by Dyble, S R
No. I never could, the only thing I saw when I remembered that night were black holes in the places where their faces should have been. Therapists had told me it was how my mind dealt with the grief – blocking certain memories.
“They killed him so that I could take my rightful place in the company,” he continued.
“Oh my God.” I stared at the floor, wondering if any of this was actually real - wondering if I would just wake up shortly and all of this would have just been another nightmare formed from the fragments of my memories.
“I know, it’s all a shock to you, Eve. I know your father kept the whole company away from the family in order to protect you, but it is all true and unless I get what I desperately need, it’s all going to get a lot more real."
Pure fear heated my body like raw hot adrenaline and at that moment I managed to get the strength and without even thinking about my plan, I got up and tried sprinting past him whilst he sat down. The second I got up and ran for it, though, I knew it was a huge mistake. Where the hell did I plan on going with two guards blocking the only exit?
Ralph didn’t need them, though. He had this under control; he had me under control. He proved that by taking hold of my arms tied together and yanking me back. My head hit the floor first and took the full brunt of the impact as my eyes closed and I wondered whether they would open again. If it wasn’t for the kicks to my ribs, I wouldn’t have known if I were alive or dead. The sheer volume of pain brought screams rippling up my throat and slicing through my teeth.
“What was that?” Ralph stopped and I opened my eyes to see him staring around the room- wondering what the loud bang we had all heard, was.
“I donno, Boss, you want us to check it out?"
I saw Ralph smiling as he brought his attention back to me.
“It was only going to be a matter of time,” he said quietly, lifting me to my feet by my arm and forcing me to kneel back down where I originally was.
“Let him come!” Ralph called back to his men but I had no idea who he was talking about until the set of doors smashed open with pure force and Kit came barging through them.
“Ah, Kit, I did wonder when you’d come, son."
“Ralph?” Kit searched the room first, clocking both of the bodyguards and then returning his attention back to Ralph and then to me.
“Goddamn it, if you’ve hurt her ...” Kit started marching forward as he saw the blood on my face but both bodyguards moved to his side and grabbed at him, starting a frenzy of male combat.
“You might wanna watch this,” Ralph said to me as I screamed and begged for them to stop.
I felt Ralph’s hand on my shoulder as he forced me to remain in my knelt position, all I could do was watch Kit fighting with these two men. Although Kit was noticeably winning, it was only a matter of time before they were to get the upper hand on him.
“He’s an exquisite fighter, is he not? Pure steal is built into him, just like his father intended."
I stared up at Ralph as he made the comment about Kit’s father.
“You know about his father?”
“Dear, it’s my job to know,” he smiled down at me before I saw his other hand lifting and I screamed as a gun was brought to my face.
The screaming caught Kit off guard and I watched as both of the men got hold of him.
“Enough!” Ralph ordered. “Carry on and I’ll shoot her pretty little head right off of her shoulders."
I would have fainted if the pain and fear hadn’t kept me awake and all I could do was watch Kit struggling against the men’s hold.
“You fucking traitor! Get away from her!” Kit shouted so loud it even hurt my ears and I watched as Ralph lowered the gun.
“You’re one to talk about being a traitor, lad, you’re lucky I don’t hand you in to your father."
“My father is dead,” Kit spat.
“That’s what you think.” Ralph smiled and looked back at me.
“This is the man you love?” he asked me.
“Don’t listen to him, Eve, he’s a murderer. Get the fuck away from her, Ralph!” Just as Ralph lowered himself to my level and looked into my eyes, I whimpered and looked away, feeling pained by his stare alone. Behind him, a roar erupted as Kit escaped the grips of the two bodyguards and was fighting them once again to get to us.
Again, I tried to get up because I could see the men getting hold of him and I felt physically sick as one of them wrapped their arms around Kit’s neck and looked to be trying to snap it clean off.
“No! Please!” This time I did stand up and I begged at Ralph who was watching calmly.
“Please! I’ll give you anything you want!”
“Anything?” His eyebrows rose and I nodded. I didn’t know what I was agreeing to give to him, but I knew if I did have anything worth his taking, then he could take it as long as Kit wasn’t going to be killed.
“Enough!” Ralph yelled and true to the command both of the men stopped and held Kit between them so he couldn’t move.
“Eve, don’t!” Kit shouted across the room, his face was pouring with blood more than mine but so were each of the bodyguards who had fought him. Kit had held his own.
“Funny, isn’t it?” Ralph looked at me. “A year ago this fine fella rescued you before one of my men could finish the job and kill you."
I looked directly at Kit who was still pulling away and staring at me.
“How does it feel knowing this man knew you all along?”
“You know nothing about me,” I said to him through gritted teeth.
“That’s where you’re wrong. You see, it was I who sent Kit to you. We have to protect her, I think I said... I took over from your dad when he died, just as I’d intended. Kit here was working for us at the time your dad was killed. You were his favourite, weren’t you, Kit? Like father and son, I’d say. You just couldn’t be there to save him, could you? But he did save you,” he said whilst running his hand along my jaw.
“Get away from her, you traitorous piece of fucking shit!”
“Now, let’s not be rude. If it weren’t for me, you’d have never gotten laid, remember?”
Kit lunged forward again as Ralph laughed.
“You did get laid, right?” he asked him before looking back down at me.
“You’re not frigid are you, my girl? He’s a good-looking kid!”
I glared at him with every last bit of energy I had. I was terrified but the anger boiling inside me was enough to tear this building down despite my body becoming weak. The blood was still pouring down my face and as I looked to the floor, I could see a pool around my legs and knees. The sight alone made my body shift but as I heard Kit call for me, I stared up at him and found the will to stay awake.
“Anyway.” Ralph started pacing again and I closed my eyes briefly whilst I had my own space back, only to stare at him once more as he brought his hands to his face.
“Your dad wants me to kill you,” he said calmly to Kit, “for being the traitorous bastard you are."
“My father is dead,” Kit said again through gritted teeth and it made Ralph shake his head, smiling at him knowingly.
“Let’s get this over with, I’m getting bored and I’d quite like a pint before I head home."
He was sick beyond compare and as I watched him approach Kit, I whimpered and edged across the floor, sliding through the pool of blood as I did.
One of the bodyguards saw me and Ralph, noticing, turned around and placed the gun he was holding to my head.
At that moment, staring down the end of the gun I wanted him to do it. I knew if he killed me it would buy Kit some time to break free.
“You move, sweetheart, and you’ll regret it,” Ralph said as Kit tore a hole in the floor behind him trying to break free from the men.
“You’ll be dead by the end of the night, I fucking swear it,” Kit said through his teeth.
“Maybe, but you’ll be dead before then, son. Can’t have anyone back at the firm finding out abo
ut this."
Once again Ralph brought the gun back to Kit’s head and I screamed and begged him not to, with tears streaming down my face which mixed with the blood.
I was not expecting Ralph to spin around and hit me with the gun, he smacked the base so hard against my forehead that my head flipped back and instead of falling, I knelt there in complete shock. Only my eyes were usable because everything else was buzzing and before me I could see Kit’s mouth wide open as he roared and pulled away from the guards.
Then, it all happened so quickly, behind Kit the set of double doors blew open and a group of men filled the room, creating a surge of panic as they did. They were wearing only black clothing and black masks that looked thick and something like you would only see in an opera house although they covered their full faces. They had machine guns to their chests and just as I saw one of them lifting their gun to Ralph, I saw the whiplash from Ralph’s gun that fired of a single bullet which flew through the air at the speed of lighting. Only, somehow everything became slow motion to me, and I knew that I was surely falling to the floor but before I did, I saw everything. I saw how the bullet hit Kit’s chest and disappeared beneath his clothing and I saw Ralph fly back from the assault of the bullets that had been fired into his body.
A single tear was all I could feel as my head hit the floor and I winced. A single tear held all of my pain and knowledge and as my eyes glazed over, one of the men in black approached me.
“Eve, Eve, stay with me, sweetheart."
Nick?
Why could I hear Nick?
It didn’t matter because darkness had consumed me and I stayed there for a long time as I fought to open my eyes once again, with little effect.
It had all happened so quickly and although I remembered what had happened, I couldn’t talk about it, I couldn’t open my eyes and ask if Kit was okay.
It took a while but I started hearing little things. I didn’t know if they were real or figments of my imagination.
“I’ve never loved anything before,” was the first thing I’d heard before it went silent again.
“Of course, I’ve loved my brothers, but that’s not the same. No one has ever come into my life and turned it upside down but you."
It was Kit, all I needed to know was that he was okay, I needed to know if it was real or if it was all in my head, there was a lot of silence and a lot of memories flying around tormenting me. I couldn’t wake up and be rid of them. Instead, they just kept replaying with the odd interruption here and there of things being spoken to me.
“I swear. I swear to God, if you wake up, I’ll tell you everything, just please wake up, beautiful."
There were long pauses between everything where I fell back into darkness but hearing the pleading from Kit made me fight harder than I already was.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if we lose her too, Frank."
“We’re not going to lose her, you heard the doctor, she just needs rest and she’s getting plenty.” My grandad answered my grandma and as I heard her sniffle, I wanted nothing more than to wake up and tell her I was okay. In my head I could almost see her standing there, being held in my grandad’s arms and I wanted so badly to be able to cuddle her and make her feel fine.
“He hasn’t left her side since it happened,” my grandad said shortly after.
“He only left because he wanted to give us some privacy, he didn’t want a damn drink,” my grandma answered - and although I knew she was clearly upset - I could hear the smile in her voice, and for the first time, I could feel something on my skin. Her touch laid a loving blanket over my hand and it shot through my body like a bolt of lightning, allowing more of my body to switch back on. Then I fell back into sleep again, and this time it felt more like sleep than the pit of darkness I’d been used to.
“How did he find her?” Lilly’s voice was trembling and once again I felt the deep need to wake up and assure them that I was okay.
“Kit said he’d followed them, he apparently saw them taking her."
If I’d been awake, I’d have bit back at that comment and questioned it, because how could Kit have followed the men that had taken me? He hadn’t even been at college that day.
I didn’t even know how long I’d been asleep for but I was ready to get the hell up and I took a deep breath before a bright light hit my head like the pearly gates themselves were greeting me. Although, I wasn’t dying, and I wasn’t going to heaven. My eyes were opening for the first time in what felt like months and lifting my weak arm, I draped it over my eyes and heard the sighs of relief that came from around me, followed by the quick movements against the floor.
“Eve?” My grandma was crying and I pulled my arm away trying to get my eyes to adjust so I could see her.
I couldn’t see her fully; my eyes were still blurry but I lifted my hand to where I thought she was and sure enough my fingers felt the sides of her aged face and I cradled it within my palm as she brought hers up to cradle my hand there.
“Thank God,” she said.
“I’ll get the nurse.” I heard my grandad say as my eyes became clearer and I looked after him to see him heading out of the door.
“Where am I?” I asked as I looked around the room. I was clearly in a hospital room but Lilly confirmed it as she brought her hand to my shoulder.
“You’re safe now, Eves,” she smiled, it was filled with so much sadness.
I was about to ask more when I heard the door open and a nurse walked in with my grandad who came over to me and smiled before kissing my cheek.
“Gave us a hell of a fright, my girl,” he said before moving aside for the nurse to assess me.
“Hey Eve, honey, how you feeling?” she asked, placing her hand to mine.
It wasn’t until then that I noticed the cannula in my hand as she adjusted the drip hanging from a drip line.
“I…I…” I honestly didn’t know what to say, I was in utter and complete shock and then it hit me.
“Kit?” I looked at my grandma. “Is Kit okay?”
I was so panicked that the nurse had to ask me to stay still and to calm down.
“He’s fine.” My grandma nodded.
“He saved you, Eves,” Lilly said from beside me but somehow all of this wasn’t adding up.
“You’ve been away from us for a little over a week, Eve, so it may take some time for you to come around."
“A week?” I stared at the nurse as she continued to fiddle with something on my head. I quickly realised that it was a bandage and that it was tied all the way around my head.
“You mean, I’ve been in a coma?”
“Not exactly, your body just needed some time to rest,” she smiled.
I brought my attention back to what had happened and like a film on fast-forward, everything shot before my eyes like a replay. The same replay that had been playing over and over in my head whilst I’d been unconscious.
All of us stared at the door as it shot open and an almost ravenous Kit stood in it, staring at me like I was a ghost. He looked god-awful and I wondered if he’d even slept at all. He even looked like he was about to cry but instead, he just stared at me and then eventually made his way inside.
Just seeing him, made me cry and I tried to hold it together in front of my family because I already knew Kit wouldn’t have told them what had happened. I knew that from what they’d already said, Kit did save me, he came to my rescue but there was a lot more to it than that.
All I knew was that Kit wasn’t who he said he was and he’d lied to me whilst I’d openly given him my heart. I wasn’t even going to question him about it because the way he’d looked at me that day confirmed that everything Ralph was saying was indeed true. My dad had been a secret businessman who had run an entire security firm without me knowing. He’d somehow picked Kit up along the way and they’d worked together. He had known my father a year ago, before he’d been murdered, and he had kept all of that from me, and more, whilst we’d been together.
; It had honestly broken my heart and as I stared at him with so many lingering questions, all I wanted was for him to disappear so I could ease some of the pain.
The silence seemed to last forever until my grandparents said they’d give us some space. I shook my head and told them to stay before looking back at Kit.
He was the one who needed to leave, but first, I had to make sure he was okay because I loved him so much, even after everything that I’d come to find out.
“Are you okay?” I felt my lips tremble and he nodded his head, looking terrified.
His face was so busted up, even after a week.
“They took the bullet out and fixed me up."
I nodded and gathered myself before looking back at him. “Now,” I gulped hard, “you need to leave."
Everyone looked at me collectively and I knew they had no idea why I was telling him to leave.
“Eve, Kit saved you, he’s-”
“You have no idea what he is,” I cut my grandma off.
“Eve, please, give me a chance to explain-”
“I don’t need you to, I need you to leave, and now.” I cut him off and looked away so I wouldn’t break down from seeing his face.
“Eve."
“Just leave!” I shouted louder than I’d meant to and I regretted it instantly because I knew it had frightened my grandma and I saw my grandad clasping his hands to her shoulders before I apologised.
“She obviously doesn’t want you here, you need to leave, Kit,” Lilly spoke then and I saw Kit looking at her. He didn’t say anything and he stared back at me, begging me with his eyes that looked aged with stress and exhaustion but within a second, he turned around and stalked out of the room like I’d wanted. Only, even though it was what I wanted, it hurt with everything I had and I made sure to stay collected so that my grandparents wouldn’t ask more than what I already knew they were going to ask. They had every right to ask what the hell had just happened but I just couldn’t tell them.
“I don’t know what’s gone on between the two of you, sweetheart,” my grandad said as he came to my side, “but he’s been here every second of every day that you’ve been here, he’s refused to leave even when asked."