that gets like strung up. Hell yeah. Street booby traps. I have I wish I could like booby trap someone so badly. Like, I wish there was a way that I could like stage someone to like break into my house, but I just like lay barbels out. Like, I want to like full.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Oh, you want to home alone someone. Well, I feel like as an adult, somebody might call the 5-0 on you, but you know what? That's it. Try it out. Let me know how it works. Oh, booby trap them too.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Whoa. Everyone's getting boobies, okay? Everyone's getting books. A booby for you and a booby for you. Right? Phoebe scoops up this crossbow. She's killing dirt bags. Um, I mean, you're gonna die, but like at least you can take out some of these idiots with you. Heck yeah. In this entire situation, Addie finds an abandoned train car, which like weird, but okay. Um I don't know what's happening there. She knows though, like, there's a tracker in my body because they implant one into the girls. So she knows, like, obviously, I have to wait until a time that I can like safely dig this out of my person before I can try to escape. Xavier finds her after the end of the culling alarm goes off, and he's like walking her back to the house. And as a reward for surviving the culling, they can pick whatever they want for dinner. Even McDonald's.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Man, I reward myself McDonald's for like getting out of bed. I tell you this, it ain't a good enough reward for the culling. Like, I want a surf and turf.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Like, I want Congratulations. You survived literal death. Uh, here's a fucking cheese. I want unlimited nuggets.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Like, oh my god. I want more. I need more.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

Okay. Also, like, they've probably been fed like absolute scraps because they have to maintain like this. And like I would shit my pants in four seconds. It wouldn't even be down, like, I wouldn't have even swallowed yet, and I would be like shitting.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Like, come on. That's like I don't want the McDonald's. Can I get the salad? Like it my body could not handle it because you know you'd be like, I want a large soda, and I want the large fries, and you would be so sad about plus, you're sharing this house with these people. It's not like you have multiple bathrooms, it just seems like a bad idea. It's just why would she even recommend that?

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Like Francesca. Can't we get Subway?

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Yeah, it's uh it's a choice. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Wouldn't be my choice. Yeah, but it's a choice. Zaid is meeting with the Basilisk Brotherhood. I don't know why, but like that's such a sick name. Oh, they're so badass. They're so badass. So Mama T's boys are there to meet Z. Uh, they're in the organ selling biz, um, but they're good organ sellers. So like terminally ill people, and then the income from their organ sales go to the family and stuff, which like she has 100% spent a lot of time on the dark web.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

There's no way she hasn't. She has 100%. Someone should be checking her search history. 100%. I want a Basiless Brotherhood book so bad. It was so dark, but so badass. And like we're very grazing over them, but there's like a few chapters with them in it, and you can it's good. It's really good. Yeah. It's good. I have nothing to back this up. So again, this might be a fever dream. Maybe this is reality. Maybe that, like, I really don't know where I'm getting this information from. It might have been in her Insta group, but I think that there is a basilist book in the works. But I can't tell if I actually read that or if I just want it so bad that I'm trying to manifest it.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

You're just manifesting it and willing it into existence.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

But because I want it so bad, I'm gonna keep pushing it. And then if other people push it, maybe it'll happen, or maybe someone could just write me fanfic or like, you know, like I just have you searched the dark web for it, I bet you're probably where it is right next to the organs. Smart.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

You know what?

SPEAKER_01 36:14

After this, that's what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Okay, perfect.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

So we're post-calling now. Um, Rio. I don't know if we've really touched on him, so he's also like one of the guys in the house, but he's kind of taken um like a protective stance with Addy, not in a way that's gonna get them in shit, but like there's he has a soft spot for her because she stands up for the girls.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

He was also one of the guys who helped kidnap her initially. Yeah. Like he was in the van when he initially got her.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

He's a he's a professional driver off the road. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. That's why he has no problems. Um, but he he's there and he's helping to change the her bandages.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 36:59

Um, we also find out in this scene that Rio's sister is also being sold.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

And this is kind of what Franny has on him, is that because I think we also kind of find out that like bad shit is also happening to Rio. Like, I think he has to like kind of service Franny and do what she says.

SPEAKER_03 37:24

It's gross. It just is a nice house to live in.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

No, no, you don't want to live there. It's not a party house, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

No. Um, so again, post-calling, two of the girls, Phoebe and Bethany, they get dragged in. They are basically dead, and they're fucking mutilated. And now the rest of the girls who survived the calling have to kill them and then dig their graves. That's that's because they didn't go through enough. That's fun. Survive being hunted, and then they had to eat McDonald's and shit their pants.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

And now they have to kill someone and go bury them. And dig their graves.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Also, while their guts are just rolling from those freaking McDonald's. Like, can I do this tomorrow? Jesus. Yeah, it's it's a scene.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

That's for sure. It's a scene. It's not good. No, it's not fun. Um, so two months later, Addy is getting ready to see Xavier. He's been cutting her. So he has like a bad guy. Yeah, he's got a a knife kink where he like enjoys cutting, like carving into her while he essays her. Um, and this has been happening for those two months. So when he comes, he slices and dices and essays her. Um, and he tells her he's going to drink her blood when she gets home with him.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

So she has that to look forward to. That's nice.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

Yeah. I mean, what what does it get worse than that? Yes. Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Yes, it does. You asked for dark, okay? Again, we didn't do this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

So Zayd was at an auction about a week prior to this. Okay. And he bought every single girl. He has them transported, they're all in harms, um, to a limo that he had parked out back. Again, Zaid is a good guy.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

He's super dark. Like he's such a well-rounded character. He's super dark. He does some crazy shit, gets a little bit wild, but he still knows right from wrong, and he's trying to keep the world a good place. He's trying, he's trying to make things better, okay? Like he knows he's not okay upstairs. Yeah. But he's still trying to leave it better than he found it. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Yeah. That's all we can ask about, right? That's it. Um, so him and his team, they move in. He goes to each buyer's room and ties up all of the rapists that are there. And then he has Jay make all of the windows. So it's like, what I picture in this is it's like a giant circle. There's like the stage in the middle, and then there's like the rooms are all connected, and they all have like a window that looks at the stage. That's like the visual I get in my brain.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

That's that's what I see too. But I've only seen this on episodes of Family Guy, so I don't know if this is like a real thing. But I feel like it is. So you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

So he has Jay make all of the windows transparent so that they can all watch each other, and then he just starts killing. So they broadcast the deaths on the dark web again. He's good-ish. Okay. And we're doing dark web stuff, okay? He means well. Um of the girls that Zaid bought from this auction, her name is Jillian. She tells Zaid, oh, Addy? Yeah, I know that bitch. I saw her. She's in this house. And yeah, she's she's still alive.

SPEAKER_04 40:56

I've seen it.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Also, in that moment, could you imagine? Could you imagine that feeling? Like, it's been months. Months. Months. Months.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

And he knows, like, they because they have really like the sale of Addy to Xavier or Xavier, however you pronounce that name, it was like not an auction. All the other girls are auctioned in these, like, you know, this circle room, yada yada, yada, very taken-esque. Um, but this, like, her sale was all private because they knew that Zayd was taking people out. They obviously knew he's like showing it on the dark web. They're on the dark web as well, you know, like so. People know that he is out looking for her and he is slowly closing in because, you know, he's turning over every rock. He's obviously gonna be closing in. But also for him, he's like, is she already gone? Is she already like it's it's just so on.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

This is like his livelihood, also. Like, his whole life has been to like overthrow these weird underground rings, and it's taking him so long to find someone that he loves, right? When like this is what he's doing for a living already, and now he finally knows that she's still alive. Reading this chapter for the first time had me shrieking.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Like, it is like how?

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Oh yeah, just like that. Just oh my god, so excited. Like, yeah, yeah, I'm sure that's how everyone felt like just now when we said Addy is alive, like I know everyone felt the exact same way. Like, yeah, that was everybody's the inner monologue.

SPEAKER_03 42:43

So back to Addy. Claire. Ryu tells her, Claire is the one who put a target on your head. Um, and Addie is like, oh my god, I fucking remember that bitch. That's Mark's wife. Yeah, that blonde chick. Yeah, great. Thanks, Claire. Like, what the fuck did I do to you? Nothing. I thought we were friends. I yeah, I thought we were friends. Obviously. Um so Xavier finally buys Addy and he will be collecting her in three days. There's no auction for her, like you said. Um, but while those three days are passing by, Sydney attacks Addy again because she's this big jealous weirdo. Um, and she's upset that Fran is nicer to Addy.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Yeah, because she's worth like over 12 million dollars, girl. Yeah. You're worth one wooden loony.

SPEAKER_03 43:35

One wooden loony. Dollar for dollar.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

Sorry, we're a nice dollar.

SPEAKER_03 43:40

In this altercation, Ad Addie, I think she finds like a pen. Yeah. Pen or a pencil, and she fucking stabbed Sydney to death with it. I feel That is some jailhouse shit. Oh man, my guy.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

The pen stabbing makes me feel the same way as not just the pen stabbing.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Yeah, pen stabbing to death. Do you know at times you'd have to stab somebody with a pen to kill them?

SPEAKER_02 44:05

And also, like, if it's like a, you know, one of those ghetto old pens where it kind of like breaks, like, ugh, I don't like it. You know, the springs pop. The crystal bits. Yeah, I don't like that.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

Where they like the as soon as the plastic breaks, it's like sharks. Shards. Like, yeah. I mm-mm. Mm-mm. Yeah. Don't like it. Um, so Rio comes in and he tells Addy, like, I'm gonna take you out to the guards so you can escape. He cuts out her tracking device.

SPEAKER_04 44:31

Horrible.

SPEAKER_03 44:32

And then makes a deal with Addy that if he helps her escape, Zayd has to help save his sister. And she's like, yeah, bro, I got you. Yeah. So she's trying to sneak out, and she's got like she gathered like a little bag of supplies. She doesn't know how long she's gonna be out there, and she's like, This chapter is it's every person ever who's like trying to be quiet while there's people asleep. She's got like her bag of fucking canned beans, and like the bag rips open, and her water bottles are like fit in the ground, and there's like a bunch of sleeping drunk guards, and she's like, I just picture her like tiptoeing, but in the most like exaggerated cartoon way.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Yes, and just like the shittiest, like wet brown paper bag where it's just busted out the corner. Yes. Why did you grab that bag?

SPEAKER_03 45:18

There was like statues right there. Yeah, why do you need 17 bottles of water? Drink out of a ripper girl. Girl, you're literally gonna die anyway.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Get out.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Who cares about water? Obviously, one of the guys wakes up and she has to fight him off and she slits his throat, which like it's such an aggressive messy.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

We get straight aggression for like 10 chapters.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

We do, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

It's just hard as fuck.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

It's it is, but also like good for you, girl. Yeah, good for you to think to like grab yourself a weapon with your candle.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

The beans could have been a weapon. Something can be two things.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

I think the knife was the right choice in this case, but yeah, also the beans. So Zaid's got Mama T's boys doing some computer things to help them find where the saved girls came from, and they find the abandoned train. So they're like Google earthing I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

And they're like, This I can do, okay? This part is me. Where I'd be like, what is that blue line? Take that road. They'd be like, that's a river. I was like, okay, no, let me try again.

SPEAKER_01 46:31

This part I could do.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Oh my god. So they're like Google earthing, they're following the blue lines, and they find this abandoned train. And when they see the owner for the land title, it's Rocco. Um, so they call Jillian and she confirms yeah, this is the property. This is where your girl is. That's the house. Um, so Zayd and Daya, they waste no fucking time. They're like, let's go, hop in.

unknown 47:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

This next part.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

They fly the drone over the property, and I just picture like me trying to fly a drone and it just like crashes into the house.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Crash landing every 30 seconds. And they're like, what the hell is that?

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Breaks through a window. Like, do you guys see that?

SPEAKER_03 47:22

That would be me. Like that would be God. Also, you would be like losing your shit audibly, but fuck, I can't fucking fly this thing. And we're laughing up and it's just going to be a little bit more. Like you're laughing now? Yeah.

unknown 47:36

100%.

SPEAKER_03 47:37

Who the fuck is laughing?

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Don't bring me on a rescue mission. Let me just throw that out right now. If you got one call, pick a different person.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

It's not gonna be me.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_03 47:48

So Jay threw this drone up. It's over the property. The property looks like it's in shambles. There's like 30 plus men, and they are having a little search party. So Addie has been running for her life. She is close to this train car. Um, but she can hear someone calling her. So she's like, Holy fuck, the time is nigh. I must get in this train. So she literally like runs up. I think there's a little ladder on the side, she jumps into the train car, lands down at the bottom, and then passes the fuck out. When she comes to, there's people arguing outside of this trailer. Um, and she's like, Holy fuck, they found me, like, this is it, I'm toast. Um, so she like tucks herself into a dark corner of it, and she can hear them. Someone jumps up onto the top of the trailer and then the hatch opens.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

One blue eye so light it's nearly white, with a wicked scar slashing straight down through it. And one brown eye so dark it appears obsidian. I can still see his features clearly, even with the black hood drawn over his head. And right now, utter relief is staring right back at me. Zaid?

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Fuck, baby. Stay right there, don't you fucking move.

SPEAKER_02 49:06

Daddy! Oh my god. This is a the scream that I scrumped. This is a scrump scream, huh? If I could remember that sound that I made 10 minutes ago, I would make it again. Like something like that.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

Ooh. Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 49:24

Again, another time. Read this book. Like, honestly, listen to the audiobook when you hear him popping his head in and he's like, don't fucking move. Bro, I'll never move again. Anything you say, Teddy. Like, yes. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hide in this train. Like exactly. It oh, it's so good. And like it's so good. She saved herself. I love that. Like he did all of this. He like tracked her down. Daya's there. We have like this whole team of badass people. We got the drone, but she saved herself. She did this. She got away to the city. She got away.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

She killed the guards. Yes. She killed Sydney, that fucking little weirdo.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

She took that can of beans. Yes. She took the can of beans. She took the can of beans. She was ready to survive.

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Like, yeah. I it's so good. It's just so good. Chef's kiss. Um, so not only is Daddy though, but Mama's in the house. Daya's waiting outside of the trailer for Addy as well. Oh, it's good. So this little wholesome reuniting moment, she's got her best friend, she's got her boyfriend, feels like the wrong term. We're gonna use it. Um and she's been tortured for months.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

She's a friend.

SPEAKER_03 50:45

She's not well.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

No.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

So they they leave. Find out all of the big bitches here flood the property. So Francesca's gone, Rocco's gone. Addie has been back home for one month since her rescue. Zayd's brought her to doctors, to the therapists, he's hired security for the house. Um, but obviously she is like next level fucked up. Which, yeah, girl, you should be. Um, so Zayd has already saved Rio's sister in this time frame as well. What a fucking man.

SPEAKER_04 51:19

He's I love him.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

And I also love him. But you also have to remember while this is happening, okay. Number one, Addie is a famous author, right? So she's going through all of this. And so we forget about it. Right? Like that she's like a little BC rate celebrity. So, like, he had to hire security because there's always like paparazzi outside the house. He's trying not to kill them, essentially, and like protect her, but she's going through this on like a very national level, right? Like, people are watching because she was gone for two months, nobody knew where she was, and they kind of like found out who had kidnapped her, and it was this whole, it was just a whole thing. Um but also Zayd and her prior to this whole situation happening, like we call him boyfriend, it's like it feels like it's so much more. But they literally have like they don't know anything about each other. We Oh, he knows everything about each other. Okay, yes, I'm sorry, my bad, my bad. She knows nothing about it. She knows nothing because he was stalking her for the entire first book. They only like held hands like one time. Like one time, one time. He was like, Let me just store my gun real quick. Right? Like they only got to second base, like he kissed her on the cheek. Like, no, like they they weren't living together prior to this happening. Like, now obviously the girl got some trauma, so he's like, I'm moving in. This is what's happening. Um, but prior to that, like they they really didn't have that super, super deep connection. Like they did on a lot of levels, but they also haven't had the like, hey, what's your favorite color? What's your birthday? What's your last name? It is like sent from the gods. You know what? Yeah, it is actually. You're right. That is. It's it's sent from the god.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

That is our last name. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 53:21

Yes, like I wasn't sure, but yeah, let me just change it on everything. But now I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life. I'm so happy. It's it's a good one. I know. Charlie Meadows, it works.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

It's just ringed. Yes, yes, it does. Yeah. So he also like he obviously he's trying to help her get back to where she was pre-kidnapping. He takes her to the clinic to get tested for everything because she's worried about it. Stuff happened. Uh, yeah, one or two stuff. Yeah. Um, and then he takes her for ice cream, which like she's just going through every fucking emotion you could imagine.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

And then they go and eat ice cream and also it's nice that we just got to enjoy ice cream for once. So appreciate that. Without it getting gross and weird, without it getting Bryn Weavered on us, but you know, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

It's okay. Um, it's a good thing that they went and got ice cream though, because uh yeah, girl got the clap. So she's a little upsetti spaghetti, but Zayd is like brushing her hair and like braiding it today for her. So like it's all good. Yeah. We got ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

He's brushing my hair. It's fine. You know what? A good hair brushing would really that'll solve a lot of problems that I have. Yeah. Driving off the road and a good hair brushing. Driving off the road.

SPEAKER_03 54:48

Maybe like not in that order, but at the same time, you know? There would be nothing better. No, that would fix every problem that I have. So Addy has been in a very dark place for the entire time she's been back, and Zaid's like, no, we're going a field trip. Like, you need to get the fuck out of the house. You are miserable, you don't leave, you don't shower, you're not taking care of yourself. Like, we gotta make some changes. So he takes her to his little commune that he held he had built for the survivors that he's saved over the years, and that's where Addy meets Rio's sister, Katerina. Yes, which is so cute. So also, like this fucking guy, you can tell me all you want that he's been like non-conning her all through book one. He has a fucking commune built for survivors. You can all shut your mouth. Yeah, he's a good man. Yeah, so Addy also remember she was she was tattooed, um, and she had a barcode, so she goes and gets a rose tattoo to cover her little slave barcode tattoo. And I just think that that's like such a cute way to take back some of her autonomy in this book. Um because like again, she's she's going through it and she has all of these remember fucking Xavier but slice and and dice in she's got all these scars, she's got all of these like these brands, these like you know, wounds from being mutilated in this house for so long.

SPEAKER_02 56:20

This is also where like HG really kills it because a lot of times when we have something, you know, whether if it goes on for a long time or whatever, the person comes back and they're like, You good? And they're like, never been better, and then the book continues. And sure, maybe some great year like that. Yeah, like not bad, it's you know, but in this book, it's like I'm not okay. Like, you know, I as the reader was not okay. I was not okay, so I needed her to go through this. Like, I we needed to go on a journey together. Well, and it just it was really nice to see that, like it was very real, you know. Like her pain was very, very real, and it was fully realized. Like it wasn't just I don't know, like, girl, get over it. No, no, she's not gonna get over it.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

I fucking hate it.

SPEAKER_02 57:13

And there's many, many steps that she has to take, and there's many things that he does to help her with this.

SPEAKER_03 57:20

Yes, you know, including he starts training her again. Hell yeah. Right. Physical, whoa, come on a fucking cue the montage, baby. Um because he wants her to come along on their little quest to kill pedophiles, and I absolutely love that because what a cute date night. Um Addy and Daya, they have a little girl's night. They're having a girl's night in, having a little wine, chatting about their trauma, and fucking Zayd busts in with Sibby.

SPEAKER_02 57:50

Matt, I forgot that she was in this book. I don't know how. I forgot. Because how you forgot. Because you're going through the trauma. I'm like, we're healing, we're doing better. What are we gonna do with the next half of the book? Sibby is what we're gonna do with the next half of the book. That's what we're next. She is. And I know I say this all the time, but I really mean it this time. She is my favorite character of all time.

SPEAKER_03 58:11

Of all time, yeah. And I for this time of all time.

SPEAKER_02 58:14

I'm sure she is. Yeah. This time I mean it. I really, and I know I say that every time, but this time I actually mean it for real. And this time I believe you. Yay! Until next time. Until next time. She is the crazy clown from book one. She was the one who was like living crazy clown. Don't do my girls sippy like that. Girl, that is who she is. Be so for real. She is the crazy clown from book one. She was hiding in the walls. She sees henchmen that aren't there, crazy, dressing up like a clown, crazy clown. And she was the one who helped her kill Mark and all of his like pedo friends. And then because she wouldn't get in the car with her henchmen, she got captured, and Zaid was like, Well, that sucked. I didn't want her to have to take the wrap, but like, thanks. Pretty good solution right there.

SPEAKER_03 59:10

So he went with it. So he drags her into the house because she escaped from the psych ward and killed her therapist, and now she's like basically their new recruit for this little adventure they're gonna do. Oh, yeah. And Zayd and I are hacking into Claire's lawyer's phone and they're planting a virus so that they can track basically through him. They can track him through him so that they can track Claire. Okay, but they're going to be together at some point.

SPEAKER_02 59:41

You know, whenever like it's like your phone is blah, blah, blah. If you open up this website, it's a virus. And I'm always like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up. Just leave me to it. What if it's doing shit like this that I'm not picking up? It probably is.

SPEAKER_03 59:54

Yeah, it probably is.

SPEAKER_02 59:56

But also, I'm not committing these kind of, you know, so maybe I don't have to worry about it, but maybe I should, I don't know. Yeah. Maybe I should just like start typing like Miss Meadows here. Like, see you. We should be worrying.

unknown 1:00:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

I'm gonna I'm gonna level up. If you're not on the dark web, I don't think you have it a lot to worry about. Okay, but like maybe a lot I know the questionable things that you're Googling. It's just stuff for books. Sometimes when I look it up. Does your but does your FBI agent know that? Probably not. Well, now he does.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:29

Now he does, bro. It's for books. Have you ever read anything by Chantel Tessier? You need to look up what these things are that she's talking about, okay? Yeah. It I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:40

Addie and Sibby kind of form this like cute little relationship. They're like helping her blend in a little bit more because she's on the fucking run. Like she's on the news and shit. So they're teaching her how to do like her makeup and they let her order clothes, but she's never actually worn clothing that's not costumes from Satan's Affair, which is wild. Um, so they like bundle her up and take her on a mission to Jimmy the lawyer's office uh to go and plant the drive with the virus, which is where we cue the cop jack. So what happens? Sybi bumped into a guy leaving the hard drive heist, and he's like, You look so familiar. Like, aren't you? Fucking crazy girl that killed her therapist also broke out of the cycle.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

The thing with Sybi is that the people that she kills, because they had like tied, I don't know, something like 50 different murders to her. Yeah, she can smell evil is her thing. So when she bumps into someone who thinks is evil, she's like, ooh, like this person smells like death or like whatever else. Or if they're like a good person, they smell like flowers or sugar, whatever, cotton candy. And she like bumps into this guy and says something crazy like that to him, like, oh, you smell like flowers. But she's also having conversations with people that are not there. I fucking love her. I love her. She's just amazing. Yeah, I love her.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:06

She's such a well-written character. So they hop in the car, they get this like car chase scene. Of course, I fucking love a car chase. If it's written well, and she writes them well. So the entire time that Addy's been home, she's like obviously can't be touched. She doesn't want to have sex, she doesn't want to be touched. There's like no intimacy. Zaid's not happy with it, but he's giving her the space to like work through that. Because he's a good one. But this car chase is like doing it for her. And Sybi, fucking Sibi, she wants to join their like impending fuck fest with her henchmen. And it is like driving Addy insane, just like how hyper sexual Sibi is with her like invisible henchmen. So they make it back to Parsons Manor without getting caught. Excellent. I love that. Good for them. Um and then we like Zayd and Addy finally have like a moment, and it's like the first time that they kiss, which is like, first of all, she can't have like anyone touch her without it like sending her back to the house. Yes. So it's like she's healing, and I just really love her for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:24

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Yeah. So Jay and Zayd, they track down Rick, who is one of the guys that helped kidnap Addie. Um, and again, they have to fucking shoot at his knees. Like, that's such a gross. I I don't know, something with knees. No, I don't like it. They also like hit him with the best one-liner I've ever read in a book in my life. Like, this shit hurt deeper than the fucking bullet holes. They call him old rickety dick rick. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:04

I don't know why, but like when we were so doing stupid.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:09

When we talked about redoing this one, and I like I listened to the audiobook for this round. Holy shit, man. Like, I know it's like a serious scene where they're like killing someone, but I'm like, if somebody was killing me and they called me old Rickety Dick Rick, I'd be like, yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

It's just so funny. It's and you know, that's I really enjoy like kind of that like low-key humor. Like you don't expect it, and then it's just those little one-liners, like, because a lot of times when you read like a contemporary romance, you got like a lot of jokes in it. It's a lot of slapstick comedy. But when you read a dark comedy, or a dark comedy, a dark romance, they really don't have like it's just dark. There's no comedy. And then she just slaps those kind of and like even the Sibi character is just this like crazy clown to add in. She's a whimsical bitch. I love her so much.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:05

Yeah. Um, and then Zaid decapitates him. So yeah, so we jump a bit at a bit ahead here. So we're about a month later, they've successfully hacked into Claire's computers. She is actually a fucking huge player in the game. So charities, government, everything, like they're all involved in this underground ring of horrible people. But they also found Francesca through correspondence with Claire. And uh, they're gonna hop on a jet and go get killing. Hell yeah. So away we go. They get to the hotel where Francesca and Rocco are, and I fucking love this because Addy is like, here's the plan. I'm gonna fake me room service, and when they open the door, Addie drugs Franny and then has to like tackle Rocco to the ground. But like Sybi and Zaid, they've been training her. To be a badass, so like she can handle it. Yeah. Um, they bring them back to Parsons Manor and fucking check them in the basement. Hell yeah. So we got these two dirt bags back in the manor. Also, do you think that it's like one of those creepy dirt floor beasts?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:17

It has to be because it's like this is where the grand old mansion is. This is where they're punching holes in the wall. Find it. That would be like diaries. You know how scary be? It's dark. I'd be like, just kill me now. Also, it's haunted beasts. Right? And you don't know that it's haunted. And you have like Sibby singing all these crazy like nursery rhymes, dancing around, wearing crazy clown clothes and clown makeup, having orgies with invisible people. Like, it this that's torture.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:51

That's torture. For sure it is. It's uh yeah, so it's scary. No, thank you to the basement. Um Zaid's strapping Addy's knife basically into I think she had like a thigh holster or something, and she starts like freaking the fuck out because of what Zay did to her. Because remember, he was slicing and dicing. So he's like, I'm gonna help you take your power back, and he grabs the blade, the blade. He's not grabbing the handle, he grabs the blade, and he tells her to fuck herself with a handle.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:21

Because again, HD takes stuff. We had this debate last time. Who did the gun first? I think it was HD. I think she is she's trailblazer, man. Right? I'm sure there's somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:35

She's doing stuff, but she is a trailblazer. She's a trailblazer.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:40

Steven K so Lights Out has the knife scene. There's a lot of books that have a knife scene the a knife scene. Not a lot where he grabs the handle and he's bleeding all over the place.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:51

But he's doing it because he wants her to like take her power.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:56

But also, like, sir, you have a knife holster. Put it in the holster, my guy. Like, it's just gross. But it's not the same because she was like sliced up.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:06

So he's like, this is what it feels like to slice someone else. Anyways, this chapter is like gross, but it's also like so hot until he ruins it by like slipping a rose out of his back pocket and like putting it behind Addy's ear like a fucking creepy magician. Why do you have a rose in your back pocket?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:23

I won't lie. The rose wild. I hate it. I would laugh at the guy's face. Probably not say because he's hot, but I would definitely talk mad shit with my friends.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:34

Oh, I don't. I would probably be like, what the fuck? What do you want me to do with this? I'd be like, you're covered in blood. Go clean yourself up.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:42

That's so nice. But literally, the second that he walked out of the room, okay, so I'm just gonna wash my hands real quick. I'd be snapping pics of that, sending it to the girls, being like, Look at this fucking shit that he's doing. Do you see what this guy just did? He was carrying it in his pocket. How did he know that we were gonna get down? Like, where'd he get these roses from? Was he also waiting with like I've had like a flower in my hand, and within like five minutes, somehow it's wrecked. Like, how many?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:11

So is it like a shitty wilted, right? Like there's like one petal left in the stem, and he's like, I picked this for you.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:18

Like, come on. Again, whenever you're reading books, you know, read and be like, oh, it's so nice, but then let your mind have a few minutes to like think of the funny, embarrassing part of it. That's all I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:34

Every time I read something, I'm like, oh my god, that is like when the spice be spicy and I'm like, if that was me, I would not be handling this the same way at all. Why are you bleeding on me? How gross that is? Why did you just put a dead rose behind my ear? Remember that I had the clap last week?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:51

I'm not really down for like a lot of other stuff right now. Like, I'm still taking the medicine. Like, sir, let's just settle down. Also, like other people. Like, good for them. Yeah. Good for them. They're living. And they're gonna go, they like know where Xavier is. So they're going to get him.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:10

Good. It's uh a club that they're tracking into clubs. A sex club. Uh so she's watching, Addie's watching a show, and Xavier comes up behind her, not realizing it's her because she has a wig on. She's perfectly disguised. We can do that much. We've worn wigs and nobody's ever recognized us in public. I don't know if people have recognized us not wearing wigs.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

I don't know if that's a good comparison. But maybe. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:43

Yeah, that's a good point, actually. Also, if you saw us in wigs doing the weird things that we were doing, say you do recognize us.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:52

Do you want to be a part of this? Or do you want to be like, oh, they're wearing a wig? I have no idea who that is.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:57

Yeah, I think it's that one.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:59

I think it's that. So But he does want to be a part of what she's doing.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:04

So he really does. Uh so he brings her to a private room thinking that he's, you know, bagged himself a little sweet treat. Slice of that pie. During and then notices her and is like, oh my god, it's you. So he locks her in the room with him.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:25

Not good. Not good. And there was like rules, like the rooms were not supposed to be able to lock. It was supposed to be safe. This promises were made.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:35

Okay. Not a dangerous one. Um, so obviously Zayd gets there in time.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:41

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:42

Saves the motherfucking day and almost kills Zader, but Addy's like, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:47

Wait.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:48

Don't do it yet. So Addy pulls a gun on Zayd, and she is freaking the fuck out because all she can think of are the men that hurt her. But he is the type of man that will like talk you through it, and that's exactly what he fucking does. We get this scene.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:08

It's just so good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:11

It's so good. All of it's good. This is when we finally meet um Zayd Crawl to me Meadows.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:16

Oh, I love him. I love that. You know if you don't know, you should read the book.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:23

You should read the book. You should read the book.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:25

That's really good.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:26

So Addie finally feels safe enough again with him to like kind of get it out.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

This book is about healing. It's about reclaiming your power and coming out better on the other side. Like it really is.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:42

It's so it's just so well done.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:44

Yeah. Honestly, it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:46

So this is when Addy sees that Zaid has also branded himself by carving a rose into his chest. And he tells her, I did that because I just wanted to always remind myself that uh I failed you. As you should. Bro. As you should. Honestly, like that would do it for me. Yeah. That you self-mutilated because you'd let me down? Yeah. Better save some skin because you're a man and there will be a lot of that happening.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:14

I used you to pick up milk and you forgot. Rose. Curve it into your chest.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:20

Oh wash.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:20

I wanted you to get the mail, but you didn't want to. Rose.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:25

My gas is on empty. You're not gonna go fill it up? Rose. Like it's you left your dirty laundry on the floor next to the hamper.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:34

Rose.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:34

Rose. This will solve a lot of problems. You know, we got a lot of solutions.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:38

The book is about healing. There is a lot of healing, there's a lot of solutions. It's just it's take from this what you need. Rose. Rose. So Sibby has been taunting Francesca and Rocco and Xavier now because they didn't tell him. He's in the scary basement. The scary basement for weeks, to the point that she has scared little Franny until she has literally pissed herself.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:06

Which man, it wouldn't take that much for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:09

In the basement, piss myself.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:11

First day of her singing crazy songs. I'd be like, what is that? What is that person? Pissed myself. Like, I'm out. Like, take me out now. Don't let her touch my skin.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:24

Yeah, she's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:25

Which is crazy. We find out that Francesca was making money letting random dudes um have sex with the girls, and then Sydney found out. So Rocco also lets it slip that Sydney was actually psycho because Sydney was in a cult. And then the fucking light bulb went off, and we find out it was Sidby's cult. Remember, she was born and raised in a cult. Sydney was Sybi's fucking sister.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:55

Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:57

Mike Drop. That's why they're all crazy. That's why they're all crazy. But one crazy is like a crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:06

One crazy, not so fun crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:08

Is get yourself stabbed to death with a pin.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:11

Yeah. It just depends on how you're gonna what side of yourself you're willing to show.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:15

Yeah. You know? Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:19

Yeah. I love it. I love it for both of them. I love it, honestly. I want so I'm sure that we will cover Satan's Affair, which is Sibby's. I had a book. 100% we will. And it's kind of like a prequel. I haven't read it in a while, but it's like a prequel. And I think that it all happens before haunting and hunting Adeline. Am I wrong? Yeah, so no, I think you're right. And I once, you know, we'll talk about a little bit more as we go on, but I really want to know more. I want more. I need more, Siby. I want more. I I don't accept how much I have. I require more.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:55

That's fair. I also have sentiment, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:59

More. Rose.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:01

Give me more Rose. Um, so this is such fucking good street justice. Addie creates the culling for Fran and Rocco and Xavier. Which they deserve. God damn. They and remember, Parsons Manor is on like this giant plot of land. It's like in a completely forested area. There's a fucking forest with like a cliff into the ocean. It's a perfect place to kill some people. Nobody's gonna know. So they release them. Addie fucking shoots Xavier with a crossbow. Where did she get the crossbow?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:40

Yeah. Where did she get the crossbow? Did she grab it with the can of beans?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:45

You know what? She yeah, she probably disarmed the guy with the crossbow with her can of beans, and we just yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:53

That's how she opened the can. She needed the crossbow. Makes sense. Shoot it right into the can. Smart. Addie she she's got plans.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:03

I I'm a firm believer that this is how all pedophiles should be dealt with going forward.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:11

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:11

Uh huh. Crossbow. Crossbow. Yeah. Culling crossbow. They all kind of picked a person. Sibby's hunting Francesca down. Zayd's hunting Rocco down. Addy's got um Xavier. Yeah. They obviously catch them all. They've been fucking starving them and torturing them in a basement. Like they're not getting very far.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:31

And I really love that each person gets like each one of them gets a person to murder. It feels good. It feels right.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:38

It's a nice group activity for like a trio of friends. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:43

100%. Bonding. You know, like some people join like organized sports, or you could do this. You do pottery. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, we can switch it up. We can switch it up. You know, do something different next week. Let's see. Let's just try it out. You just try out the code.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:01

Let's go hunt some pedophiles with a crossbow.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:03

If it's not your thing, then it's fine. You don't have to do it again. You just put it on the list of like we tried. Um, but it's also like I think it's really cathartic for each of them because, you know, like Zayd, even though he's less like big, tough, scarred up, muscly, really good looking man, he still also went through some shit. You know, like he did still went through some shit. Zibi was locked up. She had a thought. Went through shit right.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:32

He through other people, though. Like, because he said, like, I had a normal life. My parents died in a hair accent. But like, I I was good. He's been on the side. So he just subjected himself to like everyone else's trauma.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:45

100%. He was like, I'm gonna heal the world single-handedly. And that is not easy to carry. We got fucking Sibby, she's going through shit. Addie, we just told you that shit got real, and we didn't even fully explain all of it. It is much darker than we said. We skim milked this book for you. Yeah, enjoy. It's a home kind of situation. Like it's she thick.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:13

So they capture all of their pedophiles. This fucking Addy chokes Fran with the heel of a shoe and then lets Zibi finish her off. Not and then she tortures Xavier to death, which like yeah, hell yeah, get it, girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:36

Yeah, it's nice. It's nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:39

So this fucking part with Zibi where she's literally playing frisbee with friends' body parts. With herself, and then and then has like an orgy with her henchmen.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:50

Her henchmen who are invisible. Yes. And it's like we also kind of get like, okay, we get that where it's like, whoa. And then we get another like super cute moment with Zaid where he's letting Sybi tell him all the horrible, twisted shit that her henchmen do to her because she has never had a friend, and he doesn't want to taint her view of friendship. Yeah, even though he's like, oh my god, they put what in your butt. He still has to be like, that's so nice, Sibby. Oh, I'm so happy for you. That's what a beautiful relationship that you guys have.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:26

Like it's yeah, green flags all around, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:31

100%, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:32

Love it. Yep. So Zayd hacks into like the TV networks and broadcasts, obviously disguised because he's going on a Z, that he killed Xavier because he was buying and selling and killing women.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:49

So your secrets in the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:52

The world is about to know all your dirty little secrets, even though you're dead and it doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter. We still we also jump into the next chapter, and this is where Zayd carves a rose to match his into Addy's chest at her request.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:09

Fucking uh twin it to win it. Um I love when couples match, but also again, my brain has to go to that place. What if it looks like total shit? You know, like no regrets.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:24

Nowhere in either of these books was he described as an artist. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:30

He's doing it. What is he doing it with? Because he carved his with like a piece of like mirror or something, you know? Yeah. So like, what if it's just like a blunt like butter knife that he's like carving it with? Like, what? Yeah. You have to know how to a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:47

Yeah, maybe they made a stencil. I don't know. Maybe it was like drawn on, and then he like like a scorification.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:54

I don't know. I think it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:56

And she's like, uh no more low-cut shirts. No more low-cut shirts, girl. Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:03

So we find out that Addy's mom's place was broken into, and they're like, fuck, we got to get there. So they are ripping there as fast as they can. They find mom and dad tied up in the basement, and Addy is going to basically sacrifice herself to save them.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:19

Everyone just wants a sacrifice, man. Which I don't know if I'm a sacrificing person. I don't know. Yeah. I don't want to find out.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:28

Yeah. Who do you remember? I for whatever reason my brain like skipped this entire part. Okay. Who has them tied up? Claire. Is it actually Claire?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:41

Yeah, it's like, I don't think it's like her personally, because she's off doing her do, but it's like her guys because it's her guys. Okay. They have it surrounded. They've got security there. He's been on the dark web. She has now realized that like he's got, you know, this USB with the virus. Like, he's kind of like watching a lot of her like email, what's called transfers? Translations? Email. Emails. I think that's the word I'm looking for.

unknown 1:23:12

The email.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:14

And so he's really closing in on her, but she's not ready to give up yet. And especially because, you know, he went on, he's got this thing about like it's came out that Xavier, this was obviously like her partner. Like the walls are closing in, but they also need to get them out of Parsons Banner because, you know, Siby's henchmen. We've got invisible henchmen. You're right. You know, you're right. It's yeah, right. Like, so I I don't think it was like her specifically, but but it's her, it's her big.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:46

Okay. It's her crew. So Addy's literally gonna sacrifice herself to save them. Um, but mama ends up getting shot in the fucking chest accidentally by Addy after the bullet like ricochets off of a hole. That's whoops, my bad. My bad. They rush her to Zaid's friend surgeon. He's gonna patch her up. It's gonna be okay. It's fine. Um, Addy's dad, though, is like fucking garbage. Yeah, he won't let her talk to her mom, even though she like drives to the house. He's like not letting her in. It's been five days, and Addy basically is like spiraling. She fucked up. She tells Aid, you gotta go. I don't want you anymore. Get out. Okay. If it's gonna endanger me and my family, like you're we're done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:34

Would we're done. What's with the matching tattoos, girl? You think I can do that?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:38

You literally just carved yourself up.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:40

Like, you can't cover this one. Like we for life.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:44

Yeah, sure. So, anyways, he leaves. But he's not like leaving, leaving. He's just like gonna go into the forest, like the tree line.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:51

He's like, fine, I'm gonna go smoke in the dark and stare at you again.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:54

Yeah, literally what he did all of book one. And yeah, so she like literally chases him. She's like, no, don't. I changed my mind. And in like true romance movie moment, Zayd fucking Darth Vader choke slams her into a tree.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:11

And then romance movie moment. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:16

Your romance. Have you have ever seen the notebook? I'm pretty sure that happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:22

Yes, yeah, you're right. I forgot about that choke slam part.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:26

Yeah. And then he also whips her with a tree branch and like makes Addie prove that she was lying when she said she didn't want him. She doesn't actually hate him. It gets a really spicy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:41

It's a little bit spicy in the bush. Yeah. Also, like, why was Claire try Don't be spicy in the bush? Come on. Why was Claire trying to pull them out of the house when they're in the woods all the time doing shit? You know? Like I don't know. Girl, just be patient. Why don't you just hang out by the woods? Like, that's that's where they are continuously going. Get a trail cam and just put it on a tree, and you'll find out. You could sell that video on the dark web instead of your body cams.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:14

There you go. Oh smart. So they stage for Z to get got by Gary. Um, so some of Claire's homies, they're gonna fake tie up Zayd and Addy so that they can make a post about Z being captured and then Claire's gonna come out of hiding.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:34

Girl, fake news. What have we learned about the internet? You have to go and do some digging. She just falls for it. They're like, hey, we caught him. And she's like, perfect.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:45

All right, be right there. And she is. She finally shows up and she tells them that she wants to help them end trafficking because she wants control over the entire human population. And the only reason that she hasn't done this is because Zayd has been such a thorn in her side. This bitch is certifiable. Certifiable. So I'm not I'm not sure where somebody gets that type of delusion where you're like, um, yeah, I'm actually like one of the biggest underground head honchos of like the sex trade. I don't know if you know who I am. We could work together and end trafficking. But I'm kind of a big by just letting me do it only.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:25

Like, yeah, we'll get rid of everybody else, and it's just gonna be me. Uh she's the most evil monopoly man ever.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:35

Uh yes, Monacle and everything. Um, so Zaid gives Addy the joy of killing Claire. Hell yeah. Girl slices her throat open and then they burn her alive.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:46

And I think they like torch the building. Like they just go, yeah. If you go and do it, do it right. Yeah. You know? If you I love that point about do it right. Like it's street justice. 100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:01

So Zayd chucks his little um eyeglass, nose, mustache, disguise back on, and he's back on TV. So he's interrupted the broadcasts again. And he's now telling the world that Claire is dead and that Z is watching. And like Daya and Siby and Addy are like sitting at home eating their popcorn, like watching this broadcast. It's like the most fucked up girls' night I have ever read about in my entire life.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:29

So Addy finally gets away.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:30

Every time. Every time.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:32

Every time. So she shows up, Addy's mom shows up at Parsons Matter. And she's got this like hot young guy there with her. And uh she's like, Mom, who the fuck is that? She's like, it's my caregiver. Yeah. His name is Craven.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:50

Uh where'd you hire him?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:53

Sure. So she's there. She wants to thank Zaid for saving their lives. You saved my little girl, and then he carved her up with his fucking shitty rose.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:05

That is nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:08

But like huge step because like mama was like not into Addy being with Zaid. He's a fucking criminal. So for her to forgive him was like was a big deal, which is nice. But then Sybi comes down and she's like, uh, hi. I know you. I know you. And Craven also knows her.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:29

I know you as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:32

Yeah. That's basically the end. And then we get the epilogue where we find out that Sybi's disappeared a few months ago with Kraven. Addie's still having nightmares, but Zaid's been waking her up with this deal. Oh hell yeah. And the the ending of the entirety of the book, the very, very end. We end it with a little bit of butt stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:01

And don't worry, he looped up. Um, and a little post anal proposal. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:07

Girls deserve a ring after that, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:10

Yeah. Uh also there's a letter at the end that Addie gets, and it's thanking her for saving Katarina. And the letters from Rico. This? So like I feel like it's it ties it all up. We need to but there's so much more information.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:31

Yes, like it ties it enough. It ties it up enough for me to continue living my life and acting like a human being and not like wearing a poster board on a street corner yelling about it. Yeah. But not enough for me to be happy. Where is Siby? You know, like because even in Satan's affair, it doesn't we don't know where she is now. Who the fuck is Craven? Who's Craven? And like with the thing with Rico, because there's kind of this like what we didn't necessarily like talk about was um how Zayd had kind of been like, you know, I'm I'm gonna let him live because you like said like to let him live. But like what happened with him? Like, what is his character? Because he was like super well written, he was actually a nice guy. I I would take more of a kidnapper. For a kidnapper, does he want to go work with the Basilisk brothers? Like they're give me something with the Basilis Brothers. So good. It honestly, like those characters, that whole storyline, I absolutely loved it. Um, you know, like there's just it is tied up enough, but also I could take seven more books.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:46

Yeah, and like this book makes me want to eat a bullet, like it sucks the whole time in the best way possible, you know? But like give me more, yeah, excellent.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:59

I'll take 14 of them. Yeah, it's a thing. So what part traumatized you the most?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:06

The fucking shoe. The shoe.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:08

It's the shoe. The shoe is so bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:12

It is real literally the first 20 chapters of this book traumatized. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:18

That was the worst. Um, and like what so obviously I want to hear more about like Sibi and Rio, but like what about you?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:28

Yeah, I think that there's a lot more with Sibi that we haven't explored, and I want to explore it. Yes. Rio, I don't really know if I care too much about him. Like, I feel like he was like there and he's like doing stuff. That is so good. But I don't really think we're gonna get a ton. No. Like there's not, he's not he doesn't have a lot to offer.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:49

Oh, well, that's just fucking rude.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:52

You know?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:52

But I'm just yeah, like if he he could definitely be like another side character in if if this kind of story continued, but yeah, he's not necessarily required. Yeah. I think I think that's it. I think that's us.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:16

Oh wait, I have a question for you. Yes. Would you rather share a bunk bed with Sibby and her henchman? Ah. Or explain the gun scene to your parents. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:34

I have follow-up questions to that. Okay. Which bunk do I get? The top bunk or the bottom bunk? Because it matters. The bottom. Okay. The bottom. And do I have to explain the gun scene via text message or at the end?

SPEAKER_03 1:33:52

Like in person, face-to-face, Christmas dinner, the whole family is there. You have to stand up. Like you have to stand up to explain it. You can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:02

People really get crazy into Christmas and like ting ting-ting your glass. Uh, the bunk bed. 100% the bunk bed.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:12

100 million bajillion percent of the bunk bed. And you? Which one?

SPEAKER_03 1:34:18

Um, so I recently had a situation where.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:24

Yes, I'm listening.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:27

My mom maybe organically filmed our podcast. And I had to. Did you have to explain gun stories? I had to, I had to explain explicitly why she cannot listen to this. Ah, uh. So I feel like I've already done the explaining. My thing is.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:53

When that boy told my mom, she was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I have some gossip to tell you. And I was like, okay, cool. I was like, in my mind Perfect, now covered. We're never talking about this again. It's been covered.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:03

I told you I completed the fifth next time. No, I uh walked into my mom's house and I didn't even get a hello. I got a wife your podcast. Um I literally, I all I said to her was shut up, shut up, close your mouth. She was like, What do you mean? I'm like, it's not don't tell anybody. It's not literally told. She's like, What does your dad? My stepdad's like in the other room. I'm like, Jesus fucking Christ. Everybody needs to be real cool, real quick about a whole lot of shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:34

Which they can't. So this is no not for you. Yeah. So uh mom, if you've made it this far. What are you doing? I'm sorry. What are you doing? You listened for an hour and a half. You shouldn't have done that. This is your turn back. This is the consequences of your own actions. 100%. Well, yeah, that wraps up our book report for today. Thanks again for tuning in. And we want to know your thoughts on this book. We want to know your thoughts on the series. Do you want us to continue with this series? Um, should we do Siby next? Like we we are listening. We put those polls up every now and then on Instagram just to kind of judge what you guys are feeling and what direction you're going in. Um, but you can also email us at smutsyndicate at gmail.com. Uh, there's a text feature on the bottom of the episode. You can hit that and it sends us a text. You can follow us on all the socials if you want to see what we're up to, some of the unhinged content that we put out there and what our like little daily reads are. Um, because we are reading a lot of like other books, we're getting a lot of arcs, there's a lot of new stuff coming out, and most of these episodes were covering books that we have read multiple times. Um, like we know these books, we love these books, and we were gonna reread them anyways, so that's why we throw them up here. So if there is something that you guys specifically want to hear, you could do that, but also like shout out to the comments on Spotify and the people that have been like rating and reviewing. We really that's what keeps us going every week. We see it and we appreciate it. We love it, we super appreciate it. Keep doing that. Um, and yeah, if there's something that you guys want us to cover, let us know because we're gonna be reading anyway, so we may as well talk about it to you. Um, and I think that is just about it. That's it. Thanks again. Live mortal trash.