Falling for A Lie (The Lords And Ladies Of Ash #1)

18. Bennington Salvador

Chapter eighteen

Bennington Salvador

Five Months Since Soren Left

N ori’s voice was indistinct, the words tumbling out in a rush of desperate, quiet sounds. “What do you want, Ben? Your brother is away on business. You know the consequences if he finds out we’re talking without him.” Like her sister’s, her thick accent makes me feel a twinge of sadness. I also felt guilty knowing she had to deal with my abusive older brother, Winslow. Nori’s parents forced Winslow, a psycho woman abuser, onto their daughter with a marriage pact with my parents so that they could climb the social ladder and have grandchildren with prominent standing in the underground world. That one fact also explains the reason they sold Nori’s twin sister to settle a debt to the Flints, that exact twin being the woman I have loved since middle school, Soren Jane Flint. Her real name was Soren Jane Marietti. Nori found out about her sister two years ago and confronted her parents only to be met with, ‘We should have sold you to them instead.’ no remorse or comfort for the fact that Nori had a sister out in the world that she never knew existed until she was rummaging through her parents’ work study to find her birth certificate and saw hers alongside Soren’s. She contacted me to locate Soren so she could contact her; I surprised her by revealing that I already knew Soren. We were planning for the two of them to meet soon, but Winslow caught her on the phone with me discussing plans for them to meet and took it out of context .

He beat her so severely that she was in a medically induced coma for three months so her body could heal from the injuries he caused. He told everyone she was in a skiing incident, but we all knew the truth. I planned to help Nori escape him once I made sure her sister was safe from her pack of demons hunting her down. She has not reached out to see how she has since or where her sister was.

“ I need your help, Nori. It’s Soren. She’s in danger, and I don't know how long I have; the wolves are circling.” My voice came out soft and trembling, and Jace came to pay me a visit with Alec; Jace has to play his part as the scorned ex that was left behind when Soren ran off after the bar incident so he didn’t tip off the psycho he couldn’t seem to shake., He had to rough me up and threaten me; he had to act like he was deranged and hell-bent on still killing the woman that had us all broken up over. I didn't know how my whereabouts were discovered at the time until I caught Josie and Alec fucking in The Lady's main office’s parking lot. He was in a blacked-out SUV, and if the apparent moans and rocking of the whole vehicle would not have given it away, it was Josie's moaning screams with Alec’s name escaping her lips. That confirmed it. The hardest pill to swallow during all this was that Jace was being betrayed by his last living relative, the one for whom he sacrificed his happiness and life. He kept on this fake murder crusade for our girl because he was scared that Tobias would come in and take the one thing he had left in the world: his sister.

Time was not on our side; Tobias grew more agitated with the failed search and retrieval of Soren. There was only a matter of time before the grim reaper came knocking at my door, demanding me to finally spill the secret that only Jace and I knew to be accurate, that our girl was alive and well, far away from his plans to force her to be his. But even though I was walking on a tightrope trying to balance my loyalty to my nonblood brother and best friend, Jace, and the girl I have loved since my parents forced me to move to Hazelton to court the other Marietti sister, Soren, as a failsafe if Nori ever failed. That was the plan before Jace gave me an actual purpose: protecting the girl who became my everything. But I knew that a future with Soren was never in the cards, even when I foolishly begged her to be with me instead of Jace back in High School. She politely turned me down and said that she couldn’t love me the way I deserved, That I deserved a love only meant for me. God, I wish she would have thought that through before she made it so easy to fall in love with her, to the point that when Jace called me that night and said we needed to save her, I didn’t think twice and jumped at the chance for the girl we loved to live and escape a life of servitude to a man like Tobias, who only wanted to own her to prove a point and spite his dead parents. Soren deserved happiness and to live; I gave that to her when I did what Jace asked and convinced her to leave with her sisters. But now, even I know that I need more help. I need someone I can trust to handle the job, someone no one would suspect to come in and save the day. I needed her long-lost sister to go in and save her and take her further than Ashford. She needed more prominent players to stand by her, not rats pretending to care if she lived or died. An irritated grunt brought me back to reality as I cleared my throat and realized that Nori was talking, and I had spiraled so far into myself that I missed a damn word she had spoken.

“BEN. What the fuck do you mean? What’s going on with my sister?” She demands , her voice causing me to grit my teeth as I try to come up with a way to explain what had happened since we last spoke about Soren when she didn’t have a target on her head and a supposed psycho ex-fiance had tried to kill her in a dirty bar parking lot and is hell-bent on still trying to kill her. Even though I knew the truth, I played with the idea of still keeping up with the lie so she would actually work harder to help rescue her sister, even if it meant she had to go behind Winslow’s back and secure the funds needed to buy everything Soren will need to come back into the Marietti Family and under their protection and away from The Lords and Ladies, that had Josie working as an undercover rat feeding in information to the enemy she was fucking.

“She almost died five months ago, and she has been inducted in the very faction that your parents were indebted to in the beginning that led to them selling her in the first place. She has enemies who want to own her, no matter the cost of making her pay for something she has no clue about. Her ex-fiance delivered the blow to her head because he is a puppet for the man pulling the strings; his whole relationship with your sister was a fabricated lie so that she would fall for it. But once she fell for the lie, he fell for her. Now, he has to play a role to protect his sister and last relative by betraying the woman he loves. Because the monster pulling the strings has others on his puppet registry, willing to throw anyone under the bus to achieve what he wants them to: getting your sister. Jace has no choice, and If I’m being honest, I don't know how much time I have left. So you are all she has left before the monsters reach her and take her away before she knows the truth about who she truly is and who you are. You don't owe her anything, but I beg you to save her. I love her, Nori. If you do this, I’ll ensure Winslow pays for what he has done to you; whether I am here or not, I'll also take care of you... Please.” I plead with her as my breathing turns ragged and my palms begin to sweat, waiting for her reply and hoping I didn’t lay too much on her all at once.

She sucks in her own shuddering breath through an obvious sob that wrecks her . as she hiccups before she replies, “Give me the address, and I will be there as soon as I can escape Winslow. Also, Ben. If you need me in the future, reach out to Renley. He can sneak messages when I see my parents without Winslow being suspicious. The mention of her stepbrother has me cracking a sly smile. The fact that Winslow is blind to the sexual tension between the two of them means he is not as sharp as I thought he was and makes my job of making sure she is protected as well; I’ll save the Marietti sisters and the Flint twins even if it is the last thing that I do. “ Got you, Nor. The address where she is now is 1670 Ashford Hollow, Maine, USA, and she lives with others; they are good and safe people; two of them are her sisters, whom she has raised since they were babies. Yes, I know they are not blood, but she does not know this, and she is fiercely protective of those two girls. She also has two men who live with her; they are loyal and will shoot first and ask questions later, which one look at your face will raise questions since you both are identical twins. So, maybe no shooting, but it will blow up in your face if your cover is blown up before you have a chance to confront your sister first. Also, Draco and Sirius will be confused and honestly mistake you for Soren, so you should not have trouble with those big babies. Please keep her safe, and tell her I love her. I tried to keep her safe in the shadows, but I fear I don’t have long or luck. I’ll make sure you are both safe before anything happens; in case this is the last time we talk, I’ll send Renley everything I have that will make sure my brother spends the rest of his life behind bars if he doesn’t get the death penalty first. I love you, Dragonfly. Thank you for doing this for me and your sister. Bye, for now. ”

She whispers a soft sob-ridden ‘I love you and goodbye’ before the call disconnects.

I scoot my chair over and start working on all the files into one big shareable drive for Renley to receive; it will do as I said and guarantee that Winslow sees the inside of a casket or a high-priced prison cell that even our parents couldn’t even get him out of. Nori will be safe to live alongside Soren, maybe even with Lena and Carla tagging along. The thought causes a smile to grace my lips, and I want nothing more than the four of them to live happily.

They have been through so much that it is unfair to keep suffering. If I can help them, I’ll sacrifice myself to give them more time. I’ll never betray them or Jace… They’re worth it.

Before I head to bed, I decide to record videos for Soren and Nori as insurance if something happens and I can no longer protect them from lurking threats. I add Jace and Alec’s interrogation so they know who is to blame, or at least one of them is to blame.I stash the videos and other essential papers, calls, and text receipts into a secure safe that requires extremely talented hacking skills or my finger and password to enter. Only Miles, Fin, and the girls know that this safe exists. Even Jace is clueless about its existence. With that, I shut everything down, grabbed Mizu off her cat bed in the living room, and took her with me to my room.

I was oblivious to just how close the Grim Reaper was to my door and how prepared he was to deliver me to my demise at 3 am.

The last seven minutes of my agonizing death were filled with hope that Nori would pull through for Soren and that my girl would finally get to live her life once more in peace. I regretted not being able to see it; Alec and Josie slammed the knife into my chest and then into my throat, twisting it as they laughed manically. As I fade away, Mizu’s creamed colored fur, covered in my blood, escaping from the open front door to safety, causes a small gurgling smile to escape my blood-spattered lips.

At least one of my girls is free away from this life and pain.

“Should have told the truth Benny, We would be having a different conversation right now, may your soul not find rest.” Alec chuckles as he swipes the blood away on his jeans and leans back, pulling Josie into his blood-covered arms. Their lips lock, and a groan escapes her lips before she pulls away, “Time to go, puppet; we need to make this look like someone else did this So that my dear baby brother starts to take this seriously; it is time he actually steps up and does what needs to be done, Ben’s Death was only step one. ” Josie says manically in a singsong tune as she skips out of the door alongside Alec, leaving me to choke and sputter on my own blood. It only lasts for moments that feel like an eternity; with what little strength I can gather, I try to trace an ‘A and JO,’ but before I can finish, death’s cold and bony hands have their grip on me, pulling me away into the darkness that is endless.

I am nothing, no longer here or there.