Broken Anchor (Sinful Truths Book 6)

by Ella Miles

  “I should go.”

  “I would say until next time, but if we did this right, we will never meet again,” he says.

  That saddens me, that I’ll never get to know this man. But it’s for the best. He’s the only person I feel I can trust. And I don’t have anything to say. There is nothing I can say. I have to leave. I can’t communicate with him. I can’t come back here. Even to step foot in this country would be putting the world at risk.

  But I can’t bring myself to say goodbye either. Instead, I turn, and I walk down the hill, away from the only family I have left.

  I open my eyes and find Zeke staring at me.

  “Baby?” he asks, trying to understand what just happened to me. He thinks I already knew the location of the box, so I shouldn’t tell him I didn’t know until just now.

  Instead, I just bite my lip, like the pain I’m feeling is too much for me to bear. He pulls me into a hug, and then all hell breaks loose.

  Gunshots ring out all around the room and house.

  Zeke falls on top of me, shielding me with his body as the bullets fly.

  My eyes cut under Zeke’s arm to see to the door. “Kai and Enzo are here,” I whisper to him.

  “Don’t trust Langston!” Zeke shouts to them.

  A gun is tossed on the bed. Zeke grabs it and turns, keeping his body over mine as he starts firing at the men coming into the room. I don’t know where all these men are coming from, but half work for Enzo and Kai, while the other half work for Julian, or at least Julian’s financier.

  Another loud boom rings out, causing Zeke to yank me off the bed with him, and then use the bed as protection while he shoots over it.

  “Stay behind me, no matter what, okay?” Zeke asks.

  “Yes,” I say.

  “Let’s go,” Zeke says, when there is a break in the gunfire.

  I peer around him and find only one man firing toward us from the door. I don’t know where Langston or Julian went, or where Enzo or Kai went, but it appears the fighting has moved to another part of the house.

  Zeke grabs my hand, and we move around the bed. Zeke kills the man at the door, and when we get to the door, he grabs a gun on the ground and hands it to me.

  He gives me a warning look. Stay behind him. Only fire when necessary. Stay safe.

  I nod. Then we are moving through the hallway. By the time we get to the living room, I realize that half the house has been blown away. It saddens me for a second to see such a beautiful house destroyed, but that thought is gone the next second as we come across the main fight.

  Men are shooting everywhere, smoke billows around us, making it impossible to see clearly.

  “There is a car in the garage. If we get separated, meet me there,” Zeke says.

  “Okay.”

  And then we push through, firing and slinking low through the smoke.

  I cough as smoke enters my lungs, but I keep pressing on; I have to. We can’t stay in this house much longer.

  Zeke keeps moving forward, but I lose him.

  There is more smoke toward the direction of the garage. I have to get out of the house before I head to the garage, or I won’t be able to breathe much longer.

  I end up crawling on all fours, searching for someone I trust.

  I cough over and over. It burns, my eyes are watering, my nose dripping.

  I collapse on the floor, unable to get enough oxygen to breathe. Gunshots ring out in the distance. Apparently, the battle has moved away from the smoke. I’d rather deal with a barrage of bullets than this thick smoke, too.

  I start crawling again, unable to see my hands in front of me as I move. I have to keep going, though.

  I consider calling for help, but I’m afraid it could draw the wrong attention of the wrong people. And from all my coughing, I probably wouldn’t be able to yell very loudly anyway.

  Must.

  Move.

  Forward.

  I have to get out of the smoke. Of all the ways that I envisioned my death, dying in a house filled with smoke with people just outside who could save me, if they could just find me, was not the way that I thought I would go.

  My head spins, and I start seeing spots.

  I cough again as I try to suck in any oxygen, but there seems to be none left in the house.

  I refuse to die like this. I will find a way through this even though my body is shutting down; my heartbeat is growing weaker; my chest has tightened.

  I collapse, my arms are unable to move me forward any further. Maybe if I hover close to the ground, I’ll be able to get enough oxygen until the smoke lifts.

  So that’s what I do while praying for a miracle.

  “I got you.” His voice is strong, despite the smoke. His arms scoop me up, and then we are running through the smoke. I cough against his chest; he grips me tighter.

  We are through the smoke a moment later, but he doesn’t stop running. I suspect he won’t until he gets us somewhere he deems safe.

  I continue to cough as he runs for what seems like miles before he finally stops. He unlocks a car and then places me in the back.

  “Take a deep breath. In and out, slowly. You’re safe now. There is plenty of oxygen for you to breathe. Just take some deep, slow breaths.”

  I try, but cough.

  “Try again,” he says.

  I do.

  I wheeze, but I’m able to get more oxygen this time and only cough a tiny bit.

  “Good, again.”

  I take another breath, then another. The pain in my lungs eases a little with every breath.

  “We need to go,” he says, hopping in the front seat and putting the car in drive.

  “I—” I say, starting to tell him everything that needs to be said, but my voice is hoarse.

  “Shhh, Siren. Don’t speak. You can tell me once we get to the airport,” Langston cuts me off.

  I need to speak. I have so much to say, but after everything that happened, I’m too weak. Too weak to talk. Too weak to fight. So instead, I drift off to sleep.

  27

  Zeke

  “Siren!” I yell as I cough just outside the band of smoke that has filled the house. I don’t know where all the smoke is coming from; there doesn’t seem to be a fire.

  “Siren!” I scream again at the top of my lungs, but that only makes me cough worse.

  A bullet buzzes by my head, and I turn and fire. I have to stay alive so I can save her. I will not fail her again. I will not. I can’t…

  “Don’t move,” Julian says.

  I look up and see that Julian has Kai in a headlock with a gun pointed at her.

  Fuck.

  Enzo runs up beside me. I look around at our small group, but I don’t see Siren or Langston.

  My heart races, thinking they could be together.

  No.

  I just saw Siren a minute ago. She’ll make her way out through the smoke the same as I did. Hopefully, she’s made it to the garage as is hiding, waiting for me to get to her.

  And no one seems to know where Langston is. Right now, I have to focus on Kai, on saving her.

  “Let her go,” I say through a cough.

  “I’d be willing to make a trade,” Julian says.

  I sigh and hold my hands up, dropping my gun. I turn to Enzo beside me. “Take Kai and find Siren. Keep her safe and away from all of this. Don’t trust Langston.”

  Enzo nods at me.

  I step forward while Enzo keeps his gun aimed at Julian. When I get close, Julian pushes Kai away and aims his gun at me.

  Kai looks at me with such pain. “Go,” I tell her.

  She hesitates a second and then Enzo says, “Stingray, we have to go.”

  Kai gives me one last look, and then she runs off with Enzo.

  Please go find Siren. Let her be safe.

  “They aren’t going to find Siren,” Julian says to me.

  “Siren will lead them to her.”

  He shakes his head. “Unlikely, since she isn’t alone.”<
br />
  “What do you mean?” But my heart already knows. I know it isn’t smart, but I have to know she isn’t here. I take off to the house behind me. Somehow, most of the smoke is gone when I enter the house.

  “Siren!” I yell as I step over fallen men. I run throughout the house, even back to the bedroom I found her in, but she’s not there.

  I run through the house again. Please, be in the garage. I open the back door and step into the garage.

  “Siren!” I yell again, looking through the cars and under them for her. She’s gone.

  “I told you, he has her,” Julian says from the doorway.

  I turn with all of my rage and face him. “Tell him to bring her back, or neither of you will find the box. Call him and tell him right now, or I’ll kill you. The only reason I’ve kept you alive is because I know you aren’t the one in charge. There is another man paying you, pulling all the strings. And I thought you could lead me to him, but I’ll kill you now if you don’t have Langston bring her back right now.”

  “I have no doubt that is true, but there is just one problem.”

  “Which is?”

  “I want Bishop, or Langston, whatever his name is, dead too.”

  I blink rapidly.

  “I want him dead for what he did to Siren.”

  I scoff. “You raped her too, you know. You’re no better than him.”

  “You’re right, I’m not. But he killed her child, possibly my child, and I won’t forgive him for that. I want him dead. He knows that. We aren’t working together anymore.”

  I frown.

  “This is what I suggest. You help me find the box, and I’ll help you ensure Siren is safe,” Julian says.

  “Not likely, since you’ve tried to kill her more than most.”

  “I’ll tell you a truth. I could never kill Siren. I love her as much as you do.”

  “No one loves her more than me.”

  Julian shakes his head. “I get the box. You get Siren. Do we have a deal?”

  “And what happens to Langston?”

  “The first one to find him gets to kill him.”

  Julian holds out a gun to me, and I take it. Then he’s pulling out his phone. “We are going to need a private jet at the Bilbao airport immediately.”

  Julian hangs up and climbs into a speed car. I climb in after him.

  We haven’t agreed on anything, but he has a car and a jet. I need both to get to Siren since Langston hasn’t returned my money yet.

  “How are we going to know where to go once we get to Scotland?” I ask as Julian starts the car.

  Julian’s eyes narrow. “Because Siren isn’t the only one who just got her memory back.”

  28

  Siren

  I open my eyes. I sit up and take in my surroundings. I’m lying on a couch on a private jet, surrounded by oval windows that frame fluffy clouds we are already flying through.

  “Careful, don’t sit up too fast,” Langston says as I start pushing myself up. I cough as soon as I do.

  “Here, breathe through this,” Langston holds up an oxygen mask to my face that I realize is strapped around my neck and must have fallen off my face. I take a couple of deep breaths, and my lungs feel a bit better, yet I still cough a few times before I settle. When I feel better, I remove the oxygen mask.

  “Here.” Langston holds out a cup of tea to me.

  I take it and sip.

  “How are you feeling?” Langston asks. He’s sitting on the couch next to me, staring at me with such intensity.

  I cough again. “My chest and throat hurt, but otherwise, my main feeling is guilt for betraying Zeke.”

  He nods and then coughs as well.

  I frown, not realizing that he might have inhaled as much smoke as I did when he rescued me.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask.

  He coughs again before clearing his throat. “Like I ruined a friendship forever.”

  I want to reassure him that he and Zeke will one day heal their relationship, but after what we did, I doubt that it will come easily. I’m going to have my hands full making sure Zeke doesn’t kill Langston the next time we see him.

  So I don’t say anything.

  “You didn’t have a choice, you know. You had to do it. You had to hurt him,” Langston says, knowing that I’m beating myself up for what I did to Zeke.

  “I know, but I still hate hurting him. I hate lying to him. I hate all of it. When this is over, I hope I never have to lie again.”

  “Someday soon that day will come.”

  We both sip our teas. Unspoken questions linger between us. Was it worth it? Did I get the information I needed?

  “We need to go to Inverness,” I say, letting Langston know it was worth it.

  “I’ll go tell the pilots.”

  Langston stands and walks to the front of the plane to discuss flight plans.

  The weight of what I did crashes down upon me.

  I watched Zeke break, fully and completely. Zeke is devastated because of what I did. He shattered into a million pieces before my very eyes because of what I let him think, because of what I did.

  My anchor is broken. He’s hurting, and I can’t comfort him, not until this is all over. He will never be the same. I don’t think I’m able to put the pieces back together.

  Tears start falling again, and my cough returns. Zeke isn’t the only one; I’m broken too.

  Zeke holds a part of me, and I won’t be whole until we are together again.

  I feel arms going around me as I cry. I swear I feel his tears wet my shoulder, but I don’t pull away from his chest to verify.

  “I’ve got you until you can be with Zeke again.”

  I shake in Langston’s arms.

  “I’ve got you,” he repeats again.

  “I know. Thank you for protecting me, even when I didn’t realize that was what you were doing.”

  “I’m sorry I had to hurt you at all. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have come up with something different, something easier, to protect you. But—“

  I pull back and wipe my eyes. “No, you did the right thing. Just like I did to Zeke.”

  “Forgive me?” Langston asks.

  “There is nothing to forgive. But I forgive you, if that’s what you need to hear.”

  I hug him again. Zeke is my husband, but Langston has quickly become someone special in my life. I don’t know how to label our relationship. It’s not a friendship, not like Nora and me, and it’s different than a brother and sister relationship. I can’t think of a term, but I imagine it feels a lot like how Kai and Zeke feel. Because of what we’ve been through, because of our shared pain, we will forever be connected.

  He smiles at me. “Thank you.”

  “How long will it take us to get to Inverness?”

  “Eight hours.”

  “We will beat them all there. We will find where you buried the box. And we will destroy it before anyone else can get there. We have a good couple of hours head start. After it’s destroyed, I will make sure you are safe, and then I will help Zeke, Enzo, and Kai kill Julian and his financier.”

  “I didn’t bury it,” I say behind my eyelashes.

  “What did you do with it then?”

  “I gave it to a man.”

  He frowns. “Who? A man you trusted? How could you ensure it was safe? How do you know that it’s still there?”

  “Because the man is my brother.”

  Langston’s eyes widen. “You have a brother?”

  “I didn’t know it either. He’s thirteen years older than me. He was out of the house before I was old enough to know him. He lived by himself, away from the world. His heart is like mine. He knew how important it was to keep it safe. It’s still there in the castle with him.”

  “Okay, good. We will get the box from him, then.”

  “He won’t give it to us.”

  “What do you mean? I thought he was your brother? You trusted him to protect it?”

  “I di
d. I do. But he promised to protect it, even from me.”

  Langston sinks back, realizing what it’s going to take me to get the box—fighting my own brother. My own blood. I may have never known him, but it’s still going to hurt trying to defeat him.

  “We will find a way,” Langston says, as he stares down at my stomach where I’m rubbing it. He puts his hand over mine, and we watch as we both feel a kick.

  “We always find a way.”

  29

  Zeke

  I sit on the plane headed to Scotland.

  I try not to think about everything that has happened.

  My friend’s betrayal.

  My wife’s suffering.

  My child’s death.

  I wait for the tears to come, but they don’t. The tears have vanished, and in their absence, I’ve hardened into a man capable of untold sin. My wrath will be felt throughout the world. I will not rest until every man who had a hand, no matter how small, in my child’s death pays for his sins.

  I’ve made a deal with the devil to keep Siren safe and ensure that Langston pays for what he did, but the devil will also die for his part.

  I’m tired of playing games. Today, the world burns.

  Julian is sitting at the front of the private jet, staring at his phone, while I sit in the back, as far away from him as I can get. Several of his men sit in between us.

  But I’m tired of waiting and not knowing all the players. I want to know who the men are that I will be burning to the ground.

  I get out of my seat and march to the front. If Julian’s men were smart, they’d try to stop me, but they aren’t the most intelligent bunch. They can’t see a threat coming when they need to.

  Julian doesn’t seem to think of me as a threat either because he doesn’t so much as blink when I walk over to him.

  I grab him by the shoulders and throw him hard against the other side of the plane. His head bashes into the wall, and then I shove my arm against his throat, making it hard for him to breathe.