The Curse: The Butterfly Effect, Book 2.

by Margaret McHeyzer

  “Lexi,” she pleadingly whispers. Her begging twists the knife already piercing my heart. But I have to do what’s right for her. “Lexi,” she says again.

  I cast my eyes away from hers, focusing on one of the paintings. Breathing in a few times, I lift my eyes to meet hers. “I have to say goodbye,” I finally admit. The knife turns again. My heart hurts.

  “What do you mean?” Her tone is soft, she knows.

  “I can’t put you in danger anymore. It’s not fair to you.”

  We hear someone clear their throat, and we both look to the door where Jude’s unlocked it with a key and is patiently waiting. He gives me a curt nod, silently telling me we have to go. Dallas turns to me, her eyes brimming with more unshed tears. “Stay with me. My parents will let you move in.”

  God, I love her. “There are people who are on their way here, to get to me. And these people know what I can do.” She crinkles her forehead, wordlessly asking who they are and how they know. “My life has now changed, Dallas. It’ll forever be . . . different.”

  “We can figure out how to get this out of you. Maybe the people who are coming will help you . . .”

  She sounds so hopeful, but deep down inside, I know she’s not naïve enough to believe that. “I need to find out who they are on my terms, under my circumstances, not theirs.”

  “We can go to the police.”

  “Did you go to the police when you got back after Enzo kidnapped you?” Her eyes drop to the floor. “And why didn’t you?”

  She swallows and lets a tear drop before quickly wiping it away. “Because you told me not to. I don’t know who to trust anymore. I told my parents I ran away and was living on the streets, they were just thankful they had me back, I never told anyone.”

  “I have to do this, I have to walk away. It’s going to be one of the hardest things in my life, but I have to—in order to keep you safe.”

  “Move in with me,” she says again. This time with more fever. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “Alexa,” Jude calls from the door. We both look over to him, and I give him a small nod.

  “Until I figure out what this is,” I tap my temple, then add, “he’s the only one who can protect me. He’s the only one who has the means, and the nerve to pull the trigger in order to protect me.”

  Dallas cries, because we both know, as good as her intentions are, she could never kill anyone. And neither of us is innocent enough to think Jude wouldn’t. “Please, stay with me.”

  “I can’t,” I whisper.

  I take a step away from her toward the door where Jude’s waiting, but this isn’t the way we should end our friendship. She’s been my best friend, and to walk away like this is truly going to break my heart.

  Turning, I head back to her and throw my arms around her. The instant I do, I’m locked into a vision where she and her parents are watching TV. The news flashes up, and there’s a picture of me. The caption below it reads, ‘Kidnap victim found dead.’

  My heart leaps into my throat, and I clasp my hand over my mouth. Dallas cries into her mom’s shoulder while her mom embraces her and kisses her forehead.

  I don’t need to see any more. I can’t bear the thought of hurting Dallas. Dragging myself out of the vision, I hold onto my best friend.

  “Alexa,” Jude encourages once more. “We have to go.”

  Pulling away, I wipe at the tears running down Dallas’s face. The vision tries to pull me in, but I fight it, and I win. “I love you,” I whisper. I don’t tell her how my life will end soon, I refuse to tell her about my future. “Promise me something.”

  “What is it?” she says between sobs.

  “Forget me.”

  She howls even more, and I can’t help but let the sadness bleed from my soul. Dallas is the best girlfriend a person could ever have, but now the time has come to leave her.

  “I can’t,” she cries. “Please, reconsider.” She steps forward, and I step back.

  The quicker I say goodbye, the better for her. “I love you,” I say as I lay a kiss on her cheek.

  Wrapping my arms around my body I head out to where Jude’s waiting for me. “Are you okay?” he asks as he places his jacket over my shoulders. I shiver in response, wipe at the sensitive skin beneath my eyes and shake my head. “Here.” He holds the back door open for me, and when I get in, he leans down and smiles. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Closing the door, I watch as he speaks to Ronan, Ronan nods and then rounds the car to get into the drivers’ seat.

  Jude heads to Dallas, whose flushed cheeks are tear-streaked. My core twists with anguish, but it’s better this way. Jude talks to her, she nods her head in response. He steps away from her, but she lurches forward, grabbing his upper arm. He turns to look at her, and now it’s her turn to tell him something.

  Jude hangs his head while he listens to whatever she’s saying, and then he nods. His lips turn up into a smile, before he looks at her and says one more thing. I want to know what they’re saying to each other. I want to be there, to hear their words.

  I try and focus in on his mouth, to try to read his lips. The only thing I think he says is, ‘I promise, I will.’ He promises he will, what?

  He leaves her and heads down to the car Ronan has idling. I look past Jude’s shoulders and notice how Dallas is hugging herself, but she doesn’t look as broken as I expected. Don’t get me wrong, the tears are flowing down her cheeks, but she looks as if she’s accepted me leaving.

  “What did she say?” I ask as we head down the driveway. As the car gets further away, I watch Dallas getting smaller by the second. I don’t turn forward until I can no longer see her standing in the doorway.

  “She told me to make sure I look after you.”

  The swelling in my throat increases, and the stabbing pain in my chest becomes more hurtful.

  “I’m going to miss her so much.”

  Jude places his hand on my thigh and squeezes. “There’s something Ronan and I have been considering.”

  The tears finally stop, and I take several deep breaths to compose myself. “What have you been thinking?”

  “Ronan and I have been planning your death.”

  I don’t even react, I saw it in the vision. “I don’t think she heard you,” Ronan says from the front of the car.

  “I heard,” I breathe. “But I also knew it was coming.”

  “How?” Jude asks. I turn and tilt my head at him.

  “Really?” I question. “Really?” I say again.

  “So, it was successful then?” Jude asks.

  “The vision I saw was a news report that my body had been found. Whatever you have planned, makes the news.”

  “Excellent,” Ronan proudly announces.

  “Does anyone want to fill me in on your plan for killing me? Or are you just going to pull over and shoot me?” I ask, deflated by everything.

  The car fills with stoic silence. They’re both not telling me something. “Boss,” Ronan says. “She thinks we’re actually going to kill her.”

  “We’re going to stage your death, not actually kill you,” Jude clarifies. “We need to make sure anyone you were connected with can no longer be a target.”

  “You’d do that for me?” I ask. He diverts his eyes, darting them away from me. For a big, strong man, he’s suddenly become quite reserved. “How?”

  “We’ve lined up somebody who’s going to help us out.”

  “Absolutely not!” I shriek. “You’re not going to kill an innocent girl for me. No way!”

  Jude now relaxes back and shakes his head. “We’re not going to kill anyone, but someone owes me a favor. He’s got a dead body, and he’s agreed to help.”

  Confused, I screw my nose and silently question him. What is he talking about? “Huh?” I query.

  “All you have to know is this girl is already dead.”

  “Did she die because of me?” A sick feeling churns in my stomach.

  “No, she died of an overdose.”

&nbs
p; “Ewww,” I grumble. “Wait . . . she didn’t die of an overdose someone gave her to kill her for this reason, did she?”

  “Stop panicking, Lexi. No, she wasn’t given a bad hit, she was a junkie.”

  “How are you going to make her look like me? DNA? Fingerprints? All of those things won’t be me.”

  Jude chuckles, and so does Ronan. “We have favors owed to us,” Ronan says from the front.

  “Do I want to know?” I ask.

  “Probably a good idea if you don’t,” Jude answers. At which, Ronan lets out a huge laugh.

  “Then I don’t want to know.” Jude squeezes my thigh once more.

  Jude and Ronan speak to each other, and I choose to zone out and not listen. Even though they’re talking, I’m surrounded with cold silence. An ache inside me is trying to burst through, a pain so sharp and deep, I don’t think time will help with healing.

  My life has been so drastically altered. It’s been thrown into a continuous spin, and all I can do is hang on and pray that one day, some kind of normality will return.

  But I’ve lost everything important to me in less than six months. My parents have been killed, and now I’ve had to say goodbye to my best friend so I can ensure she stays safe. I don’t want her to suffer the same fate as my parents because of me.

  I simply couldn’t live with myself if I was the cause of her death too.

  Exhaustion finally creeps up on my body. My eyes begin to tire, as my eye lids grow heavier and heavier. I know we’re not far from Jude’s house, but I can’t seem to keep them open.

  Why does the car always make me tired? Is it the motion? The warmth?

  My head flops back, and my entire form heaves a sigh of relief. Closing my eyes, I sleep, dreaming of the life I once had that no longer exists.

  “Hi, Frank,” I say as I enter the kitchen. My nose is assaulted with delicious aromas, and I can’t wait to see what Frank’s creating.

  “Good evening, Miss Lexi.” He prepares dinner while I make my way over to him.

  He’s stirring something in a saucepan, and I peer over his shoulder. “What are you making?”

  “The meatloaf is in the oven and the mac and cheese is nearly finished.”

  “How about I finish dinner and you sit?”

  He shakes his head while smiling. “Oh no, Miss Lexi, it’s my job to look after you, not the other way around. And besides, it makes me happy to know you’re being looked after.”

  Frank is a genuinely beautiful man. With every passing day, I discover something new about him. He loves cooking; that’s a given. But he also loves playing chess. I look over to the long table and see the chess board set up and ready to go. “I have a feeling I’m going to kick your ass, Frank,” I say as I sit on the opposite side, tapping my fingers on the counter.

  Frank looks up from the stove and raises his brows at me. “Are you challenging me?”

  “Not at all, I’m just saying, I’m going to kick your butt,” I cheekily reply.

  “Oh no, not gonna happen on my watch.” He tries to come across as arrogant, but Frank is the sweetest old man I’ve ever met. “Just you wait ’til you’ve eaten, then I’m taking you down,” he adds.

  “Do you know if Jude’s joining us tonight?” It’s been days since I’ve seen Jude. He disappeared the morning after we returned from the failed attempt at the day spa, and I’ve only seen him in passing.

  “He hasn’t given me instructions to cook for him,” Frank replies in a small voice.

  “Okay.” I breathe out, quite disappointed how Jude’s vanished and hasn’t even told me where he was going or when he’ll return. A twinge of hurt grasps my heart, I had hoped I meant more to him. “How long before dinner?” I ask, distracted by my bruised ego. Jude isn’t even bothering to talk to me.

  “Not too long.”

  I stand from the table, and start making my way out of the kitchen. “I’m going for a walk.”

  “Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” Frank calls as I leave the kitchen.

  When I get out to the foyer, I look around and try to figure out where I should go. I’ve been living here for a while now, and I’ve yet to discover the entire house. But I don’t feel like staying in, so I make my way through the large sunken lounge room, out the back door, past the huge pool, and toward the meticulous, green gardens. It’s late and the sun is sitting on the horizon, nearly gone for the day.

  Down at the back of the property, I sit on the grass and let my hand run over the pristine sprigs. Lying down, I gaze at the sky, and watch as a few stars try to sparkle through the darkening sky.

  “Do you think we’ll ever find an answer?” I ask the sky. “Do you think it could ever be taken out of me?”

  Linking my fingers together, I place them beneath my head and watch as the sky darkens. The moon is huge, and bright, and surprisingly close.

  “What happens if they can’t?” But then, an intriguing thought comes to mind. “What if I don’t want them to remove it?” God, what am I saying? If I don’t have them—whoever ‘they’ are—remove it, it means I’ll have this thing for the rest of my life.

  But, what if, since I have this thing, I use it to benefit people? Ugh, how frustrating. Because I know I’ll always be used, or people will try to take me so they can use this gift I was given for their own advantage. I don’t want to be a pawn in someone else’s deadly games. What if I can hone into this, really master it, and use it to help?

  “Ugh,” I grumble to myself, even more discouraged then I was when I first arrived out here. “What do I do?” I ask myself.

  “What do you do about what?” I tilt my head up, looking at Jude upside down. He approaches me, and sits on the grass next to me. I follow him with my eyes as he plonks down in his expensive suit with his ultra-trendy, expensive shoes. “What do you do about what?” he asks again.

  I turn over, leaning on my left arm, and balancing my head on my fist. “I’m just thinking out loud.”

  “About what? Maybe I can help you decide.”

  “Well, no you can’t. But, I’m thinking about what to do.”

  Jude rakes his hand through his hair. “About?” he asks persistently.

  “About this ability I have.” He chuckles. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I sit up and cross my legs. But my adrenalin is pumping and I’m ready for an argument with him.

  “You’re not going to do anything about it.”

  “Wait up, what do you mean?”

  “It’s something most people would kill to get their hands on, and you have it. You have the golden egg, Lexi, you aren’t giving it away.”

  “Hold up, Jude, you’re not telling me what to do here.”

  “Looks like I am,” he says in a cavalier manner.

  No way. He is not going to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. “Jude, you do realize, this is my body, my life, and I’m going to make decisions for myself.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Alexa.”

  What the hell? “Did you just call me stupid?”

  “Chill, will you?”

  “What?” My blood hammers furiously through my veins. “Jude, this has nothing to do with you.”

  “It has everything to do with me.” He laughs condescendingly. He damn well laughs at me!

  “How does it involve you?” I stand to my feet, and place my hands to my hips. Holding my head high and puffing out my chest, giving a more dominant, feisty vibe. Jude also jumps to his feet and moves in front of me. “Intimidation doesn’t work on me.”

  “God knows I’ve tried.” He screws his face up trying to lighten the situation. But this isn’t going to go away. I want to know what makes him think he has any choice in what I do.

  “This doesn’t involve you.”

  “Of course it does.”

  “No, Jude. It doesn’t. This is all happening to me. I’m the one who was given this, not you. I’m the one whose world has fallen apart, not you. I’m the one who’s had her parents killed because some asshole want
ed to teach me a lesson, not you. I’m the one they’re after, not you.” Annoyed and upset, I poke my finger into Jude’s chest with every point I’m making.

  “It’s got everything to do with me.”

  “Ugh,” I grunt loudly as I turn to walk back toward the house.

  “Don’t walk away when we’re having an argument.”

  “This isn’t an argument. It’s you being a stubborn ass.”

  “You’re still walking away.” He catches up to me easily, and walks beside me.

  “Go away. I’m so damned angry right now.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, I live here.”

  We get to the house, and I slam the door after I enter, leaving Jude outside. I head to my bedroom, but I know he’s following because of his heavy footsteps behind me. “Go away,” I say as I enter my suite and try to slam the door in his face.

  “No. You’re being ridiculous.”

  “Why, because I want to live a normal life? What’s ridiculous about wanting to wake up and be able to go out without having to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly right. You’re being stupid and ridiculous.”

  “Seriously.” I storm away from him. “Just get out,” I yell, pointing my finger toward the door.

  “No,” he roars as he approaches me.

  “At this moment in time, I’m furious, and I can’t talk to you when all I hear is bullshit coming out of your mouth. Maybe later, when I calm down, we’ll be able to have a conversation, but I fail to see how the hell this involves you. This is my decision, and my decision alone.”

  He takes another step closer to me, and I plant my feet firmly to the floor. I refuse to move, and I absolutely refuse to let him bully me. “This is about me too, Lexi.”

  “No!” I yell at him, wiggling my finger in his face. “No, this has nothing to do with you. It’s all about me. Not you. You’re not the one who’s being affected by this.”

  “Like hell I’m not. You’re my responsibility. You’re living with me.” He takes another step closer to me.

  Did he just say that out loud? “I’m not your responsibility.”