Scorch (Virtues & Lies Book 2)

by Alexandra Silva

  There’s a glint in the dark. Movement dissipated by one loud crack before the place lights up like a thunderstorm.

  Ryan pushes me aside, Leo and Freddie ducking into the alcove after me.

  “We need to find Arabella and get the fuck out.” Leo feels along the wall. It’s so dark that the strobing from the gunshots makes it look like he’s moving in slow motion.

  A door opens and Oliver throws a torch our way that I catch with my free hand. The other holding my weapon is steady and at the ready.

  Thank fuck the temporary alarm system actually works, because if it wasn’t for it we would’ve been across town scouring some poxy bar.

  “About fucking time,” he grits as we follow him through to a one-man-width corridor. “The place is crawling. I tried to get a sense of where they might have her, but the debris from the fire has blocked some of the passages.”

  “Do you have any idea where they have her?” I follow him around a blind corner.

  “The upper floors are all blocked off, all the bedrooms are sealed.” Oliver turns to us, stopping in front a dead-end panel. “I’ve checked through the other passages—they’re sealed with the exception of the side exit to the building.”

  “You think they have her in the round room?” Leo asks him.

  “Makes sense. It’s in the middle of the house, no windows, the walls are thick, and there are only two ways in and out. Both are manned.”

  “Armed?” Freddie asks from the back.

  “Fuck yeah, they’re loaded.”

  “So are we.” Leo slips him the backup Glock he took from Wayne’s glovebox. Oliver takes it with a firm nod to the panel. “There’s two doors into the room. The best way to do this is to split.” Pointing the torch over my shoulder, he says to Leo, “You’re the only one that knows the place about as well as I do. I’d say the door at the farther end has the least damage. That side of the house wasn’t hit as bad, so I’m guessing that’s the side they’re using.”

  “We’ll take the messy side,” Freddie tells him. He readies his weapon as he nudges past Leo and me. “We got this shit covered. Francis is on his way with the rest of the cavalry. Get her and get out. We’ll handle the rest. Got it?”

  “Fred…” He sounds like Ryan and Wayne, constantly trying to bear the brunt of the shitstorm for me.

  “Don’t fucking Fred me. We’re wasting time. Get her and split.”

  Nodding, I watch him and Oliver quietly brush out of the thin crack of the panel. There’s one silent shot followed by another and then another. Before the echoes have silenced, Leo and I are running towards the room Oliver believes Arabella is in.

  On more shot pierces the air, louder this time, and as we set our sights on the door to the room, it bursts open. Dim light spills into the dark hall, and I can just make out the outline of the tall figure hightailing it down the corridor to our right.

  “Get in there!” Leo shouts, shot after shot echoing into the dark as I barge into the room.

  Holding my Glock up at chest level, I take a look around the room. Shots are being fired on the other side, and the mustiness of the light with the noise makes it hard to take it all in, until my eyes find her.

  Fuck!

  My heart falls to the pit of my stomach with its punchy beats vibrating through me.

  Fuck.

  There’s so much blood. It takes everything in me not to scream the place down.

  “Stop.” I barely get to her when I come face to face with the barrel of a gun.

  The weapon shakes as the rakish woman points it at me. She’s also covered in blood. Her blonde hair is matted like a lion’s mane after a feast.

  “I’m here to help you,” I tell her, dropping my gun-yielding hand to my side.

  Shaking her head, she follows my sidestep. “Stop.”

  I could take her down—there’s nothing of her—but as I assess her, my eyes find her belly…

  “I promise I’m not here to hurt you.” Gently bringing my free hand to rest over the one she has trying to steady the gun, I take in her beat-up body. “It’s okay.”

  She’s about to give when the doors on the other side of the room burst open. I feel her hands clench with panic, and pulling her to me, I hoist her hands up, sending her shot behind me somewhere.

  “Shhh…” I try to soothe her as Freddie and Oliver come bounding up. “I told you you’re safe.”

  I want nothing more than to let her go and see to Arabella. She hasn’t moved. Her body is a heap on the floor.

  The moment Oliver is near enough, I pass her to him. “Take her out to the cars.”

  He seems shocked too.

  “Be careful with her.” I nod to her belly, making sure he understands she needs medical care stat.

  “Got it.” Taking her from me, he cajoles her with him towards the door behind me. “I’m Oliver, what’s your name?”

  I find a fuck tonne of respect for him right then. His softness with her is something I’ve never seen before from him.

  “She’s not breathing, Christopher,” Freddie growls as I kneel beside him at Arabella’s side.

  Searching for her pulse, I feel at her bloodstained neck and wrist. “She’s alive. She’s okay.” She’s okay, I tell us both when I find the faintest of thrums.

  Handing him my weapon, I look around form something to cover her. I’m trying so hard to avoid thinking of all the possible reasons she might be like this. I can barely breathe as I scoop her up into my arms, slowly lifting to crouch before I stand and start moving.

  Fuck, her hair is all wet. Her body feels so limp. I can’t make anything out because she’s bathed in blood.

  I don’t bother checking around corners and down corridors. I move as quickly as I can, Leo and Freddie both at my sides.

  “Take this.” Leo lays his jacket over her, taking the arm hanging limply and tucking it neatly so that you can’t tell she’s naked underneath.

  I wish I hadn’t left my jacket in the car. It was so hot. I was suffocating.

  Freddie leads the way through the narrow passage as I shuffle sideways, making sure not a single limb gets hurt any further.

  “Fuck, I told you to fucki—” Wayne stops the minute he sees her. “Get her out there. Your dad sent the assistance.”

  I keep going. Step after step. Trying not to lose my mind with fear that this is it.

  Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me, precious girl. Please.

  Taking the stairs to the rear car park, I hold her as still as possible. I have no idea of the damage caused.

  I don’t get a chance to hand her over—strangers take her from me, asking questions I don’t know the answer to.

  I don’t know what happened to her. I wasn’t there.

  This shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight. I should have kept her at my side like I promised her I would.

  Standing outside the nondescript ambulance, I watch as the paramedics work on her. Hands pump her chest as others squeeze air into her lungs.

  Her chest rises. Her chest falls.

  One. Two. Three. Four. Squeeze-squeeze.

  This can’t be how it ends.

  One. Two. Three. Four. Squeeze-squeeze.

  It can’t be how you leave me.

  Puff, puff, puff, puff and one and two.

  Her chest rises. Her chest falls.

  And there’s nothing.

  Chapter 44

  Christopher

  Growing up you’re constantly told life is short. It’s precious and fragile. I nodded and made note; I used it as an excuse to do stupid things. Excuse reckless mistakes. Rush through life. Arabella was the only thing I truly stopped to savour.

  We were never meant to be. I went against everything and everyone for her. My grandmother, my friend…

  My friend. Brother.

  “He’s gone,” Freddie says morosely, leaning on the doorway. “I tried their phones, but there’s nothing. He knows better.”

  “Georgina?”
I ask him even though she’s sworn to my face she knows nothing.

  “She doesn’t know anything.” He steps into the room, shuddering as he looks around. It’s dark and cold. “Cassie and your mum might if Fleur has said anything to them. But I’ve checked their phones for any random calls, and there’s nothing. It’s been four hours since they left. They’re probably still figuring shit out.”

  “I don’t get why he would run with her. Unless…”

  “Unless she knew?” Leo stands in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. “Maybe that’s the reason he’s disappeared with her.”

  “You think she knew?” He’s changed his tune.

  “No, Christopher, I think he knew we’d jump down her throat and he’s protecting her. Nothing we wouldn’t have done in his shoes.” Sitting on the sofa by windows, he relaxes as Cassie comes into the room with a tray of drinks and a couple of paper bags slipped under her arm.

  “Still,” Freddie grumbles, taking a large steaming cup labelled with his name. “Strange that he would do a runner before he even knew his sister was okay.”

  I grasp Arabella’s hand tighter, as I bring her into my side. With all the blood gone, she looks perfectly herself with the exception of the raw bruising around her neck and under one of her eyes.

  It took a lot longer than normal to bring her back. At one point I thought they would give up, but the minute they got her here, the hospital staff were on her like a kid at Christmas.

  The sedation drugs they used to take her are what complicated things. They couldn’t give her anything until they were sure her system was clear, and quite rightly so.

  “Arabella’s fine.” Cassie sits beside Leo, handing him one of the paper bags. “There’s croissants for both of you in that one.” She points to the bag she left on the over-bed table. “Besides, they can’t be gone too far, not in her condition.”

  Settling back into the pillow, I thank the fucking Universe for not taking Arabella from me. The warmth of her body mingles with mine. It would be peaceful if I wasn’t still fretting over what happened to her. Why she was practically naked.

  The girl that was with her hasn’t said a single word to anyone. She won’t let anyone except for the female doctors and nurses go near her.

  “On a different note, they can’t find Charles anywhere. Harry and Benedict have put out a statement announcing his resignation from Cabinet and all other duties,” Leo says, flicking through the financial pages of one of the newspapers stacked on the coffee table.

  “He’ll come out of hiding soon enough.” Freddie chuckles. “All accounts attached to his name are frozen. He’s pretty fucked.”

  Exhaustion pulls me deeper into Arabella’s warmth. I keep blinking myself awake, but it’s getting harder and harder not to succumb to my fatigue.

  “Listen,” Cassie murmurs. I didn’t even notice her come closer. “We’re going to head home. Mum and Dad want to drop by in a while, and everyone else will want to come visit, so…yeah, get some rest. Okay?”

  “If you need anything, let us know,” Leo adds, already standing by the door. “And we’ve got shit covered, so focus on you and Bella. Make sure she’s okay.”

  There’s guilt in the way he glances at her sedated form beside me.

  “If you hear anything from Casper or Fleur…”

  “What did I just tell you?” Leo asks as he takes Cassie’s handbag, flinging it over his shoulder while holding her hand at his side.

  “You got this.”

  “Remember that, yeah?”

  I nod, smiling at Cassie when she blows me a kiss. Freddie starts to follow, but before he leaves, he pauses, assessing Arabella.

  A pinched look tightens his face.

  “The other girl,” he murmurs. “They ummm…they…fuck. They think she was…ummm…the tests…” Taking a deep breath, he pauses, his expression sombre. “They believe she was sexually assaulted.”

  I can see him study Arabella’s figure. My heart fucking howls with the possibility. Why else would we have found her in the state she was in?

  Every part of me burns with agony.

  “Do you think…” He stops as I shake my head.

  I can’t verbalise it. I refuse to speak it until she can tell me herself. If something that barbaric happened, I want her to tell me. I want to look in her eyes, and I want to take it all away.

  “Fred…” My choked voice rumbles low, making her shudder.

  It’s the first sign she’s coming to. Her breaths are still muted and hoarse.

  “Did you see the girl? How? I…I don’t understand how… Fuck, Christopher. Is that what they do to them?”

  I blink the hot tears filling my eyes away. “Freddie.”

  “She did a number on him, but I wish he was still alive. I wish I could make him feel every ounce of pain he—”

  “He’s dead. We can’t bring him back to kill him in any other way, so we just have to find the others.” And I want to do that so very bad. If it wasn’t for the fact Arabella is in here, I would be out there. Hunting every single motherfucker.

  Coming closer, Freddie bites his lip. He’s got that look on his face that says he’s struggling.

  “I can’t stop thinking about that girl. I tried to see her, but the staff won’t let me in. She’s too scared. They had to sedate her so the doctors could get the full measure of her injuries, and it got me wondering.”

  “About?”

  He swallows, eyes reddening. “Lucy.”

  “You can’t guess her situation by another woman’s condition.”

  “I do know that, but I still can’t stop thinking what if that’s all she’s known all these years. Abuse. How does a person survive that?”

  “I don’t know.” My strangled reply comes out as a hoarse whisper.

  Arabella stirs again, this time blinking into the morning light. It’s snowing and the fog has dimmed the brightness of day.

  “She’s waking up.” His lips turn up with a sigh. “I should go.”

  He’s leaving before I get a chance to say anything in return. I was waiting for it to hit him. I knew that he would be obsessing over all the possibilities and scenarios in his head. We’re so alike in that way.

  Finding my phone on the tallboy beside the bed, I set up a reminder to call him later. I want to check on him, make sure he’s not driving himself spare.

  “Is he okay?” Arabella’s croaky voice breaks the silence.

  My tight chest eases somewhat at the softness of her voice.

  “Yeah,” I lie to her.

  Last thing I want is for her to stress over something she doesn’t have to. And I know she’ll stress over Freddie.

  “How are you feeling?” Turning onto my side, I brush her hair back.

  It smells off, bloody. Nothing like her usual sweet scent.

  “Achy.” The rattle in her throat becomes a barking cough, and it kills me to see her work so hard for her breath. “But how is he? Really?”

  “He’s shaken up. We all are, Belles. I never thought we’d be here again. Like this…”

  I’m trying so hard to hold my emotions in that I forget how easily she can read me.

  “Like this?” Turning her head to look at me, she strokes my cheek.

  “What did they do to you? What happened?”

  It’s the feeling of helplessness that undoes me. Knowing that this incredible person I adore has gone through something, and I have no clue of what or how. I want to make life better for her, but these twists and turns life has paved for us keep rubbishing my best efforts and good intentions.

  “He touched me, and I killed him.” She says it like it’s nothing when I’m lying here trying my hardest not to lose my shit, because this isn’t about me. “That’s all.”

  “He touched you?”

  Narrowing on mine, her eyes darken. Their depths shine with so much emotion all I can do is hold her tighter.

  “Not like that.” Weariness flits across her beautiful face. “He would hav
e, but you…you…you made me fight.”

  “Me?” Red-hot tears fill my eyes, and I can do fuck all to stop them from slipping free.

  “Yeah, you. There was a moment where I thought he would win. It felt like the world imploded and sucked me into its chaos. It was like heaven and earth colliding and being crushed by everything and nothing.”

  Cupping her face, I swipe her tears away.

  “But in the middle of it all, it was your voice that kept telling me to fight. It was all you, Christopher.” Mimicking my actions, she cups my face. Her thumb swirls over my cheek, rubbing away my tears. A rough giggle rumbles from her, her body twisting to press to me, her front as flush as possible to mine. “You know, if they see you crying, they may think you have a heart. People take advantage of those things.”

  There’s real sorrow in her eyes as she says that. And I can’t fathom why.

  “I do have a heart, morena.”

  Shuffling closer with a wince, she nods. “You do, cariño.”

  “I have you.” My lips pucker on the tip of her nose. “It’s you, precious girl.”

  “I know…”

  “You know.” I sigh into the crook of her neck as she pulls me as close as I can get to her.

  “It’s why I’m the most important piece.”

  Too fucking right she is.

  Arabella is everything. My all.

  Beginning and end.

  Moons and suns. History and infinite light years.

  Chapter 45

  Arabella

  Two weeks later…

  “What are you doing?” I ask once more as Christopher tugs the scarf he’s using to blindfold me again. I’ve had it on the entire drive from Leo’s to wherever we are.

  All I can tell is that it’s a quiet place. Not much going on. Only one car has gone past since he’s had me standing here. The odd child’s laugh carries in the sharp bluster.

  My heart squeezes tight at the sound. It’s one of the most beautiful sounds in the universe, second to Christopher’s voice.