Frantically, I run my hands over the items strewn about, not even caring when shards of glass from the busted trophy case cut into my fingers. I can feel the guys hovering behind me as I search and search through the pile of destruction and when I don’t find the precious locket Silas had gifted me, the sob that tears free from me echoes throughout the whole cabin. I bury my face in my bleeding hands, tears running down my cheeks as I feel someone bundle me up in their arms, whispering soothing words to me to try and calm me. It doesn’t work. In fact, Silas’ gentle strokes down my back and loving words in my ear only make me sob into his chest harder as he rocks us back and forth on the glass covered floor.
“Oh, my sweet little Honey. What’s wrong, baby? Gods, you are killing me. Tell me what I can do to fix this?” he croons to me over and over. Eventually, I manage to pull my face back, covered in tears and blood from my hands and I look him directly in the eye, forcing the words past my lips, the sound of my voice like broken glass coming out. “It’s gone…” It comes out as a whisper followed by a broken sob and he glances down at the torn remnants of the two boxes looking confused but still concerned for me. “The pendant you gave me for my tenth birthday… you remember?” I search his beautiful eyes and he pauses for a moment before he frowns and nods. “It’s gone… someone took it...” Another sob hiccups out of me and I bury my face in his chest again, tears soaking into his shirt but he doesn’t seem to care as he clutches me tighter to him. “I found it the last time I was here, but I left it. That locket means more to me than you will ever know.” I whisper into his chest, unsure if he heard me, but when he stills in his movements of stroking my back soothingly, I know that he did hear me.
“I’m so very sorry, baby… so incredibly sorry.” He buries his face in the crook of my neck and breathes in deeply as I continue to cry. We remain like that for a long time and I can hear the boys shuffling around us so I eventually let my tears dry up and I pull away. However, before I can pull away fully, Silas cups my face in both of his palms and without warning, smashes his lips to mine in a kiss so dominating, it takes my breath away. For a moment, I get lost in him as I immediately open up for him, some of the tension leaving my body at the place where our lips and tongues are colliding together and I know he feels it too because the little noise he makes in the back of his throat almost sends me over the edge and makes me forget we are in the middle of destruction in front of the others. So, I pull back and he kisses the tip of my nose, his eyes saying everything that I know he would otherwise say if we didn’t have an audience.
He helps me up from the floor and we find our way into the open plan kitchen, also utterly destroyed, and Silas suddenly lifts me up and puts me on the counter beside the sink before he gently takes my hands and holds them open, palms up. It is then I realize I have a few tiny slivers of glass embedded in my palms and fingers. Gabe appears out of thin air, startling me, and hands over a bottle of antiseptic and a pair of tweezers to Silas and it amazes me how easily these guys can communicate to each other without words. When Silas begins to silently attend to my wounds, plunking the bloodied glass in the sink as he goes, Hawk appears on his other side, face set in a hard scowl. “Someone ransacked the whole place.” He confirmed what I had already suspected. I will the tears to stay away because crying would do me no good right now and I shake my head to clear the emotions threatening to pull me under again and try to focus on the pain in my palms. It seems to ground me enough to reply.
“My parents’ room… there is a secret compartment above the bed behind a painting.” I search his face and he shook his head, jaw flexing. “Ripped wide open. Whatever was in there is gone now.” I curse viciously, partly because of his news but mostly because Silas rips out the biggest piece stuck in and he murmurs apologies as he plunks the piece in the sink before reaching over with his free hand and grabbing the bottle of antiseptic and holding my hands over the sink to splash some all over my cuts. Gabe appears again with a box of butterfly bandages that Silas promptly takes and sets to work putting them on the wounds that were the deepest, most of them being pretty shallow they would most likely scab over in the next day or so.
“I came here over fall break… When I broke into town hall to try and look for any suspicious documented activity to use against the Order, I noticed they had a file on my family and listed all our known properties. I found it odd when the cabin wasn’t listed so I came out here on a hunch and found the files we used to plant on Reemus hidden in that secret compartment. Someone must have followed me here or followed Des when I had him come help me.” I felt freeing to talk so openly about my plans, and when I glanced up from what Silas was doing with my wounds to look at the boys gathering in the kitchen, I didn't see an ounce of suspicious behavior in them.
Bringing them here and telling them this stuff was a huge act of trust on my part but they looked like they had absolutely zero intentions of going against me again. All their gazes were full of concern and sympathy for me as well as anger but I could easily tell it wasn’t directed at me. No, their anger was directed at the very organization of people that started this whole entire mess to begin with and something inside of me told me that I needed to start trusting the guys more with things. So, I ripped off my filter and tucked it away as I continued.
“I thought bringing you all here that this could be a good place to hide out and do all our planning for… well, for taking over the Order and righting the wrongs they have done to basically everyone around them. I was obviously too naive to think I could get away with keeping this place a secret for too much longer.” I sigh as Silas finishes up with my wounds and then he gently brings my hands up to his face, turning them over to kiss the back of each one of my knuckles. It sends a shiver down my spine and he helps me hop off the counter.
Biting my lip to keep the flood of emotions at bay, I step away from him and take in the destroyed cabin around me. The number of repairs started racking up in my brain as I looked around, but nothing could bring back the pendant stolen from me or the broken coffee table in the middle of the den. Years of memories spent in this place flushes right down the drain because of power hungry pricks who think they are entitled to anything they want and desire and thrive off the pain and destruction of those lesser than them.
“We will fix this, Rosie. Remember, we are done letting those bastards take anything from us again. They will pay for what they have done.” Hawk steps up to me and sweeps me up into a bone crushing hug, breaking me away from my inner ramblings and a light laugh escapes me as he crushed me to him. I wrap my arms around him for a brief moment and allow his words to sink in. He was right. We would get our revenge and it was going to be glorious. “In the meantime,” Silas says next as Hawk pulls away from me and I look to him as his dark eyes settle on me. “We have something we would like to show you. I already called a trusted cleanup crew of mine to come out here in the morning and fix up the place as best they can.” He holds out a hand to me and I take with zero hesitation. Kass and Gabe step up behind me like knights for their queen and place their hands on either one of my shoulders, giving them a squeeze of reassurance.
With nothing else to grab from the house, the guys escort me out and I don’t look back, trusting in what Silas promised me that things will get fixed. That this was just one more thing I was going to have to rely on the boys for because I just couldn’t emotionally handle fixing this right now. Instead, Silas takes my keys from my coat pocket and bundles me into the passenger seat of my Bugatti, kissing me softly on the lips while he buckles me in before slipping into the driver's seat. I don’t even look in the rearview mirror as Silas guns my car up the drive and back towards the interstate to head wherever it is they were going to take me to next.
It’s my hand clutched tightly in his that really does it for me.
Twenty minutes later, we pull up into the old parking lot that leads off to various trails around Crimson Lake and I raise my brows at Silas. “You expect us to have our chats for our plans h
ere at Crimson Lake?” I ask in amusement and he just smirked and rolls his eyes. He doesn’t say anything as he gets out and rounds the hood to open my door for me. He bends in and unbuckles me, helping me out until I stand, bathed in the moonlight in the parking lot while the other three pile out of Gabe’s Range Rover. “Just trust us, yeah?” Silas holds out a hand to me and I take it, although I hesitate on his words.
Especially when they start leading me across the parking lot to the entrance of the trail I had run on just yesterday morning. The woods were almost pitch black, the full blooms of the sugar maples dotting out most of the moonlight trying to stream through the branches to light up the trail we started walking down. Silas keeps a firm grip on my hand as we stumble along the trail until we reach the exact spot I had spotted his Ducati yesterday and I follow after Silas and Hawk, Gabe and Kass taking up the rear, as the guys lead me down the short trail to the odd pine trees I hadn’t questioned yesterday.
We stop and Silas raises my hand to brush his lips against my knuckles, before he drops my hand and moves into the middle of the circle and helps Hawk brush away the pine needles and branches resting in the middle. My brows shoot up in surprise when a heavy hatch is revealed and Hawk looks up at me with a wicked grin as he and Silas haul it up and open to reveal steps built into the earth that led down into the ground. “No fucking way.” I breathe as I inch closer and the guys laugh as I follow Hawk down the steps first. He takes out a key from his pocket and unlocks the heavy metal door at the bottom of the stairs and swings it open to reveal a freaking underground bunker. My eyes wide, I push past Hawk to get into the bunker first and look around, excitement rippling through me as I take it all in.
“It’s not much, but it’s like a second home to us. A place we have built with our own hands and have managed to keep it a secret from our parents all this time.” Silas stops beside me and I blink up at him. Isn’t much my ass! “Phenomenal.” I breathe as I move deeper into the bunker, Gabe and Kass pushing the heavy door shut behind us all and Hawk goes around and flips on some battery powered lamps to light up the bunker. “We don’t have running water or power down here as we haven’t had the personal funds for it all, but we will get there eventually. It is enough for us to get away when we need to lay low.” Kass pipes in as he goes over to a huge chest beside the miniature island in the kitchenette and pops it open to pull out some bottles of beer. He brings one over to me before he starts passing them out and I take mine around the bunker as I explore.
“You have an icebox with dried ice.” I surmise as I come into the kitchenette and eye up the gallons of water on the floor beside the huge ice box. “Yeah, like Kass said, we haven’t had the funds to get someone down here to hook up electricity and running water so we don’t stay down here for long periods of time. There is a small bedroom in the back with a bed in case one of us needs to crash here for a while, but other than that it is just a simplified hang out room.” Silas comes up behind me as my eyes rack over the whole bunker, taking a swig of his beer as he comes up, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me into his body. It is a simple gesture but it makes my heart soar through the roof. Ever since the argument about Emma and the text message, he has been a lot touchier with me and I can’t say I am complaining about it one bit. Especially after the night I have already had with discovering my parents cabin destroyed.
I wondered what the Order thought of that. They obviously found all the documents my parents had in their secret compartment. They had followed me to the cabin and ransacked it right after I had left. I also wondered if they had connected me to Reemus seeing how the documents found in his office had been exact copies of the ones they found in the secret compartment. Hopefully, that wasn’t the case. Hopefully they just took it as a coincidence that the same information was on Reemus that was in my parents’ cabin and that they only connected them to Reemus and not me or Hawk for that matter. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if anything happened to him or the others. I was just going to have to play smarter if they wanted to up their game like that. Sighing, I turn in Silas’ arm and lay a hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath my palm.
“I need to share with you all about something Maya Castillo informed me of at the party on Thanksgiving. We should sit for it.” I eye the seating arrangements they have in their tiny little living room corner and we all shuffle over to it. I go to sit in one of the armchairs but Silas boldly steals the seat first but then pulls me down into his lap. I glare at him but there is no heat behind it. It’s kind of nice. The other three snicker at Silas’ alpha behavior, but they don’t say anything as we all get settled to talk. Popping the tab open on my beer, I take a swig of it, wincing at the taste but figuring I needed it to take the edge off my wild emotions, and begin with a sigh. “Apparently my parents have been working with the Castillo’s to take down the Order since before we were even born.” I start, letting that first sink in as I take another mouthful of beer.
“Wait. That’s impossible. The Castillo’s have only been living in Crimson Valley for a little over six years.” Gabe leans forward and frowns but I shake my head. “I think it would have been risky for them to enter Crimson Valley any sooner. Do you think if they would have approached the Council when we were all born that they would have accepted another family into the fold? At the time, the Order was convinced that my parents had always been on their side.” I say and look around at all of them. Silas has gone stiff underneath me but has otherwise remained silent. So, I continue on. “I think our main priority should be to figure out which one of the Order members is feeding information to Nina and Lucas on campus. If we can find that out, we may be able to get another family on our side depending on who it is and what their motivations are.” I suggest and take in their expressions. They all fall silent as they think of this but Hawk is the one that speaks up first, shifting in his seat and taking a swig of his beer in the process.
“I think we need to honestly focus on the information in the documents you found at your parents’ cabin first. And also, what Rebecca is really up to trying to vote the Castillo’s in. Did Maya tell you why they are trying to weasel their way in? It could be a set up.” Hawk suggests quietly and I pause to consider this. Sure, going through the information I found here at the cabin was important and if I were right in my assumptions, the Order probably didn’t even realize I had made copies so the information I found could still be used against them. Hawk was acting shady again but I decided it wasn’t any more than usual. I mean we had all been away from each other for an exceedingly long time. He could just be concerned with revealing the Order member that was helping Lucas and Nina and it will end up coming back to bite us in the ass later if they are doing it for nefarious reasons.
“I don’t think it is a set up.” Gabe adds after a moment's pause, voicing exactly what I thought. “If it were, they wouldn’t be so cautious about it. I can check into my parent’s records when I get home later and see if they passed all the background checks.” He says as he sits back in his seat and I nod. “There are a lot of emails I found between my parents and Lucas, going over plans vaguely and sharing information. My parents were cautious people themselves. If they had trusted the Castillo’s, so do I.” I state firmly and Hawk nods his approval as if he would know anything about it. Kass and Gabe both dip their heads in agreement and I turn to look back at Silas who is still stiff beneath me. I raise a brow at him and he sighs.
“I don’t like bringing anyone we don’t know into the fold, but if you trust them… I trust your judgment, little Honey.” He reaches up and tangles his fingers on his free hand in the tiny hairs on the side of my head by my temples and starts to massage my scalp and I practically melt at his touch. I am touched that he trusts me so much that he is willing to push aside his paranoia that everyone in this town is out to get us and is willing to work with others to achieve our goals. “It’s settled then.” I say as I lean into his touch briefly before I pull away and pull my phone out of my coat pocket.
I log into my cloud drive and pull up some of the documents on the Finelli’s I am looking for before I pass my phone over to Gabe. “I think we should start by finding out who that is your mother was meeting with.” I say as he scrolls through the surveillance photos I had uploaded. I squint at it and frowns, shaking his head as he reaches the end.
“Judging by these photos, this meeting is old. I would say maybe even older than us, if not as old. My mother hasn’t worn her hair like that as far as I can remember. If they aren’t that old and I had to take a guess on when these were taken, I would have to say it happened before the night they…” Gabe trails off, glancing up at me with a troubled look in his eyes but I understand what he meant and I give him a reassuring smile.
We didn’t need to delve back into the past like that. “Right. If you scroll a few more documents to the right in the drive, it will show transactions between your parents and an unknown party. Gabe, the amount they paid for whatever it was they bought was astounding. If that trade had gone bad, your family would be in drastic waters financially speaking. Have you ever noticed your parents in any sort of stress about money?” I ask and he pauses, the frown on his handsome face deepening as he scrolls through the documents and reads them.
“Not that I can remember. My mother is a closet shopaholic so I doubt if we were having financial trouble, she would still be spending money the way she was. Plus, my father just signed off on an awfully expensive deal with a private security company to upgrade the surveillance systems around the warehouse district in town. My father is trying to push a proposal through that will bring more security to the shadier districts so that we can keep an eye out for anything going awry.” Gabe adds and I consider this and frown. “Don’t you have your new safe home in the warehouse district?” I ask as I turn to Silas on his lap and his frown reflects all of ours and he nods, running his thumb along his lip in thought.
Whiskey & Honey: Crimes of Crimson Valley: Book One Page 28