Chapter 3 Take the Key, Take Her Life #2
ILoveDarkStories
Did you break any rules today?
My scar throbs. I refuse to analyze what that means.
After scrolling to her homepage, I pause on her new post.
A little kid came to the hospital with bruises on her knees and back. Said she fell down the stairs. But I know better. Bastards who beat their kids should get a taste of their own medicine. Sorry, but not sorry.
An inexplicable heat cuts through me. I imagine her in her navy scrubs silently seething, typing those words into her app, then feeling bad about it.
I read her post once. Twice.
My mind does what it always does—catalog the details. Age. Injury pattern. Probable culprit. Reverse perp search. Violent solutions.
Then I respond to her earlier message.
Ghostface444
I broke one rule.
I’m still paying for it.
A jolt moves through me, and I click my phone off.
What the hell am I doing?
This started as a way for me to keep tabs on her after my transplant. She was grief-ridden; I was guilt-ridden. I had alerts set up around her digital life in case her grief took a turn for the worse or someone suspicious got too close. Then TellNo1 pinged. She’d created a profile.
I was never supposed to message her. But I couldn’t help myself.
And now, I don’t think I can stop.
After punching in the code to enter the Soul Court, I step into the smaller quarters.
Soft harp music reaches my ears, and I smile. Celia must be feeling well today. I find her in the glasshouse orangery, surrounded by her favorite orchids, playing a piece I’ve never heard.
“I sense trouble,” she murmurs, her fingers working the strings. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail. She’s looking paler than I’d like.
LMNA-related cardiomyopathy has wreaked havoc in my family, taking Mom first when I was fifteen, and now Celia.
I was the lucky one because I got Blake’s heart.
The fucking irony of it all—a surgeon’s heart in someone who kills for a living.
She growls when she misses a note, then looks up.
“There’s no trouble. How are you today?” I pull up a chair next to her. Gently, I tuck a loose strand of black hair behind her ear.
“Fine. Status quo. Bored. No one to talk to. But not dead yet.”
“Not funny, Celia.”
She quirks a brow and smirks. “Gallows humor is what I have left. It’s not like I can go off killing bad guys like you.”
Are they all bad? I don’t know. I pretend they are.
“We’ll find you the right heart. Cornelius said he’s searching,” I lie.
“Like that did anything for Mom.” Celia sighs and fusses with her favorite lavender orchids. Her hand trembles on the petals, and I hate how my throat tightens at the tell. “She died before they could find a replacement.”
“It’ll be different this time. I promise.”
I’m such a fucking liar. She doesn’t know I’ve gone around Cornelius and exhausted all my options. Sir Tao keeps telling me to have patience. If there’s a heart out there, Cornelius will hear first. I hate that he’s probably right.
“Did you work on your new garden?” I point to the ceiling.
I started hoisting planters and supplies up to the roof at her request. She rarely leaves the Soul Court now that her condition is worsening, so I try to make the place better for her.
Celia brightens. “Yes! It’s coming together. It has this A Midsummer Night’s Dream vibe to it. I think Shakespeare would be proud, and I—”
The door creaks open, and the familiar heavy footsteps have me standing and drawing my gun.
“Trigger happy much?” a gritty voice drawls.
Dark jeans slide into view, followed by the face I hated growing up—buzz cut, tattoos snaking up his neck, and that same slimy smile.
Click. Gun cocked. “Try me.”
Jasper Wang spits on the ground. Celia pulls my sleeve, but I ignore her.
“I come in peace. Master sent me to check in on dear Celia here. Make sure she takes her meds today and all that. Wouldn’t want her to forget. That little heart of hers might stop at any moment.”
With a growl, I jam the barrel into his chest, but he doesn’t flinch.
“Don’t threaten my sister.”
“Why would I threaten her?” He leans in, his mouth inches from my ear. “She’s a hot piece of ass.”
I head-butt him. Blood spews from his nose.
“Come on, mute. That’s the best you’ve got?”
He dodges my blows and delivers a right hook to my face.
I grab his fist, twist it, then slam him to the ground.
“Stop it!” Celia hurries to us. “Please.”
Bloodlust fills my veins. Jasper scrambles up, all elbows and bravado—
“Hurts—it hurts! I can’t breathe.” Celia grabs her chest and collapses with a thud.
I freeze, and Jasper cracks his knuckles across my jaw. Pain explodes across my face.
A few feet away, Celia trembles in a fetal position.
Fear slices into me like a guillotine. Pushing Jasper aside, I rush to her, hands ready to begin chest compressions.
She suddenly straightens and gets back on her feet.
“You lied,” I sign, my breath ragged.
“What else am I going to do? I can’t beat you.” She glares at Jasper, who’s leering at her. “And I need you to stop fighting.”
Celia adds, “Just go, Ren. Stop being so overprotective. I have a doctor’s appointment, anyway. The asshole’s following orders.”
“I will take you.”
“No. You’ll just scare the doctor. I’m not helpless.” She crosses her arms. “Jasper and I have an understanding. I’ve got something on him he’d rather keep secret. So he’s an ass, but he won’t mess with me.”
“You bitch—”
I grab my gun and fire a warning shot at his feet.
“Finish that sentence and you’ll see why I’m called Si Shen.”
Alarms blare in the distance. I’ll deal with that crap later.
With one last glance at Celia, who shoos me away, I stride toward the exit.
Jasper halts me when I brush past him. “That little nurse. Master told me to give you a head start. Respect the elders and shit like that. But don’t move too slow. I’m an impatient man.”
He steps closer, enough for me to smell his cigarette breath and cheap cologne.
“Maybe I’ll find the key first.” He taps my chest, right over Blake’s heart.
Jasper smiles, like the devil sensing a weakness.
“I’ll become Si Shen then.” He drops his lips by my ear. “As for Celia, I’m keeping her. And the nurse? I’ll have my fun before I kill her.”
The glitch strikes again, and I lock my jaw.
Aria should be nowhere near men like Jasper and me.
And that’s the problem—she was already in my head long before Cornelius put a bounty on hers.