Syrus Easton is there, but he’s being held back by hospital security staff as he tries to beat up Ace who stands there looking cool and unbothered, standing right beside. . .his father, Philip King.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Noah demands as soon as he notices the commotion in the room as well.
My chest is heaving up and down so fast, I might give myself a heart attack but then Syrus starts shouting again, pointing at Ace.
“You killed my son! You had him murdered!” He shouts, a look of absolute anguish and terror on his face as he looks straight at Ace who doesn’t move.
What?
Frozen, I stare at Ace as he meets my gaze but only for a brief second, then he looks away.
“For the last time old man, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Ace says, looking indifferent but I know better. I can see his pinky twitching from here.
“Oh, don’t give me that! Philip, you molded your son after your own image, I’m sure. You must be relieved that he’s now running around doing your work because you’re not man enough to accept that the Kings have been stripped of all their power in Westbrook.” Syrus shouts, now looking at Philip King who has his hands in his pockets, completely at ease.
“First of all, Syrus, this is a hospital, can you respect the sick and elderly by keeping your voice down.” Philip starts speaking. His archaic and soft tenor reminding me of the devil’s whisper.
Oh God, I could gag.
This is the father of the man I love. This is his lineage.
“And secondly, we had nothing to do with your son’s unfortunate passing, but that does seem tragic to you now since you don’t have an heir. And now you’re looking for someone to blame but that won’t work. I’m here to see the dead body, have you sign the papers and you will no longer be a part of power in Westbrook. It’s simple.”
Everything in me freezes and I gasp.
Dead body. . .
Syrus no longer has an heir.
“He’s dead?” Noah questions, the words seeming to have been birthed from the deepest part of his belly. “Emmett is dead?”
I watch as Philip King turns to look at Noah, gives him a cool appraisal then dismisses him as if he’s not worth of his time—but that look—I can’t help but feel that Philip has something in store for Noah.
“It’s unfortunate yes, but there was a complication with the heart surgery. The doctors did all they could but unfortunately, Emmett didn’t make it.” Philip speaks, as if he’s the doctor that operated the surgery or the father of the patient, and in each case, he’s neither.
But he is the artist of this storm. He’s the one who has waged war on the families of Westbrook. The goal? Ultimate power and reverence.
“You!” Syrus’ voice shouts as he turns to look at me. “You little witch!” Syrus growls as soon as he spots me standing there, just inside the foyer from the stairwell door, his eyes wide with something close to murder. If looks could kill. . .
“You did this!” He shouts, looking at me.
A tremble moves through me and I start backing away, unable to say a single word.
“Oh Syrus, let’s not get carried away. What can a little girl who was clearly at school by the looks of it, have anything to do with your son’s death?” Philip King questions
“No! My son is dead! And she’s the reason!” Syrus shouts.
No, there must be a big mistake Emmett isn’t dead. Emmett is still alive, there is no way that he’s dead. . .
“I. . .” I stutter.
“Admit it!” Syrus shouts, as the security guards try to hold him back. Ace moves just as Noah does, both of them now in front of me, blocking me from Syrus’ view. “You couldn’t go through with the deal, so you went to your boyfriend thinking that he’ll save you and now he has murdered my son!” He shouts.
“Are you happy now, huh?”
“Syrus please. We all know that your agitation has nothing to do with the passing of your son but has everything to do with the power you just lost.” Philip says.
“You think you’re so smart huh, Philip?” Syrus starts laughing. “You think you own all this land. You think you have power, you have world leaders in your pocket, dignitaries under your thumb. Armies at your disposal but we both know you don’t!” Syrus starts laughing as the guards start dragging him away.
“The estates and all of Westbrook Blues belong to one man, and he’s coming. I know you feel it in your gut. He’s coming!”
Philip follows the guards as they go with Syrus, leaving a volatile Noah, a brooding Ace and a trembling me in the large waiting room.
No one says anything for a while as we all stare at each other until finally, Noah speaks.
“The next words that come out of your mouth, better be the fucking truth King, because this time, you’ve gone too far with your psychopath tendencies.” Noah barks as he takes even, measured steps, walking towards Ace who just stands there, now lighting a joint as Noah approaches.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” Noah grits out, each word a prayer but we’re in a cursed time, prayers don’t work.
I watch, holding my breath as Ace looks directly in his eyes, then he looks past Noah’s shoulder over to me. Our gazes lock and hold and for the first time I see him for who he really is.
Please say no. I beg with my eyes. Please come back to me. Please be the boy I love.
But that’s the thing about hope isn’t it, it doesn’t work in the moments you desperately want it to.
“Don’t waste your time asking questions when you already know the answer.” Ace bites out, puffing his joint, watching me still.
In that moment, I break.
The blank, dark look in Ace’s eyes right then, told me and everyone else who is still looking at us, not knowing what to do, that he simply didn’t care about what he had done.
He simply didn’t care that he was responsible for Emmett’s death.
He didn’t care that he broke his vow and promise to his brothers, to always protect and never divide the Blue Boys.
He just didn’t care.
So it didn’t surprise me at all that the slow pounding of my heart and the painful stirrings in my broken and shattered soul told me that I had never hated him more than I do right now.
And I don’t think I was ever going to forgive him. . .
Right now, he looked every bit the darkest king ever. He was a king, deserving of a crown. A crown of thorns for all his hate and what he has done.
“You sonofabitch!” Noah shouts and then he charges for Ace who doesn’t move or do anything, he just lets Noah pummel him as nurses, guards and all sorts of people run into the waiting room.
Shouting starts as commotion grows.
My vision becomes blurry with each second that passes.
“Emmett is dead!” Noah shouts.
“Your best friend is dead you, sonofabitch!”
The sound of flesh being torn can be heard in the distance bit all of a sudden, I can’t take it anymore.
Opening my mouth, I let loose a scream that pierces my own eardrums but everything that happens after that, I have no recollection.
I don’t know when I stop screaming or when I come to but when I do, a deathly still silence is around me, a true representation of death around us.
I’m in a hospital room, with the lights muted and soft. No one is here with me but an I.V is shoved in my arm and the machines in the room that indicate that I’m still alive, beep softly but they lie.
I’m not alive. Not at all.
I look around, my head pounding, I reach up and touch the back of my head where it feels tender and I realize as images of me collapsing flash behind me eyelids.
I fell and hit my head, hard.
Why I didn’t fall and die is beyond me
“Get the fuck out of here before I have them arrest you, don’t fucking test me and the lengths I’ll go to ruin you Allory or Pace or whoever the fuck you are.” Noah’s voice filters from outsid
e my door and I immediately sit up straight.
Allory?
Is Kim here?
“Noah please, I have to tell her something.” I can hear Kim’s stressed out voice, sounding shrill as if she’s holding in tears.
“More lies? I think not.” Noah growls, getting really angry now. “She’s dehydrated, hasn’t eaten in over seventy-two hours, she has a minor concussion. If you were her real friend, you would have seen these signs earlier and forced her to fucking eat or fucking take care of her!” Noah is shouting now and I push the blankets away. I need to stop this.
“You and your fucking Blue Boys are the ones who did that to her!” Kim counters, now shouting as well. “You have so much power over her that you can’t even see it! You take her for granted. You say you’re protecting her, but all you do is destroy her.” She shouts.
“And you were what exactly, protecting her too?” Noah laughs, bitterly.
I cringe as I hear the sound. “Get the fuck out of here and a word of advice to trash like you, drive out of town Allory.” He seethes.
“Why?” Kim’s voice is a stutter as she asks that dreaded question.
“Because as soon as Astraea is out and we bury my brother, I’m going to hunt you down and empty every molecule of the rage that I’m feeling on you!”
“Do your fucking best asshole, I’m not leaving here without seeing her!” Kim shouts.
“Noah shut it. You’re going to get us kicked out.” Someone says, trying to shush Noah.
“Spider, get this bitch out of here and please make sure she doesn’t come near here.” Noah grits out. “That goes for you too, King. Get fucking lost!” Noah’s voice has dropped to a dangerous tenor.
Ace is out there?
I quickly walk over to the door, dragging the I.V pole with me as I go. Opening it slightly, I peep through and immediately spot a shaky Kim whose eyes are locked on Spider.
Ace and Noah’s gazes are locked but it’s Spider who speaks first.
“Are you going to tell them or should I?” He starts and I arch my eyebrow, watching the exchange. What is he talking about?
“I came here to tell her but what about you? Should I tell them or will you?” Kim cocks her head, watching him back but Spider remains mute and motionless, watching her.
I push open the door but no one notices me yet as the first bomb drops.
“Your dear friend here, that you trust with your fucking lives and treat like a henchman, is part of the Phoenix Corps.” Kim announces, folding her arms, turning to look at Noah. “Did you know that?”
The Phoenix Corps? What the hell is that?
I watch as Noah and Ace shift on their feet, tense and restless but they don’t look shocked at all as they watch her.
“We fucking knew that, you don’t have anything to say that will shock us.” Noah says. “What you should be telling us is how you know about this damn lethal, fanatic organization of killers.”
An organization of killers.
“I know more than you think.” Kim seethes, getting agitated, not used to the wall that Noah has just put up, shutting her out.
“Unless of course you’re going to admit that you had your best friend murdered because you couldn’t handle to sting of rejection and take it like a man, then go hang.”
Those last words are directed at Ace who growls low in his chest.
“Whoa, that’s not what we should be focusing on.” Spider says, quickly stepping between Ace and Noah. “Your little friend here, Kimberly Allory, is kind of part of the Phoenix Corps too, by blood apparently, just like the rest of them, she was given an assignment.” Spider explains, watching Ace and Noah.
“What kind of an assignment?” Ace demands.
“Well, as far as I’ve searched, it started the first day of school.”
“The day Astraea started school with us?” Noah voice is incredulous, filled with disbelief as he looks at Kim in shock and then disgust. She starts shaking then.
“What fucking kind of assignment was it?” Ace questions again, this time with a tone of voice that makes my blood run cold and my heart pound.
“Well, she was to spy on you and Astraea. Report your whereabouts your habits, you know the little details and everything.”
“So, she was a plant huh?”
What?
This is too much.
First, I find out that Ace moved on with Brittney. Brittney shit all over me, basically announcing a secret that I didn’t know all along, making me look like a damn fool when she said her sister was the girl I had come to rely on.
And then I find out that Emmett is dead and the circumstances surrounding his death are suspicious and they all point at Philip King and his son who I’m stupidly, foolishly, pathetically and irrevocably in love with.
And now, it’s even worse. Kim was a plant all along. A spy.
“You have no idea what I have gone through to get here, I’ll be damned if you shame me for the sacrifices I’ve had to make for my sisters and I but Astraea, I love that girl! She’s my best friend.”
“A best friend that you lied to all these months as you wormed your way into her life. You’re just like your shit sister.” Noah spits out, his words harsh and void of any emotion.
He just. . .shuts down.
“I have one question to ask you and you’re going to be fucking honest and then leave, is that clear.” Spider grits out, watching Kim. In this moment, Spider as this thunderous expression that makes a shiver go down my spine. From where I stand, he’s the most scary I’ve ever seen him. Danger and death oozes from him, morphing with the deathly stillness that radiates violently from the tall, muscular, sexy as hell, body of death beside him.
I shiver.
“Anything! I’m not a liar.” Kim says and I step a bit closer, moving quietly as I slip through the door.
I watch as Spider types something on his ipad and then he extends it to Kim.
“Who is this man?”
Kim accepts the ipad but as soon as she sees the image of the man Spider is questioning her about, all the color on her face drains and she suddenly looks like a ghost.
“That’s. . .” She stutters.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ace demands, then he snatches the ipad from Kim’s hands so he can see the image himself.
“You asked me to find Brittney’s father, so I did a thorough search with the new materials you got from Brittney and since you told me these two are half siblings, I did a co-search. I found this.” Spider explains but I watch Ace’s whole body start to tremble.
His fingers start twitching. His gorgeous face clouds over. Sweat dots his brow and I can feel the pounding of his heart from here.
Who is that man?
“Well, who is he?” Spider questions Kim, looking at Ace as he does.
Something isn’t right here.
“That’s my father. . .” Kim confesses and then breaks down crying as she sinks to the hospital floor, unable to hold her weight up.
“This man is your father?” Noah questions as he snatches the ipad from Ace who is completely frozen and hasn’t moved. He doesn’t say a word and as dread moves through me, this time its fangs sink into me until I can’t breathe. “He looks like. . .”
“Astraea and a bit of George.”
Devastation. . .
I take a step closer to them as Ace looks up then and spots me, but there’s no shock in his eyes. He knew I was there all along. But he doesn’t announce my presence, so I decide to speak.
“Show me that ipad.” I demand, not looking at anyone in particular, just at the damn ipad, feeling compelled to it somehow.
The whispers come back.
I can hear them in my head as goosebumps graze my arms.
“Astraea, you should be in bed, go back.” Noah starts but I lift my hand up to halt his movements.
“Show me.” I say, ignoring Kim and Ace altogether, like they don’t exist. They are the face of my hurt, my anguish and my turmoil that I haven’
t begun to exploit but I want to see the image on that damn ipad. I also want to see the man that just spooked the hell out Ace.
“Baby girl I don’t think now is the time.” Spider starts but I shoot him a deadly look too.
“Show her.” Ace bites out. With a sigh, Noah extends the ipad to me,
I accept it with one hand, the other on the I.V pole.
I tape the screen to bring it to life, my stomach sinking.
As soon as I notice the dark, bottomless eyes and the scar that runs from the man’s jaw to his hairline, cutting across his eyes, where he now wears an eye patch, the ipad slips between my hands.
No. . .
I can’t breathe.
The man not only looks like me. . .
“Astraea?”
I start falling as well, following the ipad to the stark, cold tiles on the floor but Noah and Spider quickly catch me.
“Astraea do you know this man?” Noah questions, a sense of urgency in his voice.
I look at him, then at Kim who can’t even look back at me as she hugs her legs to her stomach and then to Spider who nods his head, his eyes filled with pity as he stares back at me.
I look up at Ace who still stands there, his fists now white knuckled, eyes glued on the ipad where the picture of him is still displayed.
I’m drowning.
No.
Oh God.
“Yes.” A broken whisper leaves me.
“Who is he?” Noah questions
Kim already answered that. According to her, that’s her father.
But to me, and what happened to me four years ago, the horrid memories now mentally flashing in my head.
This man. . .is the one that raped me.
And as I look up at Ace, begging him to look at me, I see it too. Our gazes connect and pain slices through me as devastation makes its final act.
The same man that raped me, sodomized and molested Ace.
And that man is Kim’s father. . .
Heartbeat
Heartbeat.
Heartbeat.
“Fuck, you die for a few hours and then wake up to this.” A voice speaks from behind Ace.
We all turn and there he stands, a dark look on his face as he stares at the image on the ipad at my feet.
Vicious Hate (Westbrook Blues Book 2) Page 39