“And if we ambush Kyler before we have concrete proof, that could cause more problems than warranted,” Saint added.
“I’m going to talk to KC when I get back. I need to figure out what the hell my father is up to. If I can pinpoint what he’s doing, I can figure out how Kyler fits in with all of this,” I murmured.
And once I found out what the hell he was up to—if guilty—he was as good as dead.
AURORA
I was back at the safe house, back in the living room where the only light that filled the room was the fire from the fireplace. Stephanie was there again, doing as she had before, managing the fire with the fire poker. This time, she wore a white silk nightgown that stopped a few inches above her knees.
“Why am I here again?” I asked, looking around.
“There’s something else you need to know,” she said, her back to me.
I ran a hand through my hair and let out a strained laugh. “I must be losing my fucking mind. I’m having dreams about a dead woman who has a ‘message’ for me,” I said sarcastically, the rest of my words disappearing when she turned around.
Unlike last time, she was riddled with holes. One in her forehead and the rest littering her torso.
“Is this the fate you want?” she asked softly.
“No,” I whispered.
She took a step forward but paused. “Can I show you something?”
“I don’t know if I want to see any more. I don’t know what’s real anymore,” I murmured, shaking my head.
I just wanted to wake up. This couldn’t be real. Why was this happening now? Why was it happening to me? How was my brain able to conjure thoughts and ideas of someone I didn’t even remember while awake?
“Aurora,” her voice said. I looked at her, seeing her standing there with her arms stretched out to me. “I need you to know. I need him to know.”
“Him? Bennett?” I asked.
“Yes. He needs to know the truth. It’s the only way you won’t end up like me,” she said.
I hesitated for a moment before I finally closed the space and cautiously put my hands into hers. At first nothing happened; she just disappeared.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled out loud, looking around.
I wasn’t in the safe house anymore. I was in a bedroom, the fireplace crackling softly. The sound of hangers moving around in the closet caught my attention.
“I’m so happy for you, Steph. Pretty soon we’re going to have to clean this closet out to switch out your maternity clothes.” Carrie appeared from the doorway of the closet and shrieked. “There’s going to be a baby in the house soon! I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen a baby in real life.”
She ran over and hugged me. “But now we have to find you something to wear to the business dinner Bennett wants you to attend tomorrow night.” She disappeared back in the closet as I stood there confused.
What the hell was happening?
I looked down at what I wore. A white silk nightgown. Moving over to a vanity mirror, I gasped as I looked at my reflection, only seeing Stephanie looking back at me. I reached up to touch my hair, watching as she touched her blonde locks. Was I…her?
“Hey, Steph? Do you have a particular color in mind?” Carrie asked from the closet.
I swallowed hard. I didn’t understand why I was here or what it was that she wanted to show me. What was important about choosing clothes with Carrie?
“Steph?”
“Um, whatever you think Bennett would like,” I finally answered.
A movement in the hall caught the corner of my eye. Carrie went on and on about clothes, but I couldn’t focus on her. I crept toward the door, the dark hallway appearing ominous as I got closer.
“What do you think of this one?” Carrie suddenly asked from the closet doorway, holding up a gorgeous, fitting red dress with a high slit and plunging neckline.
“He’d like that a lot,” I said with a small smile.
Carrie looked at the dress with an approving nod. “Of course, he would, the devil. Besides, red is his favorite color. He says it reminds him of blood,” she said and giggled before disappearing into the closet.
I couldn’t help but grin. Definitely sounded like something that asshole would say. My phone rang from the bed, distracting me from whatever I thought I saw in the hallway. Bennett’s picture was on the screen with the words “My Love” as his contact name.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Just wanted to call you to let you know I’m a few minutes from home,” he said.
Even his voice sounded different. There was no malice or bite in his tone. He sounded like a normal boyfriend calling just to let his girlfriend know he was coming home from work. I had to admit it was a bit strange to witness him like this considering how I knew him in my waking life.
I walked over to the window and peeked out, but was only met with darkness. “Okay then. I’ll see you when you get home,” I replied.
“I love you,” he said, his voice low. My heart skipped a beat for a moment. I turned, my eye catching the mirror to see Stephanie’s reflection smiling at his words.
“I love you, too, Bennett. Hurry up and get home already,” I replied.
“I will, baby doll. See you in a few,” he said and hung up.
I turned around with a gasp to see a masked man standing in the doorway of the bedroom, his pistol raised. Two shots were fired, both hitting me in the stomach. I staggered over to the bed, where he followed, firing more shots until I collapsed back on the mattress.
“Courtesy of Wilson Moreno,” he growled before firing the final shot in the head.
Everything else happened in a blur. It was as if I was on the outside looking in. Stephanie’s lifeless body was on the bed, and Carrie’s screams filled the room. Everything moved in slow motion as if time turned into molasses. Carrie ran out of the closet and over to Stephanie, tears streaming down her cheeks as she assessed the damage. Car doors slammed in the distance, and I turned, seeing Bennett and two men getting out of an SUV.
“I’m sorry, Stephanie,” Carrie said quickly and ran out of the room, practically tripping over herself.
It wasn’t long before Bennett entered the room, the playful grin he had on his face quickly falling.
“Stephanie?” he said, rushing over to her. I watched him look her over with tears in his eyes as he quickly checked for her pulse, shaking his head. “No, no, no, no. You can’t do this to me, baby. Fuck! Bruce! Get the fuck up here!”
He cradled her lifeless body in his arms and brought her to the floor, his men bounding up the stairs.
“Shit,” Bruce said, immediately springing into action, but it was useless. She was already dead.
Saint rushed to the doorway. “What the hell is going—oh no,” he said. Bennett held Stephanie in his arms, rocking her back and forth as he begged her to open her eyes, to wake up.
“I’m right here, baby,” he said, his voice cracking. “I need you to wake up for me. Please! We have a baby to prepare for, remember? Come on, please just come back to me.”
It was painful to watch. The pain in his voice and in his eyes was just too much to bear. Bruce put a hand on Bennett’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, boss, but I don’t feel a pulse,” he said solemnly.
The scream that left him nearly shattered my soul. He buried his face into her neck, holding her lifeless body closer to him in grief, and there was nothing anyone could do.
I gasped, suddenly back at the safehouse and back with Stephanie. She looked at me with sad eyes but didn’t say anything. My face and neck were wet with tears, my breaths coming in fast as I struggled to breathe.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
But she didn’t respond. Instead, she only began to decay in front of me as I screamed in horror.
“Aurora, wake up!” I heard Bennett call out.
My eyes snapped open, my heart beating a mile a minute in my chest. My eyes franticall
y took in my surroundings. We were at the house, not the safe house. I looked at Bennett, who looked at me with a mixture of confusion and concern, but someone else was with him.
Carrie.
“You!” I shrieked.
Where the hell was she when Stephanie was murdered? Had she set it up?
Carrie’s forehead creased in confusion as she looked at Bennett and then back to me. “Me?”
The memories of my dream rushed back at once. She was there. She had to have known something, even more so considering that she didn’t get hurt that night either.
“You…you were there when she…” I started, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
Was I losing my mind, or was Bennett’s dead lover trying to use me for something? I couldn’t sort out what was real or what was a part of my imagination anymore, and if I didn’t get a grip on myself, I would drive myself crazy.
“Is she going to be okay?” Carrie asked.
“I’m going to have a talk with the doctor about switching her medicine or something. She’s been having nightmares every time she goes to sleep,” Bennett said with a sigh.
I couldn’t even look him in the eyes. All I could remember was the pain in his eyes when he saw Stephanie, the pain that left his throat when he screamed in grief. He didn’t sound as he did that night anymore, but it was all I could think about as he spoke to Carrie. She sat on the side of the bed next to me and took my hand in hers.
“Aurora? How are you feeling?” she asked.
I fought the urge to pull back from her, my latest dream still in the forefront of my mind. Instead, I said the only thing I could think of. “Starving,” I mumbled.
Carrie shooed Bennett to retrieve food for me, turning back to me when we were alone.
“You’ve been through so much. I’m so sorry,” she said, her thumb stroking the tops of my hands.
I gave her a small smile and pulled my hands out of hers. I wasn’t sure if I could trust her, especially when I couldn’t understand what happened to her the night Stephanie was murdered. Carrie gave me a small smile.
“Sorry. You probably don’t want to be touched after all you’ve been through,” she said. “Bennett said you’ve been having nightmares.”
“Yeah,” I said, keeping my eyes down.
“Pain medicine can do that sometimes. One time, I thought I was being attacked by talking pigs,” she said and giggled. When I didn’t say anything, she sighed softly. “Talking is probably the last thing you want to—”
“You were there when Stephanie was killed,” I blurted out, meeting her gaze.
Her eyes widened, slightly taken aback. “W-what?”
I blinked, realizing what I’d said. I shook my head. “Nothing,” I mumbled, moving to pull my knees up to my chest, but the pain in my legs stopped me.
“No.” Carrie stood, her eyes still wide. “You said that I was there when Stephanie was murdered.” She stared at me for a long moment. “Who told you that?”
“It’s nothing,” I said, pressing my palms against my eyes. “My nightmares seem so real that I don’t even know what’s real or a dream.” Carrie was quiet for a long moment. When I looked up at her, she still had a bewildered look on her face, her skin pale as if she’d seen a ghost. “What?”
“What was your nightmare about?” she asked slowly.
I shook my head. “You’d probably think I was crazy.”
“No, seriously,” she rushed out, coming back to the bed and sitting next to me. “What did you dream about?”
“I saw pictures of Stephanie at the safe house,” I started, keeping my gaze on my hands. And ever since I started taking medicine for pain, I’ve been having these vivid nightmares that she’s…talking to me.”
“Talking to you? About what?”
“Saying things like I’m not supposed to here,” I said. Carrie only stared at me without a word, so I continued. “She said she was my half-sister, the daughter who was given to Wilson to fulfill my father’s contract. She said I was never given to Wilson, that Wilson took me because he wanted to, and he had my parents killed so that they wouldn’t go after him.”
Confusion replaced Carrie’s bewildered gaze as she shook her head. “Oh, I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know anything about the girls they get,” she said, her shoulders sagging in what seemed like relief.
“That’s not all I dreamed about,” I continued. “I think Stephanie showed me her murder.”
Carrie tensed again, planting a small smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes. “And what did you see?” she asked.
I explained everything from beginning to end, even down to Carrie’s role in the dream. Tears spilled from her eyes as she listened to me, which made me wonder if she was re-living something as I explained it.
“So, yeah,” I said when I’d finished. “That was the nightmare I just had.”
Carrie wiped her eyes. “That’s really freaky,” she said and stood once again. “That…”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, walking into the bathroom to blow her nose. I waited until she came back into the bedroom, but she didn’t come back to the bed. She leaned against the wall with a wad of toilet paper in her hand, staring at me with wet eyes.
“That wasn’t just a nightmare,” she said with a shaky breath.
My jaw dropped. “Are you saying that actually happened?” I nearly shrieked. “I’ve been thinking I’m going crazy or that the pain medicine was making me hallucinate this entire time, and now you’re telling me that actually happened.”
“It’s pretty spot on about what happened,” she admitted. “And she told you this?”
“I don’t even know anymore. All I know is one minute, I was holding her hand and the next, I was seeing shit through her eyes. Like…I felt like me, but when I’d look at myself in the mirror, I saw her. And you kept calling me by her name and—”
“This is all too much,” she interrupted, putting her hand on her forehead. “How is this even possible?”
“I honestly don’t know,” I said with a sigh, and it was true. I hadn’t met Stephanie as an adult, never talked to her or even thought about her once I left my father’s house to go to South Carolina. “If she’s been dead for three years, why is all of this coming up now?”
“With everything that’s been happening? I think something big is on the horizon, and it’s not going to be good.” She paced back and forth, her fair skin turning a light shade of red.
“Wait a minute,” I suddenly said and narrowed my eyes at her. “If you were there with her already, where the hell were you when she was murdered?”
Carrie whimpered and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. “I wasn’t even supposed to be there,” she started. “Stephanie called me a little while after Bennett had left because she didn’t want to be in the house alone. This was before everyone who lives here now was around all the time.”
She sniffled and wiped her nose with the toilet paper. “I came over, and we were talking about clothes, but I could tell something else was bothering her. She kept checking the windows, looking out into the hall, and just seemed on edge, which wasn’t unlike her. I’d parked my car behind the house instead of out front so that Bennett wouldn’t come in here with guns blazing since I was using a rental.”
“But if you were there, how are you still alive right now? They had to know you were in the house?”
She shrugged and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know. All I know is that I heard him, but I didn’t see him. When I heard the first two shots, I hid in a wardrobe. I hid like a coward while my brother’s lover was murdered, and I have to live with that every day,” she said, more tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I’m sure there wasn’t much you could’ve done against someone with a gun other than get yourself killed,” I murmured.
She looked at me. “Even as I ran to my car when I’d safely made it out of the house without Bennett seeing me, I could hear him screaming from inside. Yo
u know how big this place is. I could hear him all the way outside. That’s how loud he was. I don’t even know if he knows I was there,” she said and blew her nose again.
“Are you going to tell him?”
“He’d probably never forgive me,” she said, shaking her head.
“But he needs to know,” I argued. “I mean according to my dream, the gunman said ‘courtesy of Wilson Moreno’ before he fired the final shot. Did you hear him say that?” Carrie nodded sadly. “Stephanie showed me what happened to her because she wanted Bennett to know.”
Carrie’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “You can’t tell him that,” she said quickly. “She’s a very sensitive subject, and he won't react well.”
“I have to do something,” I exclaimed in frustration. “I have to figure out if she’s right about this whole contract thing. If she is, I want out of this life.”
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you. You may have been right about the dream of her murder, but I don’t know what you want me to do about knowing whether or not she’s your sister,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
“Can’t you find out or something? I mean aren’t you looking into something yourself?” I asked, gesturing toward the envelope she held. She looked down at it and sniffled. “Please?” I said.
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try,” she replied.
My shoulders sagged in relief. At least I knew I hadn't gone crazy. It was just a matter of being able to prove if Stephanie was my sister.
Bennett finally walked back into the bedroom a few hours later, Carrie long gone. I studied him as he walked over to the chaise lounge, deep exhaustion settled in his posture and his handsome features. He looked at me with a raised brow.
“What?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
He studied for me a moment. “You’ve been looking at me crazy ever since we left the safe house,” he said.
“I didn’t realize I was,” I said, dropping my gaze to my hands.
My heart pumped a little faster, suddenly becoming nervous. Carrie’s warning replayed in my head, but I also saw the sadness in Stephanie’s eyes. She wouldn’t have showed me if I wasn’t meant to tell him, right?
Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection Page 20