by Sarah Bailey
I let myself in the front door, kicked off my shoes, hung up my coat and prowled through the flat. I fired off a quick text to Chuck to let him know I had the information he wanted.
Avery wasn’t in the kitchen or bathroom. In the living room, the laptop was left out on the coffee table. Had she seen it? Seen the evidence of her family fortune and the lies it had been built on?
When I opened the door to the bedroom, I stood in the doorway for the longest moment. Paper littered the room, covering the bed and almost every available inch of floor space. I looked at the nearest piece. A drawing of a man sitting at a desk, a sick smile on his face with piles of money surrounding him. The desk was sitting on top of a pile of bodies. Dead bodies.
The next drawing was of angels falling from the sky, their wings disintegrating around them. I picked up another one. A girl tied up with a black eye and cuts across her body.
What the fuck?
The last one I dared to look at almost fucking broke me. A man, tattoos snaking up his arms, staring down at a girl at his feet. She’d ripped her heart out of her chest and was offering it up to him. They looked distinctly like me and her. I had no fucking clue what the hell it meant until I read the caption she’d written in neat handwriting below it.
I’ve torn my soul out to fight by your side.
Did she really want to destroy her family with me? Had it been enough? She still didn’t have the full story.
It cut me. I wasn’t here to help her deal with it. Those drawings. They were her way of letting out her emotions.
I approached the bed and pulled the covers off her head. She looked so fucking innocent and small. So fucking precious.
“Avery?”
I brushed her hair from her face. She didn’t stir.
“Avery, wake up.”
I shook her, careful to be gentle. Her eyes fluttered open. She blinked.
“Aiden,” she whispered.
Her hand clamped around my arm.
“You saw.”
“I’m sorry about the mess.”
I sat down on the bed.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing. Are you okay?”
For once I didn’t fucking care about how untidy the room was. Normally it’d have bothered me, but she was my main concern.
“No, I’m not.”
“Come here.”
I put my arms out to her. Before she had a chance to move, I heard the buzzer for my door. Who the fuck was that? Her eyes darted toward the bedroom door. I wanted to fucking hold her, but it’d have to wait now.
“I have to get that.”
She nodded. I slipped from the room. When I saw through the small screen who it was, I cursed.
“Chuck, why the fuck are you here?” I said, pressing down on the intercom.
“I have someone for you to deal with.”
“Are you insane? You know you can’t bring people here without talking to me first.”
“This is personal, Aiden.”
“Fine, wait there. I’ll be down in a few.”
There was no fucking way he was coming up here when I had Avery freaked out over what she’d learnt. Chuck couldn’t find her. I was so fucking close to getting the police off the scent.
I strode back to the bedroom. She sat up in bed, her hair cascading down her back. Lost and lonely. Fuck. She needed me and I couldn’t fucking be there for her.
“I have to go deal with something.”
“Oh okay.”
“When it’s done, I’ll make us dinner and we can talk or watch a film. Whatever you want.”
She nodded. Fucking hell. Her doe eyes killed me.
“Do you just need a hug?”
Her eyes watered and her fingers curled around the covers.
“Fuck, Avery, come here.”
She climbed off the bed and shuffled over to me. I gathered her up in my arms and held her. Chuck was waiting for me, but I could give her a minute.
“I’ll be okay until you get back,” she whispered.
I let her go. She squeezed my arm before stepping back.
“And I’ll clean this up.”
She indicated the scattered drawings. I nodded and left. I couldn’t fucking talk to her about those right now. Especially not the one that depicted us.
Shoving my feet into trainers, I left the flat and rode down in the lift to the basement car park. Chuck leant on his car several feet away.
“Nice of you to join me,” he said.
“Where are they?”
He shoved off the car and went around to the boot, opening it. Inside lay a man on his side with a hood over his head.
“What exactly do you want from him?” I asked.
“He has information about Avery.”
My skin prickled. How could anyone have information about Avery? I’d been careful. So fucking careful.
“He does?”
“The bartender at Galaxy overhead him bragging. He called me, naturally.”
Galaxy was a bar in central London owned by the company. The employees were very loyal. I hated the place. Full of suits and gold diggers.
“And?”
“He won’t talk. I thought you could persuade him.”
I peered at the man. For my own fucking sake, I needed to know. I pulled him up slightly by his shirt.
“What the fuck do you know about Avery Daniels?”
“N…N…Nothing,” he whimpered.
“Don’t bullshit me. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will.”
“My cousin said he saw her in a motorway service station this morning. That’s all I know. I swear.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.”
This guy was an idiot, but it still concerned me enough that I couldn’t just let him go yet.
“You give us your cousin’s details and we’ll let you walk.”
“Yes, yes, it’s in my phone. In my pocket.”
I made him tell me the pin code and found out exactly who his cousin was.
“Ring him and get him to tell you.”
“Yes, yes.”
I put the phone to his ear. He spoke to his cousin for several long minutes before saying goodbye.
“He said the Reading services on the M4.”
I almost fucking thanked the man. We hadn’t driven that way. I could breathe again. I shoved him back down in the boot and slammed it shut.
“I’ll look into it for you,” I said to Chuck.
“Well, that was easier than expected. Anyway, you said you had the info from the police investigations? Let’s go look through it.”
Oh, fuck no. Chuck couldn’t come upstairs with me. And I hadn’t been through the stuff Anthony had given me yet.
“I’ve got stuff to do and you need to drop that guy off somewhere because he’s not coming upstairs. Best not kill him.”
“I insist.”
The look in his eyes said he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
Fucking Chuck.
“Drop him off first, then we’ll go through it.”
He shrugged.
“Fair enough.”
He got back in the car. My fucking heart slammed against my ribcage at a hundred miles an hour. I’d bought myself enough time to hide Avery and fucking pray she’d stay where I told her to.
Chuck drove off and I got back in the lift. As soon as I was back in the flat, I went straight to find her. She’d piled up the drawings on top of the bedside table and was sitting in the middle of the bed tapping her fingers on the cover.
“Avery, I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
She looked up at me, brow furrowing.
“What is it?”
“I need you to make sure you gather up all the drawings and things in the flat and put them in your cupboard.”
She slipped off the bed.
“Okay… Aiden, what’s wrong?”
“Just do it then come back here.”
She left the room, but not without shooting me a questioning look. I needed her to hurry. Who knew how long Chuck would be. Armed with all her pictures, she came back into the room and added them to the pile before putting them in the wardrobe.
“I don’t want to do this, but I need you to hide in there for me.”
“You need what?”
“Hide, Avery. In the cupboard.”
“Why?”
I ran a hand through my hair. This was not how I envisioned this evening going.
“Because your uncle is going to be here any minute and he can’t find you.”
Her face went deathly pale.
“Charlie?”
“Yes.”
“But Aiden…”
“Avery, don’t. I’m asking you to stay out of sight. You don’t need me to tell you what happens if he finds you.”
This would test everything between us. Every fucking thing. If Avery was really mine, she’d do as I said. She’d stay hidden. She walked towards me. Her doe eyes filled with fear. Taking my hand, she placed it on her cheek.
“I want you to trust me,” she whispered.
“Do this and maybe I will.”
“Don’t you know I’d do anything for you?”
My heart stuttered in my chest.
“Anything?”
“I am yours. You command. I obey. That’s how this works, doesn’t it?”
Fuck. She had no idea how much self-control I had to exert right then. I wanted to crush her to me. Kiss her until she fucking drowned.
“This isn’t a command. It’s a request. A request that you stay in here. Stay hidden until he’s gone. I’ll understand if you can’t do that.”
She reached up and ran her hand over my arm where underneath my shirt lay the tattoo of a songbird in a gilded cage. The only representation of my mother I had. One day I might explain it to her, but not now.
“Do you know why they called me Avery?”
“No.”
“Before Mum married Dad, she used to have an aviary where she kept injured birds and nursed them back to health. He refused to name me after a bird, so Avery was their compromise. I guess I’m one of her broken birds now.”
Broken bird. Fuck. She wasn’t a fucking broken bird. She wasn’t the bird in a gilded cage either. Avery was strong and I would fucking well show her just how much. But not now.
The buzzer sounded.
We’d run out of time.
“You’re not broken. You’re just hurting. There’s no going back if you stay hidden, you know that?”
“There was no going back from the moment you took me.”
She turned away from me and climbed in the cupboard, nestling herself on the floor underneath her hanging clothes. I closed the door, sealing her away in the dark. I could only hope it wouldn’t remind her of the cell.
I went out to the intercom and buzzed Chuck in. I kicked her shoes under mine and hid her coat before I paced the hallway, waiting for him to come up in the lift.
When he knocked, I let him in.
“So, did you have a nice few days away?” he asked as we walked through into my living room.
“Yes.”
I’d told him I had to leave the city for a couple of days, but not where I went.
“I hope the little prick has got what we need. If it’s stuff we already know, then it’s useless.”
I grabbed the laptop from the coffee table and got rid of the evidence Avery had left open on there before Chuck had a chance to see.
“Want a drink?” I asked.
“Got any brandy?”
“Aren’t you driving?”
“So?”
I shrugged.
“You know I don’t drink brandy.”
“Well, whatever else you might have will do. Just make sure it’s strong.”
I rolled my eyes and carried the laptop through into the kitchen. I pulled out the memory stick Anthony had given me and plugged it in. I fixed Chuck a drink. Whisky. He’d appreciate that.
I took the glass and the laptop back through into the living room. He’d made himself at home on my sofa. Arrogant piece of shit. I hated having him here.
“Here,” I said, handing him the glass before sitting down.
I set the laptop on the coffee table and began going through the documents on the memory stick. I handed it to Chuck since he cared more about this than I did. He looked them over whilst sipping his whisky.
“Damn, this is good shit.”
“It should be, wasn’t cheap.”
Chuck smirked before turning back to the laptop. I really didn’t know why he insisted on going through this here. I could’ve got him the files tomorrow.
“You know, Aiden, you’ve been very cagey recently.”
“Have I?”
Where the fuck was this going?
“Mmm, ever since Mitch died.”
I shrugged. He pointed to something on the screen.
“I didn’t think the little fuck would come up with the goods, but here we are. Crime scene photos and everything.”
I didn’t need to look at them. I’d been there, but I indulged Chuck anyway. The satisfaction of seeing Mitchell and Kathleen dead calmed me. I’d taken away their lives after what they’d done to me. To me fucking personally.
“You know who’d get off on seeing this shit? Fucking Frazier, the dirty bastard. He has a thing about blood.”
Why’d he have to go bring up that sick shit? I knew all about his sickening desires.
“Does he now?”
“Fucking sicko likes to torture woman. I’m surprised his wife doesn’t know. Perhaps she’s like Kath was. She liked watching Mitch.”
And that’s exactly why both Avery’s parents had to die. Because her mother was just as sick in the fucking head as her father.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“No, of course not. Frazier went apeshit when Mitch died. Never seen someone so incensed. He is on the fucking warpath.”
Exactly why I stayed out of his way. As much as I wanted Frazier Shaw dead and in the fucking grave, he was a key player in this game. The game I was playing to win. Win or die. He’d get his comeuppance soon enough.
“It’s all shit. The whole fucking thing.”
“Damn right it is.”
Chuck handed the laptop back to me and sipped his whisky. I set the files to transfer on to my laptop. When they were done, I pulled the stick and tossed it to him. He pocketed it.
“Well, I shan’t take up more of your time.”
He knocked back the whisky and popped the glass on the coffee table, standing.
“I’m going to ask you something, Aiden, and I want you to answer me honestly.”
I tensed. Was this about me being cagey?
“You don’t happen to know who killed my brother, do you? You and I both know your past dealings with my family and I wouldn’t want that to get in the way of our little arrangement.”
I kept my expression neutral even though my heart slammed against my chest and sweat beaded at the back of my neck.
“Why would I know? The first time I met your brother was when you introduced us last year and I only saw him once after that.”
Chuck eyed me for several long moments, then he smiled.
“I thought not, but it never hurts to ask. Anyway, I can see myself out.”
I clenched my fists as he walked away down the hall. I watched him, making sure he left and didn’t fucking pry into my flat any further.
When the front door slammed, I bolted from the room. I ripped open the cupboard door in the bedroom and there she was.
“Is he gone?” she asked.
I pulled her up out of the cupboard and crushed her to me. She hadn’t come out. She’d stayed.
Fuck. Avery. Fuck.
The relief I felt crashed over me, melting my broken soul into a puddle a
t her feet.
“Aiden? Is he gone?”
“Yes. Yes, he’s fucking gone and you’re still here.”
“Did you forget I don’t like my uncle?”
“No, but you could’ve come out and then this would’ve been over. He’d have known it was me all along.”
“I told you I’d keep your secrets.”
She had. And I’d believed her to an extent. She’d proven right then she was willing to stay with me even though she could’ve exposed everything.
I stroked her hair. So beautiful. So fragile. So strong. And all mine. Her arms banded around my back.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she said. “I’m staying of my own free will.”
I was losing.
Losing myself to her.
And the connection we forged the day she’d walked into my life.
Chapter Fifteen
Avery
I didn’t feel like talking about the things I’d found out about my family. I shoved those emotions in a hole and locked them up. The pain was too real. Too visceral.
“Aiden, you’re squishing me.”
He let me go, his eyes wild with too many emotions to decipher. Leaving his arms always tore at my heart.
Stupid girl. You just sealed your fate. Stupid, stupid girl.
I sat in the cupboard, waiting. Indecision plagued me. When it came down to it, I couldn’t leave. I picked a side. I picked Aiden. The man who gave me such a complex array of emotions, I could barely get them straight in my head.
Aiden could help me make this right. Help me change the course of history.
Stop my family. End the abuse. Abuse of power. Abuse of people.
Their greed. A sickness. A curse.
“We need to talk about your family. What you learnt, what you saw, that’s not everything,” he said.
So I wasn’t getting out of a conversation with him about it.
Great.
“What else could there possibly be?”
“It goes beyond money and girls. They know powerful people. People who rely on their services and keeping each other’s secrets.”
“What services?”
“You saw the video. Do you think that’s normal? Trust me, there’s more. Playing out their sick fantasies in exchange for silence. In exchange for underhand business dealings.”