by Maddie Wade
Matty had taken it well; Marco had been amazing with him and had explained that mummy had to go because she was so good that God had needed her in heaven. Matty had been understandably upset, but had accepted that. Everyone knew what a wonderful person Lizzie had been so her becoming an angel to her son had seemed normal.
The meeting started to break up, and she realised she had zoned out again. Dane caught her eye, and she went to him. She sat her bum on the edge of the table and looked down at him as she crossed her arms over her tummy.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“How you doing Bratfink,” he said without his usual jokey manner, but it still managed to crack a tiny smile out of her.
“I’m okay,” she shrugged her shoulder, “the same as everyone I guess.”
“We need to talk about a memorial,” he said, and she felt her back stiffen, and the need to flee was so strong she had to lock her knees to keep from running from the room.
She shook her head, “No, not yet,” she said in a weak voice.
Dane reached forward and took her hands, “Luce, we need to do something for her, to say goodbye,” his voice was rough as he said the words.
“Please Dane a few more weeks, I’m just not ready, and dad is so weak still,” she begged. Her brother considered her words as he looked at her, before nodding. “Okay, a few weeks, and then we’ll talk again.”
“Thank you,” she said and rose to leave. She was meant to be working with Zin today not that she was much use at the moment.
Walking out of Fortis Lucy got into her car and started to drive. She kept driving until the sky went black and the night descended.
Chapter Thirty-One
Jace was out of his mind with worry until he got a text from Lucy saying she was okay and just needed some time on her own. He fought the urge to tear the place apart looking for her. Dane said he didn’t know where she was and he was telling the truth.
Jace hadn’t wanted to do it, but he’d read his mind. He had texted her back asking her where she was but she wouldn’t tell him. He’d spent the first part of the night at his flat but around midnight had packed a bag and gone to her place. This felt like home now. His place felt empty and cold.
He lay in what he thought of as their bed and thought about everything she had been through lately. It was a wonder she hadn’t run before now. He’d been feeling her flight instinct kicking in lately. He would give her two days then he was going looking for her. No, he would find out where she was first and then he would give her two days. She thought she needed to be on her own but what she really needed was family.
The next morning Jace went to see Zack. If anyone would know where Lucy was it was Zack. He drove down the drive towards Zack’s beautiful home. Parking his Mercedes, he got out and rounded the front of the bonnet. It was hard not to think about how much had happened since he came here last.
The door opened, and Zack stood back to let him in. He followed him to the same room in which he and Lucy had hammered out their differences. He looked at the couch and couldn’t help but smile.
“What can I do for you, Sly?” Zack asked as he went to stand with his back to the fireplace.
“Where is she?” Jace asked not beating around the bush.
“By she, I presume you mean Lucy.”
“Yes, I mean Lucy,” Jace said angrily, his temper starting to slip. Zack turned and grabbed his coffee off the side table. He took a sip before answering.
“I don’t know,” he said, his face a mask of nothing. It was that control that told Jace he was lying.
“Don’t lie to me, you know I could find out if I chose to, now I’m giving you the courtesy of not invading your privacy, so please give the fucking courtesy of telling me where the woman I love is. I get that you take your promises seriously, but I won’t go to her unless I feel I need to. I just need to know where she is,” he said in a heartfelt voice.
Zack said nothing and Jace sighed and sat down. He speared his hands through his hair. He looked back at Zack and said, “Do you know what it’s like listening to the woman you love crying and screaming in her sleep because of her grief and loss and knowing the only thing you can do is be there and hold her. To know that you’re the only comfort she feels when she is feeling weak and heartbroken.”
“I know Luce, Zack, and she has gone because she sees me hurting for her and even now wants to protect those she loves. Do you know how I felt last night knowing that if she had a nightmare or woke up crying that she would be alone, that there would be nobody to comfort her?”
Zack shook his head, and Jace could see he was getting somewhere.
“No, I don’t,” he said.
Jace tipped his head down looking at the floor, before looking up at Zack.
“I hope you never do, but if you ever did I would hope that someone would help you out like I hope you’ll help me,” he finished.
Zack moved and came to sit down next to him. “I won’t break a promise,” and he held up a hand to stop Jace’s outburst, “But I do know, so do what you have to do.”
Jace looked at him and felt a new respect for the man. He took down his mental barriers and let his mind feel for Zack’s thoughts. Then he had it. Burgh Island! He locked his barriers back up and stood. He put his hand out for Zack.
“Thank you, I owe you.”
Zack took his hand and shook his head. “Just look after her, she is my favourite, and she makes things a fuck of a lot better than you lot,” Zack smiled, and Jace did too.
He drove away from Zack’s wondering if he would need to give it two days. Maybe he could just go down there and be close but stay out of sight. Then if after two days she wasn’t moving towards coming home he could go see her.
With his mind made up, he sent a text to Zack to say he was taking two days leave and then started the four-hour drive to Burgh Island.
~~~
Rhea Winslow looked around the grounds of her private residence. Only a few knew where this place was. She had been forced to retreat here after her facility had been attacked with her in it. She had no compunction about levelling the building, it was just bricks and mortar, but the research they had lost would make her furious if she could feel anything.
Millions of pounds worth of equipment had been destroyed and with it valuable samples from their Prime Fecund. She had seen him as she escaped. He was a handsome one and would produce great offspring with the Chosen Sisters. She just had to figure out a way to make it work now that one of them was out of the equation.
She shook out one of her little pink tablets into her hand and swallowed it dry. She’d had to up the dosage lately to keep on top of the feelings she was getting. Being an empath was a cruel gift. Being overwhelmed by everyone’s feelings was vile. And to know she caused them was even worse. It was why he had invented the drug and started this whole program for gifted ones. To enhance and use gifts for the cause and to control the gifts, so they worked for the new world.
She pulled the hood of her cool coat up to shield her face from the wind. It was a bitterly cold night, but she had needed to clear her head and plan her strategy. Rhea had always done her best thinking outside. The fresh, clean air always cleansed her of the cobwebs in her head. She knew now that someone inside the Divine Watchers had betrayed her, she just wasn’t sure whom, but she would find out soon enough.
Her immediate problem was the fact that she had lost her loyal head of security and her test subjects. She had some new ones coming in on a flight from Iran. An eight-month tour of that shit hole would make them tired and open to the mind control drug. They would need to push them through and weed out any weak ones quickly. Her plans for the Olympics had to go ahead. It was the best option for distribution. From there it would only be a matter of months before the world was on its knees, then they could sweep in and assume control.
Elliot Henderson had assured her that his labs were safe and secure and Margo had driven down last night to make sure that this latest setback had
n’t hurt supplies too much.
Walking back towards her elegant home on the Isle of Man she felt satisfied that all would be well. She just needed to figure out her replacement for Michaels.
Rhea went inside and picked up her phone. Calling now was a risk for him, but she didn’t care. She let the phone ring and tapped her foot impatiently. The man was a weak fool, but luckily, he was in a position to help her. He answered on the third ring.
“Ah Mr Health Secretary how nice of you to take my call,” she sneered.
“Don’t say that out loud,” he hissed.
Rhea didn’t try to bite back the laugh. “I was just calling to say that our little project is well and on track. I didn’t want you to worry that the latest skirmish had set us back,”
She enjoyed toying with him. The fact that he really felt bad about what he was doing was funny to her. Why put yourself in such a weak position if you cared about the little people? Like most men, he allowed himself to be used and manipulated by sex and then cried like a baby when it went wrong.
“Fine,” he snapped, “don’t call me on this number again.”
Rhea had had enough of his disrespect, and her good humour was dissolving.
“Do I need to send the Surgeon to teach you how to speak to a lady Mr Secretary?” She asked in a cold voice. She could almost smell his fear it was so tangible as it came down the line.
“No Divine One of course not,” he stammered, and she curled her lip in disgust. Hideous little man.
“Fine, I’ll be in touch,” she said and hung up.
Chapter Thirty-Two
He sat in the tiny café on the beachfront and sipped his morning coffee. He had been there for two days and that was enough. The town of Bigbury-On-Sea was beautiful and quaint in every way an English seaside town should be. Like most seaside towns though, it was not built for out of season visits.
He had secured a room at a Bed and Breakfast and had gone looking for Lucy. He’d had to be extremely discreet. Lucy wasn’t an average person and would easily spot a tail. She also knew how to hide.
It had taken him the whole day to find out where she was staying. Across from the beach of Bigbury-On-Sea was a tiny island. It had one café, one hotel and that was it. Burgh Island as it was called could only be reached on foot when the tide was out. As the tide came in around the island you could get the water tractor, or in warmer weather swim it.
The water tractor only ran in season, and he was fucked if he was swimming it. So he waited until the tide went out and walked across. He’d noticed Lucy as she climbed up the bluff, her hair blowing all over her face.
She hadn’t turned or spotted him, so he asked around about her and then left. He’d gone around the back and of the hotel and easily climbed the fire escape and broken in through Lucy’s window. The smell had hit him instantly. Her smell, the essence of Lucy. He’d quickly scouted around and saw that all was well had turned to leave before he gave in and stayed. But he’d promised himself he would give her the two days.
His eye caught the dresser, and he noticed two pictures. Neither were in frames but dog-eared from being held. One was of Lucy, Dane, Lizzie and her parents on this beach by the looks of it. All of them had big grins, the children proudly showing off an elaborate sand castle. The other image was of her and him last New Year’s Eve. They had been laughing at something, heads together, thighs touching.
He remembered he had been thinking how beautiful she was and if there would ever be a New Year’s Eve where he could kiss her as he’d longed to do. Placing the pictures back down he stole a couple of chocolates from the packet of chocolate eclairs on the side and left.
He was now sitting in a tiny café waiting for the fucking tide to go out so that he could get to her. Last night, like every night since she had left she had texted him goodnight, and he’d felt better knowing where she was.
Walking to the beachfront he watched people go about their lives, not a care in the world. Well, they probably did have cares, but nothing like what they were dealing with. Jace wondered what it was like to have a nine to five job and decided he would probably be bored in weeks if not days.
He called his mum and spoke to her as he walked. “Hey mum,” he said when she answered.
“Morning baby boy,” she said, and he smiled to himself. No matter how old he got she still called him her baby boy. He’d fucking hated it as a teenager and had fallen out with her countless times over it. Now he saw it for what it was; affection.
“How’s Lucy?” his mum asked immediately. He told her how Lucy was and that she’d needed some time to get her head round losing Lizzie. His mum murmured her responses and agreed he was doing the right thing.
It was funny how you never got too old to get advice from your mum. He kept his eye on the tide and a soon as he saw a gap start to appear he finished up his conversation with his mother.
“I have to go, mum; I’ll call you in a few days okay,”
“Okay baby, give my love to Lucy.”
“Yeah mum and give mine to dad.”
“I will son, bye.”
They hung up, and Jace started hit ten-minute walk across the wet sand.
He walked to the hotel, and they told him she had not long left but hadn’t checked out yet. He followed the path he had seen her take yesterday and could see why she’d come here, it had a raw beauty and the tranquillity of the island sunk into your bones and soothed your soul.
Reaching the top of the cliff, he saw her off in the distance. She sat with her knees up, her arms hung loosely over them, staring off into the distance. She looked so peaceful, and he hoped that this trip had helped her in some way come to terms with Lizzie’s death.
He walked slowly not wanting to intrude but wanting to be close. He knew she had heard him, so he quietly sat down beside her. He didn’t speak, and neither did she. They both just watched as the waves broke over the rocks in the distance and buoys were thrown about by the surf. After a few minutes, she leant towards him, and he lifted his arm so that she could cuddle into his side. Lucy lay her head on his shoulder and then she started to speak.
~~~
Lucy had known he would come; she wasn’t angry. She was glad he had, she needed him to bring her home. She’d known as soon as she came back yesterday that he had been in her room. His scent clung to the air, and the smell had made her ache for him. However, she was glad she had come. Being away had helped her connect with her sister again. She had walked where she had walked and revisited beautiful old memories of an idyllic childhood up until it had all gone wrong.
Every summer they had packed up the caravan and driven here on a Friday night and stayed through until Monday. They’d made sand castles, played in rock pools, swam, played with kites and been kids. It was here that she realised all of her best memories involved her siblings or the man she loved. That was why she owed it to Lizzie to get to know Megan and give her what Lizzie couldn’t now; a loving family.
A family that played on the beach and barbequed banana’s stuffed with chocolate because they all loved them. Who spent Friday nights together because they loved each other’s company. She had cried and laughed as she remembered some of their antics but most importantly, she had said goodbye. Lizzie had loved her, and she wouldn’t tarnish that love by giving up. She would be the woman that had made that proud look come over her older sister’s face.
She felt a calm descend when Jace sat down next to her. He didn’t speak or push her he just sat offering his silent support. Lucy leant towards him, and he instantly lifted his arm so that she could move into him. His warmth and heat seeped into her bones, and she started to tell him about their summers there.
About the horse rides on the beach, the water tractor. Eating ice creams as they climbed to the top of the island. Dane’s antics when he had chased them with crabs he had caught in rock pools. Lizzie and her getting him back by throwing seaweed at him when he wasn’t expecting it and him squealing like a girl.
She laugh
ed as she talked and realised that she had many more happy memories than she ever would bad, and the last twenty years had been tainted by the bad and she wouldn’t allow it anymore.
After an hour or so, she had exhausted her stories, and her bum was cold and numb. Jace turned to her and looked into her eyes as if silently assessing her. She held his gaze and then whispered, “Take me home Jace,”
“Where is home baby?” he asked, and she knew what he meant.
“Home is wherever you are Jace.” She said and was rewarded with a look of such love and tenderness that she didn’t think she would ever forget it. He lowered his head to her and his lips softly feathered hers. She felt it like an electric shock down to her toes though.
She hoped they would always be like this, this passion and fire at just the touch of the lips. He pulled back before she was ready and she whimpered. His lips slightly touching hers he grinned and said,
“Pink and Kitsch it is then.”
She smiled and laughed; she had hoped he’d say that. She loved her house. He bent down and pulled her up to him. They walked back to her hotel and stayed there until the tide came in again.
~~~
Rhea Winslow walked outside to meet the private ambulance that had pulled up. The guards got out, and she recognised two of them. At least a few had survived, maybe they could help train the new recruits. The guard with the tattoos all over his neck opened the ambulance doors for her, and she stepped up. The patient was covered in tubes and had casts covering nearly every inch of their body from the waist down.
It was a miracle really, but one that made her see that God was on her side. She had spent a lot of money on this test subject and hopefully she could recoup some by having them nursed back to health so that she could put them to work.
She nodded her head,
“Put this one in the back room I have had set up,” she said to the doctor who had flown over with them. “I want you here and on call at all times. You,” she said and pointed at the two guards, “You will not leave this patient unattended. Do you understand?”