34. Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Eva
When I pull up outside the address that was sent to me, I remind myself that whoever is inside will be expecting me to be looking for Laura. Carrie said to act natural, but that’s much easier said than done.
Leaving my car unlocked, I approach the front door under the orange glow of the streetlight. My heart thuds with uncertain beats as I take careful steps forwards. Mentally, I run through what I have on me, my brain screaming at me to turn around.
No. This is for Luke, Adam and Carrie. I can’t go back. I have to be brave. Carrie knows where you are. She made the call. I try to reassure myself, but the weight of it all seemingly gets heavier the closer to the house I move.
The iron gate swings open with a screech, and I look up seeing a window at the front of the house with a light on inside. It isn’t bright, but I nervously step closer, wondering if that’s where the people inside are.
I lift my hand and knock on the door gently once I’m standing on the top step. There’s movement on the other side. My left hand holds the phone as my right tightens around the gun in my pocket.
It shakes, but the door opens, and I come face to face with a man taller than me. Not Jamie. “Hi.” I try to look as normal as possible. “My friend called. Her car’s broken down. This is the address she gave me?”
He smiles, the stupid smirk signalling I’m in the right place. “It was Laura, right?” Yep. Jamie’s here. No way this arsehole would know Laura’s name .
“That’s it.” I try to smile back so as not to raise any suspicion.
“She’s inside,” he tells me, stepping back and opening the door wider for me.
Every nerve ending lights up. It’s like a horror movie. I know the second I step inside he’s going to grab me. I can see it in his eyes. “I’ll wait outside.”
“Honestly, come in. She’s just in the bathroom. You can wait inside for her.”
The corner of my lip twitches. My hands and legs shake as dread snakes around my gut. “Okay.” My timid voice has him smiling further.
Stepping behind me, I hold my breath as he closes the door. Just like Carrie said someone would, both of his arms land heavy around my shoulders, grabbing me and pulling me back into a vice-like grip.
My hand down by my side twitches, and I jam the phone against his leg, my eyes frantically darting around in case there are more men like him. Honestly, I don’t know what I’ll do if there are. All that’s keeping me going now is the adrenaline pulsing through me. It’s the lifeline I need.
The taser crackles and pops, the man’s hold on me instantly dropping. He falls back away from me, but I turn and hit him again. He staggers out of control, the entire length of his body shaking violently.
When he crashes against the door, falling to his front, I reach in my pocket for the zip ties Carrie also gave me. “Do them as tight as you can.” I talk to myself, my head on a constant pivot. Anyone could run in here at any moment and have their own gun. It would be over before I could even find Luke.
My hands work fast, the pace I’m moving at is fully powered by the erratic rhythm of my heart. Lifting the man’s hands, I swear I feel the electrical current surging through him as I slump his wrists one over the other. I tie them securely, then move to his feet. Crossing them as Carrie instructed, I make sure they’re tight together, standing back in horror when I realise what I’ve done.
Bile rises to my mouth. The nausea swimming through me makes my head feel light. I place my hands on my legs, sucking in air, the clothes around my neck choking me.
A crash from upstairs has my head swinging to the direction of the noise. I’ve seen the movies. I know I shouldn’t go up there.
But I have to .
Carrie called a code blue, whatever that means. Whoever she is sending here said they could get here in an hour. It’s been half that since she made the call. Stomach clenching, I realise this could all be over long before then.
Swiping under my eyes, I lift one foot and look around for any signs of anyone else being downstairs with me. All the lights are off. We’re almost in full darkness.
Fortunately, the doors are closed. It’s only then I realise, there’s no furniture in here. No paintings. No photos. No phone. No, anything. This house is abandoned. Left holding the evil that took place here, the walls begin closing in around me. It’s vicious scabs peel off as it tries to suck me into its lair.
Slamming my eyes shut and covering my mouth with one hand, I try my best to ignore the feeling of sheer terror washing over me. Unable to hold them back, more frightful tears form. I want to break down and run as far away from here as possible.
Another crash comes.
This time louder.
My eyes blink open, and the demons clawing from the walls, step back.
Luke?
Pulsing, harsh breaths expel from me as I look up towards the stairs. Someone is definitely up there. Confirming it, a shadow darts across the light coming from the hall. I need to move.
The man on the floor hasn’t stirred since I tasered him. Maybe I should do it again? No, what if it kills him? Keeping an eye on him, I step past where he lies and begin my ascent.
Every step creeks. Jamie is nearby, I can feel it. She’ll know it’s me and even more so, she’ll know whoever is supposed to be helping her, now can’t.
I move a little quicker, reaching for the gun. I don’t pull it out, but I wrap my fingers securely around it. The cold of the metal sends a shiver down my spine.
At the top of the landing, the light shines eerily. I walk to the only open door, slowly peering my head around it. In the corner of the room, I see Luke on the floor.
Red streaks of crimson trail from his nose. His eyes are closed. His body is bound and curled. My feet hammer the carpet as I move towards him, dropping to my knees by his side .
Letting the taser go, I grab his arm. “Luke.” I shake him, my hands trembling. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t show any signs of hearing me. “Luke,” I shout this time, my eyes welling, my nose streaming. “Please, Luke. Luke open your eyes.”
“He’s drugged, Eva.”
I spin on my crouched heels seeing Adam in the other corner. Looking down at Luke, I then jump to my feet and rush to Adam. “Are you okay?” Stupid question. Adam fairs the same as Luke. Blood trails from his mouth and nose. There’s bruising around one of his eyes. “Who did this to you?”
“Sammie,” he says, his eyes hooded and bleak.
I frantically reach into my other pocket for the hairbrush which is the knife. My eyes dart to Luke as I pull off the handle and cut the rope binding Adam’s wrists behind his back.
“My sister.” His breathing is laboured as he tries to explain.
I nod, knowing, but not fully believing as I search his torso finding no sign of blood. “Can you stand?”
He shakes his head side to side. Then his eyes close. “Untie him,” he manages to say before slipping away.
I sob. “Adam?” Overwhelmed, I manage to check he’s breathing before I hurry back to Luke, a suffocating dread filling my lungs. Where’s Jamie?
Cutting the cable ties, Luke’s arms fall. I lift one to his front, rubbing my hands over his. He’s so cold. “Luke, please. Wake up. Come on. You need to wake up.” I stroke the side of his face, holding his hand in mine.
Nothing.
Letting my head fall, I sob uncontrollably, rocking back and forth on my heels.
“He can’t hear you.”
The sound of Jamie’s voice is like a deafening alarm ringing in my ears. I look up at her, blinking madly trying to see her properly. “Jamie? What’s going on?”
With a pleased look in Luke’s direction, her eyes then drop back to me. “I need to show you what kind of man you’ve fallen for, Eva.”
I shake my head, watching my friend. “I don’t understand.”
With a fake laugh, her tone sharpens. “Of course you don’t. How could you? You’ve always had things so perfect, Eva.”
“Perfect?” I question her. “What do you mean? You know my life isn’t perfect.” I wipe the wet streaks on one side of my face.
She scathingly laughs under her breath. “You have everything, Eva. Everything I want.”
“What?”
“Don’t play dumb with me!” Her vicious words steal the air from my lungs. “You know what I mean. Parents who love you. The annoying best friend who takes care of you. Who do I have, Eva? Hey? Ask yourself that question.”
“Me! You have me and Tiffany.” I move to stand but she pulls out a gun. Jamie. With a gun in her hand, raised towards me.
I hesitate. My face puzzled. My insides shred to pieces. “Jamie?” My hushed breath has her looking at her hand.
“Not the person you thought I was. Right, Eva?” She shrugs like it’s nothing.
“Why are you doing this?”
With a controlled breath, Jamie straightens her spine. “Because our family was broken. And it’s all his fault.” She points the gun at Luke, and instinct has me raising my hands, shifting my weight to shield him.
Jamie notices. “Don’t tell me you’re protecting him, Eva? You have no idea what he did.”
“I do,” I choke, my hands still raised. “I do know what he did.”
I need Luke and Adam to both wake up.
“Like he told you the truth?”
I nod, sniffing back my emotions. “He did. He told me everything that happened to him.”
She mocks me, her cheeks puffing out. “What happened to him? ” she sneers. “My mum was a drug addict, Eva. Yeah, she struggled to find the right path in life. But the lies he spun sent her crazy. She tried to love him, and all he did was throw it back in her face.” Jamie’s voice raises. “He called the police and made false allegations against her. Do you know what that did to me and Adam?” Taking a step closer, I see her hand holding the gun, shake. “It meant we couldn’t see her anymore. It meant that our dad wouldn’t let us anywhere near her. She died thinking she wasn’t loved.”
My tears ebb away as I hear her truth. The one only she knows. “Jamie— ”
“My name isn’t Jamie, Eva. Jamie was just my way of disassociating from the truth.”
We lock eyes. “Sammie, then.” It’s not a question, just an understanding of the unfolding lie she’s told. “You’re wrong.”
She speaks quickly, eyes narrowing. “Wrong? How the fuck would you know? How could you trust him? How could you believe any of the things he told you? And don’t say it’s love. He doesn’t know how to.”
There’s a soft murmur behind me. Come on, Luke. Please, get up! “I do love him.” Her face turns down. “And the stories you were told about him, weren’t true. He was abused, Sammie. He didn’t lie. He didn’t make that stuff up. It happened to him.”
She scoffs. “He’s got you believing it too.”
“Don’t you get it?” She falls silent. “Nobody believed him. That’s why he did it. To protect you—”
Sammie’s in my face, the barrel of the gun being angrily held in Luke’s direction. “Stop! She never hurt me! She loved us! She loved us more than anything!”
My scattering breaths are hard to control. I swallow, open my eyes, then stare at the woman I once knew. I don’t recognise the person in front of me. So bitter and twisted by her past, the woman glaring at me has been corrupted by her mother’s memory.
“You’re afraid. I get that.” I shift, wanting her to backup. “But your mother, she didn’t love Luke like she did you and Adam. She used him. Exploited him after his father died. All so she could earn money. She chose her addiction over him. You know that happens—you know what addiction does to people.” I beg her to look inwardly at Ben. To see the truth she knows about her friend and the father of her godson.
With her hand trembling, she gives me no response. Her eyes look at Luke, then at Adam.
Luke groans, and her head snaps back his way. She swipes under her eye as he attempts to roll his open.
“Good,” she says darkly. I don’t miss her breath catching. “It’s about time he was truly held accountable for what he did.” She then steps back putting her gun into her back pocket. “You know, I thought when he saw me outside the hotel,” she walks to one side, picking up a syringe off the window ledge, “I thought he recognised me. Then I remembered the last time he saw me was seventeen years ago.” Plunging the needle into a bottle, she tips it upside down and pulls back the end.
“It was you that followed him?” Then the penny drops, and I feel foolish. “You found the note telling me to meet him at The Savoy when you went back for your jacket. Didn’t you?”
She scowls at me. I hate it.
“And the note left on the table? That was you all along.” It’s not a question.
She smiles this time like she’s won. “I thought signing it off with bitch was a mistake.”
Because she always calls me that. The term is no longer an insult between friends. Now it’s true. “Shame for you that you couldn’t sign off the texts correctly when you pretended to be my mum.” Anger swirls inside me. “How could you?”
She shakes her head, stopping what she’s doing. “No, no, no. Don’t make me out to be the villain here, Eva. I just did what I had to do. Once I knew Tiffany was going away for work, I saw an opportunity, and I took it. I made sure you would come here alone. You need to see, Eva. You need to really look and see it.” Marching closer to Adam, she kicks back an old, decrepit rug. It looks rancid. “This is where she died, Eva. This is where that piece of shit killed our mother.”
Looking at the stained floor, I then look to Adam. I see him looking at me. His eyes are hazy, but he appears to be coming around much faster than Luke.
“You sent the email to Marcus. Didn’t you?”
She looks away from me as Adam attempts to talk to her, both his hands behind his back like they’re still tied.
“How?” His voice is timid. Like waking up after a heavy night, it’s slow and groggy. Whatever she’s injected into them, it’s to make sure she’s stronger than them.
Given their size, they could easily overpower her under normal circumstances.
“It helps when you’re fucking the boss.” She grins his way .
I don’t understand her admission, but Adam’s eyes fix on hers. “Does Marcus know it was you?”
With Sammie distracted, I pick up the taser by my foot.
She laughs sadistically. “Of course he doesn’t. I had a little help accessing his files, but once I was in, some big shot mafia criminal kept coming up. Apparently, he was the man nobody wants to upset. So, I figured if I set Luke up, they’d kill him for me. Of course, I wouldn’t have the satisfaction that comes from doing it myself, but at least it would be done, and no one would be suspicious of me.”
I jolt when I feel Luke’s hand rest against the side of my leg. Naturally I look down. His eyes are heavy, but I see him. His pinned pupils stretch as they take in the light.
“Eva?”
A pained sob leaves me. “I’m right here.”
“No.” His eyes close as his words fade.
“Oh. He’s awake.”
Adam lifts his head. “You didn’t count on the criminal asking Luke to work for him. Did you?” Adam’s words aren’t as slurred this time.
Sammie scowls how she always does when she’s mad. “How he pulled that one, I don’t know. What I do know is, he’s not going to be working for anybody after this night.”
Luke tries to lift his head, and Sammie advances on him. With her hands on the syringe, she never once thinks to move me out of the way before she attempts to hurt him again.
Of course, she never expected me to be armed with any weapons. The second she bends, I shove the taser into her side, making it click.
Sammie flies back, but the connection is broken almost as soon as it’s made. “Eva, what are you doing?” she hollers at me, scrambling to right herself.
I stand, pulling out my gun and aiming it at her.
She tries to laugh as she staggers, her feet hitting the floor unevenly. I’ve given her enough of a shock to leave her jaded.
“Eva.” I don’t look away from Sammie as I hear Luke’s voice. The sounds of him sitting can be heard. “My girl. Put the gun down. ”
Tears form. “No. Not until she knows the truth. All of it. She has to know why you did it.”
In my peripheral vision, I see Luke rise to his knees. His palms are flat on his thighs to keep him steady. “It’s not about her knowing the truth, Little Warrior. It was only ever about keeping her and Adam safe from Mum.”
“Shut up,” Sammie cries, making me shriek.
My hands shake nervously, keeping the gun pointed at her chest. She’s frantic. Her eyes enraged.
“Don’t speak about her! You don’t get to talk about her after you stole her from me!” Angry screeches fire from her bedraggled form. One hand on her hip, she still staggers, but she’s standing straighter with every second.
Luke places one foot flat on the carpet. “She threatened to do the same to you, Sammie. The horrors I faced were things no child should have to endure. I did it to protect you.”
“Liar.” Tears streak down her face. Even after everything, my heart tears seeing her this way. The pain. The anger. Her hatred for Luke. All of the years spent not knowing her brother, held hostage by a false reality. It’s heartbreaking.
Luke pushes to stand, and I see Adam sit up.
Sammie steps closer to Adam as best she can. “You did it so that you didn’t have to live with her anymore. But I wanted to.” She points to her chest. “ I wanted her back in my life!”
“Sammie,” Luke says gently, putting his frame in front of me. He doesn’t hold himself as strong as he usually does. “Your dad, he truly loved you. He fought to keep you safe where she couldn’t. This was never about me. It was about making sure you didn’t get locked in the cupboard, or made to watch two grown ups having sex. So that your body wasn’t used as a man’s plaything or his ashtray whenever he felt like it. This was me, your big brother, doing what needed to be done for the people he loved.”
Sammie’s lips press tight together.
After a tense silence, Luke says, “You remember how I used to sing to you at night when you were scared? Or how I’d give you piggyback ride after piggyback ride around the garden when we’d visit? Those were the memories I wanted you to hold on to. ”
I watch as she absorbs the horror, her eyes widening, her head frantically trembling. “I didn’t forget,” she says crying. Then she stills, and I see the exact moment that repulsion and hatred for the man she’s facing, hits like a bucket of ice-cold water drenching her. “But I can’t forgive.”
Shoving her hand in her back pocket, she grabs her gun and aims it at Luke.
Adam reaches up and grabs her at the same time as I push Luke away.
Then her gun fires.