Chapter 29
Kiera
James and Jackson had been gone for less than ten minutes, yet I was constantly checking my phone to see if they had any updates. That, or checking to see if Alec had made contact, demanding answers earlier than the twenty-four-hour grace he’d given me.
Disappointment crashed through me when, each time I looked, my phone showed no new notifications.
I stared out the living room window at the empty driveway, my brain racing, but my body exhausted. Too exhausted to even pace. My eyes felt heavy, and while I knew Jackson was right, that I needed to rest, I fought against the need to fall onto the couch and sleep.
Movement from beside me caught my attention, and my gaze slid from the window to Willow. She’d barely spoken since James left, and oddly, I found her silence comforting; a presence I knew was there, but didn’t distract me from my brooding thoughts.
“James will find her,” she said softly, almost a whisper. “He adores Billie. He’ll bring her back to you.”
“I know,” I replied, pushing the words past the ball of emotion lodged firmly in my throat.
Willow opened and closed her mouth several times like she had something else to say, but wasn’t sure she should speak. I studied her for a moment, her one green and one blue eye—caused by heterochromia—holding my gaze and a lifetime of secrets.
Not for the first time, I wondered how James had found her. The story she’d told at dinner a few weeks ago had obviously been bullshit, but I never pried on James’ business, not when it was likely to do with Legion.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you. What he did to you.”
My heart warmed at the sympathy in her voice. She spoke like she had experience of trauma.
“Thank you,” I replied, my gaze dropping to a cut on her lip. A knot tightened in my stomach, my mind instantly conjuring up the thought that James had hit her. “What happened to your lip?”
Her brows lifted, and she swiped a finger across her lip as though she’d forgotten about the cut. “Elijah…he hit me.”
“Elijah? As in, Elijah Carter, my douchebag cousin?”
Fuck, I hadn’t thought about that idiot for a long time.
He’d come to live with us when we were kids after his father passed away, and I hated him from the minute he arrived.
He was an arrogant little shit, but he worshipped the ground my father walked on, which only served to irritate James and me.
After I’d been ostracized from the family, James never spoke of Elijah, and I never asked. I’d always assumed he was still involved in Legion and still up my father’s ass, but I didn’t care. Elijah was nothing but a leech.
Willow giggled, and for the first time since meeting her, she relaxed. “The very same.”
“I doubt James was too happy?”
Her brows furrowed. “No, he…uh, he dealt with him.”
An amused smirk curled my lips. “I hope by dealt with, you mean James killed the fucker?” Willow’s grimace answered my question. “Good. He always was an evil dick. Six feet under is the best place for him. Why did he hit you?”
“It’s a long story.”
Something about Willow brought out my motherly instinct, and before I could stop myself, I stroked my palm along her arm, giving her a reassuring smile. “Well, we have time. That’s if you want to talk about it, of course.”
“That would be nice,” she replied, her tone light as she returned my smile. “Only if you want to, though. I know you’ve got a lot going on.”
I squeezed her arm. “It’s fine. Besides, it’ll be a much-needed distraction from the events of the last few days. Doesn’t James have a housekeeper? She usually brings a tray of coffee and biscuits whenever Billie and I visit. I don’t know about you, but I could use some caffeine.”
Or maybe something stronger.
“Oh, Edith doesn’t work here anymore; she left.”
“She left?” I asked, wide-eyed.
Edith had worked for James for years; I didn’t think she’d ever resign.
Willow waved her hand. “Like I said, it’s a long story. I’ll make us some coffee, and then we can talk.”
I didn’t object as she scurried from the living room, finally allowing my body to slump on the couch. A dull throb had started at the back of my head, and I rubbed my temples, knowing that if I didn’t get some sleep, the dull ache would turn into a full-blown migraine.
Falling back against the cushions, I let my eyes close, giving myself a few seconds to clear the chaos of thoughts spinning in my mind. But my eyes whipped open when a deafening smash echoed from somewhere in James’ house.
I bolted up, rushing from the living room and in the direction of the kitchen, where Willow would have been to make the coffee. The second I crossed the threshold into the kitchen, my feet came to an abrupt stop.
The smash had been caused by Willow dropping the coffee press, and coffee and glass had splashed over the marble floor. Her eyes found mine, wide and scared, but she didn’t make a sound. She couldn’t. Not with the hand across her mouth, preventing her from speaking.
Pressed against her head was the barrel of a gun, held by the man I despised. Alec stood behind Willow, glaring at me with a triumphant grin etched on his face.
“Hello, babe,” he crooned, his voice grating on my nerves like a fork scratching against china.
“How…how did you get in here?” My voice shook, as did my entire body.
His grin widened. “That’s not the question to be asking. What you should be asking is why am I here?”
White-hot rage streaked through me. “Where’s Billie?”
Alec chuckled, pressing the gun harder into Willow’s head. She released a muffled wince from behind his hand, her frightened eyes pooling with tears.
“You never quite learned to follow my orders, did you, Kiera? Ask me why I’m here, then maybe I’ll tell you where Billie is.”
My teeth ground together. He wouldn’t tell me where she was; he just wanted me to play his fucking game, a game I had no choice but to play. “Why are you here?”
Smugness washed over his face. “I’m glad you asked. I warned you not to go to James, yet here you are, in his house while he is…I’m guessing he’s off trying to play the doting hero uncle who saves Billie.”
“I didn’t have a choice-”
“Yes, you did. There are three other board members you could have approached,” Alec hissed, his amusement turning to fury. “But no, you had to go to the one person you knew wouldn’t accept me into Legion, so now you’ll pay the consequences.”
“Alec, please-”
“Uh-uh, Kiera. You can beg me all you like, but it won’t work.
Clearly, Billie wasn’t enough bait to convince James to accept me into Legion, but perhaps he’ll be more convinced when I take his wife hostage.
” Willow gasped as my stomach clenched. “You know, before your dad died, he told me James had fallen quite hard for this one,” he said, nodding to Willow.
“But do you think he loves her enough to save her from death? Because I assure you, Kiera. If I’m not accepted into Legion by the end of the day, both Billie and Willow are going to get bullets planted in their heads, and I’ll make damn fucking sure you’ll never find their bodies. ”
Panic raced through my body. James had said it wasn’t as simple as just letting Alec join, but with the threat to Willow’s life on the line, would that change his opinion? It hadn’t been enough to convince him with Billie’s life hanging in the balance.
I didn’t know what the hell to do. My gaze fell to Willow’s, her tears now falling down her face. It was obvious how damn scared she was, and that motherly instinct kicked in again with the need to protect her.
But how?
“Alec, Legion doesn’t work like that. James can’t just let you become a member,” I said in a hope to buy myself time.
I subtly glanced around the kitchen, looking for a weapon. To my frustration, though, James didn’t have any knife blocks on the sideboards. The only item I could potentially use was a saucepan on the stove, but it was behind Alec, and I couldn’t get to it.
“You think I give a fuck about how the society works, you stupid fucking bitch,” Alec snarled viciously.
“Your father promised me a place for putting up with you for the last six years, and I want my place! I don’t care how James makes it happen, but if he wants to see his wife and niece again, he’ll fucking make it happen.
” Slightly calmer, he added. “You’ve got until the end of today. ”
With that, he tugged Willow, making the mistake of turning his back. I didn’t give myself a chance to think of what could happen, my body powering forward before I could consider the risk of the gun to Willow’s head.
My piercing shriek reverberated around the kitchen as I launched myself at Alec’s back, reaching for the hand holding his gun. He hadn’t expected my attack, so used to me taking his abuse, and never fighting back.
But not this time.
Catching him off-guard, I sank my teeth into his neck, his hand dropping the gun and sending it clattering to the floor. With my legs wrapped around his waist, he had no choice but to release Willow as he spun around and around with me on his back in an attempt to fling me off.
I bit harder until the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth.
“Get the fuck off me, you whore!” he roared, slamming me back against the wall and knocking the air from my lungs.
I dropped to my feet, and Alec pounced, wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing the life out of me. I fought against him, digging my nails into his arms in a bid to get him to release me while kicking my legs against his shins.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Alec hissed, spittle flying from his mouth.
My lungs began to burn, deprived of oxygen as fear thrummed through my body. Managing to get my knee up, I crashed it into his balls. Alec howled as he fell to the floor, taking me with him.
My aim hadn’t been hard enough to get him to release me, though. In seconds, he pinned me to the floor as he straddled me, his hands still wrapped around my throat and squeezing harder than ever. Harder than he had in the hallway of his house the day before.
Darkness clouded my vision, my eyelids slowly closing as energy drained from my body. A high-pitched scream sounded from nearby, and through blurry eyes, I made out a black thing smash against Alec’s head.
His hands loosened around my throat, his eyes wide and startled. I sucked in a deep breath just as the black object slammed against his head again. And again.
Blood splattered my face as Alec slid off me. Now that I was able to breathe again, I pushed myself up in time to see Willow bring the saucepan down on Alec’s head once again.
For someone of Willow’s petite frame, she hit Alec with remarkable strength, screaming at him to leave me alone as the pan split his head apart, blood gushing from the wound.
His body slumped onto the floor, and as Willow brought the pan down a final time, this time smashing it into his face, I forced myself to stand against the pain in my throat. I grabbed her arm, preventing her from bringing the pan down again.
Her unfocused eyes met mine, and like she’d been stuck in a trance, they cleared. She looked from me to the body on the floor, her features twisting in disbelief. “Oh, god.”
“It’s okay,” I cooed, prying the handle of the pan from her fingers. “It’s okay, you’re okay. We’re okay.”
“I…I killed him,” she whispered, horror lacing her soft voice.
I glanced down at Alec, blood pooling around his head, his face caved in, and his chest still. I turned back to her, forcing her gaze away from the dead body. “You did, but you saved me, Willow. He would have killed me if you hadn’t.”
Thick tears streaked down her face as I pulled her shaking form into my body, soothing a hand down her hair and comforting her. Gratitude flowed through my veins. If it hadn’t been for Willow, Alec would have undoubtedly killed me. Possibly her, too.
She saved us.
But in doing so, I had even less chance of finding Billie.