28

28

KADE

Iwake up in my bed, Archie and Bernie spooning beside me. My vision is hazy as I rub my eyes, wincing at the pinch in my hand. I yank out the cannula, ignoring the blood dripping out as I shakily get to my feet.

What the fuck happened?

I glance at the window to see it’s dark. The digital clock blinks 4 a.m. – and the date. Jesus. I’ve been out cold for two full days.

We’re still in my apartment – and my keys are sitting on my dresser.

I need to get to Stacey. Now.

To apologise on my fucking knees and to get her the hell away from Bernie. As far as I can get her. I have a friend in Australia – I’ll take her there and keep her hidden until I figure something out.

Whatever they gave me has knocked me for six, because it takes me five tries to get my leg in my joggers, and I give up on my socks before shoving my bare feet into trainers.

As quietly as I’m able, I stagger out of the room, hitting each wall I come into close contact with. Her guards are nowhere to be seen. And as I glance into one of my spare rooms, I see Cassie asleep in the bed.

I dodge my bike and fall into my car instead. The view of the nearby trees blurs as I make my way out of my garage and into the street.

I need to get to my girl.

My girl who didn’t willingly fuck my brother and was raped by multiple men after being drugged. Who has a second brother who abuses her and is responsible for the death of our daughter.

Fuck the consequences. I’m hanging that bastard with his own tongue.

Freezing tingles take over my body, my stomach churning as I see them on her all over again. I punch my steering wheel, my eyes watering. I wipe them with the back of my hand, but it’s no use. Tears drop onto my top from my chin, and each time Stacey’s phone goes to voicemail, I die a little inside.

I nearly hit the kerb a few times, but that doesn’t stop me from speeding.

The Fields’ manor. Once I get Stacey away, I’ll go there. Nora needs a fucking boot for letting this happen under her roof – and I’ll punch Kyle for not noticing either. But if I get my hands on Chris? Everything my dad has done in his life will pale in comparison.

The twelfth time her voicemail sounds, I throw my phone off the dashboard, and it topples under the passenger seat.

I wipe my eyes again, regretting each word I’ve thrown at her over the years. I left her. I left her with a broken heart after being drugged and raped and abused, after losing our baby. Then her dad died two months later. She tried to contact me so many times, and I ignored her.

She needed me, and I let her down. The person who was supposed to love her – to make her feel fucking safe.

I’m a piece of shit, and she really does deserve better.

My phone starts ringing as I hit a long, narrow stretch of road with no lights, closed in by tall trees. I swear to myself and bend down to get it, but as I lift it to see it’s Bernie, my wheel hits the kerb, my body jolts and I’m swerving the entire car to the side before it starts rolling.

Each time it hits the ground, glass shatters, my head bouncing off the frame, and my airbag explodes to protect me. I must flip about six times before colliding with a tree, and I’m not sure if I pass out, or if time just stops, but I’m upside down, blood rushing to my head, ears ringing painfully.

I choke, groaning at the rush of adrenaline shoving aside the pain. I unclip my belt, grab my phone and crawl out of the broken window. Palms cutting on the glass, I push to stand. My left arm is fucked – the bone is poking through my skin, and I’m limping as I hold my ribs. Blood is pissing down my face from my head, but I force my feet to keep moving.

I need to get to her.

I need Stacey.

Blinding pain mixes with deep emotions of regret and heartbreak, and I’m fucking crying again as I topple to the ground and cough up ruby red into my hand.

No. I need to keep moving.

I roll onto my back, hold my breath and lurch to my feet – only to fall again.

So I crawl. I’ll crawl the entire fucking way to Stacey if I need to.

My vision is blurring – worse than any drug reaction I’ve had. I screw my eyes shut and try to focus. Block out everything. Focus on getting to my feet and walking; hell, running if I can.

But I fall onto my back once more and just lie here, staring at the moon shining through the treetops.

I like this. Us lying in the grass and watching the stars. You’re usually a moody prick. Hey! I was kidding! I just mean it’s relaxing. I think if I ever took my last breaths outside, I’d like to be able to see the moon. It’s beautiful.

Stacey’s voice is in my head. Surely I’m not already dead?

I’m so cold though.

A shaking, sliced-open hand pulls my cracked phone from my pocket as I dial Stacey’s number one last time. I deserve this. I deserve it all. The excruciating pain, the karma, the blood spilling from my wounds so I’m lying in a puddle of crimson liquid.

“Hi, you’re through to Stacey. Leave a message.”

God, I miss her voice. I miss her.

My throat is tense, but I swallow blood and tears and make it clear, so she can understand everything I say.

“Hey, Freckles.” I bite my lip and screw my face up as my ribs burn, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for not knowing what you went through or giving you a chance to explain what happened. I should have heard you out. I should have stayed. But you need to listen.” I wince and pull the phone away, so she can’t hear my groan of pain. “They know who you are, and what we were. They’re going to come for you. Please. Please, baby, you need to run. Run, and don’t you dare turn back. Get away from all of them. You… you hear m-me?” My eyes close, and my phone slides out of my hand, but I quickly grab it. “Please hide, please.”

My vision goes dark, and the tremble in my bones stops.

“I n-never stopped loving you.” My heart is fucking sore, but I need to get this last part out. I know I’m dying. But the only thing I’m worried about is her getting the fuck away from those evil pricks. “I will… will always lo-love you, Freckles. Go, live your life and be free. Meet someone who can tr-treat you ri-ight. For-for-forget me.”

I can’t hear anything, not even my heartbeat.

“Pl-please for… forgive me. B-Be safe and ha-ha-happy. I love you. I…” The phone slides again, and I have no energy left to finish my sentence, but as long as she knows I loved her, that she meant the world to me, that she is fucking special and deserves everything that makes her happy – then I’ve said all I need to.

A hand touches my face, but I can’t see through the blood in my eyes from the gaping wound in my head.

Stacey? Is that you?

Mum?

But it’s Bernie’s voice in my ear. Faint, but enough that I can make out what she’s saying. “Oh, silly me. Did I forget to mention Stacey fled the country? New phone. ID. Everything. You’ll never find her, but guess what? I will.”

She wipes my eyes with a cloth, and I can just make out a medic hovering over me.

Archie lowers himself beside me as I try to drag air into my punctured lungs. “I did some digging and was able to lift some messages between you both – and her nickname. Freckles?” He laughs, and blood drops from my mouth as I attempt to move, to get up and snap his neck. “I’ll carve each freckle out of her skin.”

“I’ll k-kill y-you.”

“Enough, Archie,” Bernadette snaps, pulling him to his feet by the collar.

Someone else is by my side, tending to my head wound.

“I’ll find out where she is, Kade. Your precious little girlfriend has no idea what’s coming her way.”

No. Fucking no.

Embarrassingly, my tears are still falling, and it feels like a knife is buried in my chest. This is a nightmare within a nightmare. I have no idea how to get out of it.

Archie looks down at me. “If you thought we had fun before, you’re in for a ride from now on.”

Archie chuckles as my eyes keep falling shut. “Your friend tried to intervene – did you know that? It backfired. We have Sebastian Prince.”

What?

He smiles, and my vision blurs as darkness threatens to pull me under once more. I fight against it, but I’m too weak – I’m losing too much blood.

A medic shines a torch in my face and pulls back my eyelids, then gets to work on my side – which is still gushing blood. They place an oxygen mask over my face. I think they inject me with morphine, because the pain subsides ever so slightly.

“Clear up the wreckage,” Bernie says to Archie, pointing to my mangled car. “And send the message to his parents. As far as anyone is concerned, Kade is doing work abroad. Do the same with Sebastian. They’re both coming to Russia with us.”

Panic seizes me – blood spurts from my mouth and into the oxygen mask as I try to speak and fail. I gasp in air as a wave of hot pain snaps through me.

Bernadette notices and leans down to me, a whisper against my ear that accompanies my vision blurring again.

Archie yells at someone to make sure the glass is cleaned up and any reports are deleted. All I can think about is Stacey, and how much I need to survive to get her out of this. Wherever she’s gone, she needs to stay hidden.

And I need my dad.

Bernie strokes my cheek with the back of her fingers. “You’ll beg for death, but you aren’t allowed to die, my sweet boy. I’m not done with you yet.”