His pulse skitters beneath the skin at the crook of his neck as he swallows his emotions, looking at me like I laid down a milky way to my heart for him to follow. I stare at his eyes, feeling like I’m in the center of an amber ocean. The waters are too deep to dive beneath the surface but way too beautiful not to admire and crave to uncover.
“What now?” he huskily asks me, holding me like I’m a precious gem.
“Now we’re going to face our family. They have a lot to explain.”
He nods, looking at the mansion somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
“And then we’re going to savor our victory and make memories that will overshadow the bad ones.”
He chortles, and husky undertones make my heart skip a beat like little rays of sunshine snaking into my soul.
“I love this plan, Lovebird, I love it a lot.” His lips tug into a genuine smile and his eyes sparkle like gems at me. I skim my fingers up to the solid planes of his back, drinking in the way he shudders.
When we exit the chopper, we notice the family, waiting at the porch of the crispy white mansion with huge windows and exotic nature surrounding it. But my eyes are drawn to my children, who start running and screaming straight into my waiting arms. The impact brings me to my knees, and I weep, kissing their heads, holding on to their forms as my heart rejoices.
“Don’t cry, Mommy.” Leon’s eyebrows scrunch as he tries to scrape the grime off my skin with his sleeve.
“What happened to your face?” Liane strokes my filthy hair away from my eyes.
They cling to me with desperation.
“I need a shower to scrub this dust off me.” I can feel it dried on my skin, absorbing all the moisture. “You’re both okay?”
They nod, not caring for the dirt, melting into my embrace. I breathe in their sweet scent, grateful we all made it back in one piece.
“I love you so much. You were so brave.” I shake with emotions clogging my throat. “I am so proud of you.” And my words burst into dirty rivulets.
When my sisters and mom come, everything merges in shuddering blubbers of happiness and enormous relief. I cling to my family, absorbing the comfort of their familiar presence.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re safe. Your babies are okay,” my mom hums affirmations, stroking my hair as she weeps. “It’s over. You are safe, my love.”
My sisters turn their attention to Mark. They lurch in his embrace like two bullets. Their forms shudder as he holds them, letting them welcome him into the family, the only way they know how.
Leif grabs me from my mom and pulls me to him.
“Never ever leaving you,” he shudders, clamping his hands around me. “You’re stuck with me. We’re never ever doing this shit again.” He kisses my head and goes to Mark. I tear up, watching them reunite like two brothers.
Lucas separates from his team and comes closer when he notices I’m staring at him. He wraps his hands around me and watches Mark fit his jaded edges with our dysfunctional family like a missing puzzle piece.
“I just wanted to protect you,” he whispers into my ear. And I squeeze his arms wrapped around me, finally getting why he was so adamant about breaking us up. “I wanted you to be safe,” he confirms. Lucas was never a man of many words.
Hot tears slide down my cheeks as I speak. “If not for you, Lucas, I wouldn’t have made it. Your training was what kept me sane.” I turn around, and he wraps me in his arms, trembling from stress. “Is it why you taught me to know those things?” I rasp the question at him.
“I don’t have full authorization to tell you everything. But I figured back then that it was time to equip you with skills since our parents were mixed deep in criminal circles. You needed discipline and good training anyway due to your mental issues.” And it did come in handy.
“You could have told me.” I stare at him accusingly and he nods. But there is no regret in his wolf gray eyes, only steely determination. So, I lay my head back on his chest and let him hold me. A long time ago, I learned to trust him, knowing this man is loyal to the bone to his family and his country.
We won against all the odds because we were ready and more prepared.
My soul didn’t shatter.
I haven’t lost the man I love or my children.
This time, we were stronger and wiser to face the obstacles life dealt us. This time, we came back knowing what the prize of happiness and peace is.
And we won’t surrender it to anyone.
Not without a fight.
When they approach, my mind submerges in a bubble as if to protect itself.
They’re two people who played this orchestra of deception to the last note, who choked the demons with smoke and fire when they were unaware. Two people who kept us in the dark of tangled lies and deceits until the very last moment.
“I guess it’s time for the truth.” Darren grasps Helen’s hand as if they are about to walk into a trial.
~Mark~
After we wash away the dirt and grime, and medics patch us up, we gather in the living room to hear them out. My mind is so empty, it’s hard to build the walls to protect myself from an impact their story’s going to inflict on me.
Cassandra’s sitting emotionless, snuggled next to me like someone sucked the air out of her lungs and encased her in ice. And I’m glued to her side, as is her silently weeping sister, Raine. I breathe in her sweet scent, needing to reassure myself she is safe. We both look battered and way too tired for this conversation, but we’re done waiting, done running.
It's time.
Darren looks emotional, and I can see he struggles to find strength for this complicated conversation. But I have no sympathy left in me. It has been sucked out of me too. The negotiations with Lester and their attempt to block me from exchanging myself for Cassandra and the twins wiped me clean.
“You should start from the beginning, Darren. When your brother betrayed his little baby boy.” I try to make it easy for him, and by the way his face pales it makes me believe he didn’t expect me to know the truth. And it bothers him to speak about it.
“He told you . . .”
I nod, and he watches me with sympathy that I don’t need.
“Tell me how you saved us. How did you manage this enormous rescue mission?” If it would be this easy to hire military for such operations overseas, anyone could have done it, even me.
“Since we found you, we worked with several government agencies, trying to unravel Belington’s illegal operations. He was already on their radar, and since your father was involved with him, our family was also on their blacklist. I made a deal to help them to gather enough proof to seize Belington and unravel his network. It took us a decade and a half to get here.”
“All this time, you let me believe you were sleeping with the enemy.”
Darren sinks to the chair as if his legs are filled with lead, rubbing his tired face. For the first time, I notice his sunken eyes from stress and how much weight he lost. He looks old and drained.
“It wasn’t safe to tell you the truth, son. You were very angry in your teens, and later you grew to hate us. We couldn’t risk you doing something reckless and ruining it.”
“I resented you for not caring about what happened to me,” I point out.
“We needed him to trust us, to let us in on his operations,” he counters, and I try hard not to judge his decisions, but it weaves inside of me like venom. I see regret written all over him, digging into me. “After he killed our son, we needed to act quickly. It helped that Cassandra couldn’t remember the accident, just flashes of it. We buried the evidence and hoped Lester would forget about you. Except his hate ran way deeper than we thought.”
“He killed Logan because you took Mark, and he was his payment for allowing his wife to leave with your brother and ten million dollars,” Cassandra harshly reminds him, and Darren’s cheeks blaze, reacting to her accusations. “Eye for an eye, that’s what he told us.” A silent tear slides down his cheek as he no
ds, not negating her words.
“For some time, Lester didn’t show any interest in you, not until you two started working together. He couldn’t stand the thought of you being happy, or gaining more power.” He locks his gaze with mine. “It was only a question of when he’d try something like this. We needed him to believe we’d have no problem sacrificing any of you. It was the only way the agencies agreed to help us if we played him back. They needed evidence to put him in jail.”
Cassandra’s mom clasps a hand over her mouth to muffle the cries lodged deep in her throat. She didn’t know about this world and how perverted it is. Neither did her daughter.
“By allowing them to kidnap us?” Cassandra stares at Helen, who must have known this plan since she passed her a tracker just a day earlier. That’s how we knew where she was. “You knew he was watching you, and since you didn’t know who to trust, you seeded an idea that you resent me for surviving. You made me feel worthless, a toy to be paraded around. But to Mark, I was everything, and that sealed my fate.”
A strange look passes Darren’s eyes, but before I can decipher it, it disappears.
“Lester was so pleased with himself when he got me, my money, and my beloved woman. And when he made you betray us by saving your grandkids,” I utter in disbelief they actually didn’t, “he didn’t see that he was the one in the cobweb of your making.”
“I’m sorry for all that you went through, but this was inevitable. We couldn’t renegotiate the terms. We couldn’t tell you it was a trap. So, we planned for all the exit strategies and the abolishment of Lester’s reign instead.”
“What are we doing here?” I ask because Cassandra goes still and her fingers dig into the sofa, reacting to his statement. “We aren’t safe yet, are we?”
“Not until everyone’s charged and jailed for their crimes. For now, I want you to stay here until we know how successful this operation was. Your new IDs are arranged, as are your funds. No one will be the wiser to know what happened to you.”
We sit in heavy silence after we’re done talking, still coping with what they told us, still trying to wrap our minds around what almost ended in tragedy.
Cassandra springs to her feet. “I need some air.”
I find Lucas in the corner, separated from everyone else. His gray eyes catch mine, and I nod at him, grateful he was the one who stormed the island and brought us home.
~Cassandra~
I feel her presence before she sits next to me. “I don’t have a lot of energy to spare, Helen.”
“I know.”
“You believed in that lie.” I watch the trees slowly dance to the winds, bringing a sense of deceitful peace to my battered heart, choking inside my rib cage. “It wasn’t just an act.”
“Do you know how many times I wondered if you’ve never met, would he be alive?” She looks so regal, like a queen with righteousness as a cloak around her delicate shoulders.
“You’ve never allowed me to forget,” I simply state, feeling a pit in my stomach start to burn with injustice. “But it wasn’t my fault Logan died, was it?” I lock my gaze onto her, watching her facial muscles twitch in irritation. “You knew the truth from the beginning and let me carry this burden for so long. Why?”
“Because if he didn’t come to London, he would have been alive. And that is on you,” she spits words at me like daggers, flying straight toward me.
“You let me live with guilt and anguish, believing I caused his demise. You told me whoever loves me will die, and I believed you.” That fear, even now, has such a huge grasp on me. “You wanted to punish me, to see me struggle and on my knees, so you wouldn’t need to feel the guilt and responsibility for your son’s death. You placed it on my shoulders, using this devastation against me, and then watched me drown like an ant in her own tears.”
“That’s not true.” She jumps to her feet, her frame shaking and hands balled at her sides as if she’s ready to swing them at me. Her perfect façade, falling to pieces, and I’m about to crumble her throne, tear her power from her hands.
“And it wasn’t my love that killed your son. It was hatred for your family.” I crane my neck to look at her profile, needing to understand her. “And you still served that monster your son’s heart, knowing this is a piece of him, living inside the boy who never knew love.”
She pales, and her muscles go slack until I watch the wax figurine without a single speck of blush on her cheeks as she stares at me. “You know.”
“Lester was thrilled to tell me, just before he aimed his gun to shoot us.” My chin quivers, but I push through the emotions with all the strength I have. “How could you send Mark to that monster when he’s a keeper of your son’s heart?”
“I didn’t, I swear.” Her eyes glow with refusal. “He wouldn’t listen to us.” She tries to defend herself. “Mark contacted Lester himself.”
Of course he did. Mark knew that if he failed, Lester would break my babies, destroy me. He understood how evil and truly dangerous he was.
“Perhaps he would have trusted your judgment if you hadn’t stolen his chance to have a true family and know love. You made that choice for him, and he never learned to trust you. You stripped him of the chance to have a loving, caring family and safety.” I look at her heaving with emotions, flickering through her green eyes faster than the lightning.
She opens her mouth and shuts it closed as her crown crumbles at her feet. I finally see a human being. A woman with her flaws and mistakes, and desperate need to redeem herself.
“If you had told me, we could have protected my twins better, got prepared to fight this enemy. We could have made a better plan and had more control over how things turned out. We could have prevented all of this terror my children went through. But my opinion didn’t matter to you, did it?”
“We tried to protect you the best we could, you heard Darren,” she weakly blubbers.
“But you didn’t. You worked with agencies, but you forgot your family and how strong it is if we just had a chance to work together.”
“We succeeded, haven’t we? We brought you home. No more Lester, no more slave island.”
I jump to my feet like someone threw a stick of dynamite in the pit of my stomach.
“We’re alive not because of the perfect rescue mission, Helen. But because of Lester’s ego. He could have easily ordered his men to rape me, or my children, like he once did to Mark. He had five days to do it. Five damn long days.” I shake with resentment boiling inside my guts that she still doesn’t get it. “You took a chance to entrust the monster to hold his end of the deal. I understand your hate toward me, but you love my babies. They’re part of your son. How the fuck did you dare to gamble with my children’s lives?”
I didn’t even notice how the space between us vanished, and I stand toe to toe with her, breathing fire.
“We had everything under control.” She trembles, and I see my words are making holes in her logic that kept her righteous façade intact. Now it is crumbling like a castle at her feet.
“No, you did not.” I jab a finger at her chest, and she steps back, surprised at my violent fury. I jab a finger again, and she stumbles. “It was pure luck Lester hadn’t killed us a few seconds after he heard the first explosions.”
Helen freezes, gaping in shock as if someone just sucked the air from her lungs. Her green eyes fill up with terror and my fury withers.
“Your resentment for me almost left my kids orphans.”
“We tried to save our family! We tried to protect you!” Her shouts echo around us, scaring the birds. They bat their wings and leave us in the middle of the storm.
“Don’t you lie to me,” I clip and she gives in.
“You’re right, it was hard to see past my loss. I did enjoy seeing you punished, even if I knew the truth. Part of me wanted your pain.”
I blink and step back as if she punched me.
“From now on, don’t you dare to look at me from above, Helen. Not after this, not ever.”
>
Watching her glowing cheeks and eyes filled with fear, I finally grasp why I needed to speak with her. She has something that doesn’t belong to her.
“My self-worth was never yours to own. But it took me this long to understand the truth. I’m not worthless of love or second chances. I’m a woman just like you, wearing my flaws on my skin and living with my mistakes.”
Deep remorse filters through her fallen features as she sobs, clutching her middle as she finally understands. “Please don’t keep them away from me. Please.”
“I won’t. I didn’t come back from hell to torture you or strip you of the family that you’ve almost forsaken. I could have, but I chose to open this dark pit of pain so we could close it together.”
She nods as her eyes blur from relief and gratitude. But I waver to close the gap between us even if I feel her abyss so familiar to mine. It will take time to heal and forgive and finally trust her.
“Will you ever forgive us?” she echoes my thoughts.
“With time,” I respond as a little baby cry echoes close to where we stand, snapping us from our argument.
“Can we join you?”
I nod, smiling at Leif, holding his precious angel in the crook of his hands. Helen glances at the little girl, and her tears start to flow like a river down her cheeks.
“I thought I was doing the right thing.” She hugs her middle and leaves us.
“I heard it all.” He motions for me to sit on the bench, passing his daughter into my arms, and I press her tiny form close to my palpitating heart.
“Do you think I’m wrong?”
He exhales and looks at me.
“No, but they were convinced this was the only way. You’ll have to forgive them, even if you know they should have done things differently to ensure your safety.”
Tangled IN LIES (Book#3, IN YOU) Page 32