19. Scarlet
19
SCARLET
“ D on’t make me regret bringing you along.” Roman looks at me over his shoulder, sitting in the front seat of one of the SUVs in which Dad sent us to look for Luna. “You promised to follow the rules your father set down.”
I can still hear Dad’s deep voice in my head, and I rattle off the words he used before giving me permission to go with Roman and Sophie and the two extra cars full of armed men. “I promise, I won’t do anything to jeopardize anybody, I’ll stay close to you and listen to everything you say.”
There was no way I wasn’t coming along. I couldn’t sit around the house, waiting for a phone call. I have to see for myself what happened to Luna. I only hope I don’t end up regretting it.
The fact that I would even think something like that makes me grind my teeth. Luna will be fine. God knows Dad sent enough team members along with us in case things get dangerous. I don’t think they will. Nobody would ever call me an expert on Rebecca’s twisted mind—it’s not something I’d be proud of—but I feel like she wouldn’t want to stage a fight outside of her own home turf. She would want to feel safe, like she had plenty of people to fall back on.
Or I could be completely wrong, and we could be heading for a bloodbath. The questions running through my head and all the ugly images they bring up make me want to scream until I have to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep it together. So many what ifs.
Sophie’s soft weeping hasn’t stopped since she started crying back at the house, and it’s enough to break my heart. I feel so damn useless, sitting here with nothing to say, nothing to offer but a soft pat on her arm. “She’ll be all right,” I whisper, but the words are empty. It’s more like wishful thinking than anything else. Something I need to believe, or else I’m going to start crying, too.
“I shouldn’t have let her go.” She keeps whispering it, almost like a prayer. “I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight. What was I thinking? She would’ve gotten over being mad at me for telling her to stay.”
“These people are sick,” I whisper. “You can’t predict what they’re going to do. Believe me.” That’s not enough to get her to stop blaming herself or to stop the tears from flowing. Like I needed another reason to hate Rebecca. Like she hasn’t already ruined so much of what I care about.
There are two SUVs in front of us, and my heart is in my throat as they pull through the front gates with us behind them. Everything looks totally normal so far. What did I expect? There’s nothing comforting about the seemingly peaceful atmosphere, though. Goosebumps pebble my arms and the hair on the back of my neck sticks straight up as we draw closer to the house and whatever is waiting inside.
We pull up close to the front courtyard before one of the armed men from the other SUVs hops out and holds both hands up to stop us, glancing over his shoulder at whatever we can’t yet see. A handful of guys start up the front stairs, and when I crane my neck, I can see the door is open a crack. Sophie must see it, too, and she releases a strangled whimper.
“I’m going in there,” Roman announces. He looks back at the two of us, gripping each other like our lives depend on it. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“But I have to see!” Sophie insists. He reaches back and touches her cheek before shaking his head firmly.
“It’s going to be all right,” he insists before getting out and joining the rest of the team. I have never needed to believe something so much in my whole life. Luna doesn’t deserve to suffer.
Every second is a lifetime, but it’s not long before Roman reappears at the top of the stairs. I recognize the look on his face as he stalks across the courtyard, because I’ve seen it so many times from the men in my life—my brother, my dad, Ren. He’s ready to kill, which tells me he didn’t find anything good in the house. But he doesn’t look devastated, either, which gives me hope Luna is still alive.
Sophie almost climbs over the seat to get to him as soon as he’s opened the door. “Well? What did you find?”
Instead of answering, he thrusts a crumpled piece of paper into her hand. He had it clutched so tightly, I didn’t notice he was holding it until now. Her hands tremble as she smooths it out so we can read what’s printed in big, block letters.
Ren in exchange for Luna - R
“They killed Frank.” Roman’s voice is flat, empty. “Shot him in the back of the head. The note was on Luna’s bed. That’s all we found in there.”
Anything else he might have wanted to say is drowned out by Sophie’s heartbroken sobs.
Ren stares down at the note while the rest of us watch. I can’t stop shivering, rubbing my arms like that will do anything to calm the goosebumps that won’t stop prickling my skin. He’s too quiet. The sort of quiet that chills me to the bone. What’s he thinking?
“I guess we don’t need to ask what R stands for,” he mutters, breaking the silence. The deep, almost feral anger in his voice makes my heart beat double time. He sounds as close to River as he ever has right now, like he’s dangling on the edge between the two personalities. I don’t want to set him off—that’s the last thing we need, especially with Sophie sniffling in Roman’s arms. She can’t see that. It would break her after everything she’s already been through today.
“We know what we have to do, then.” Ren looks at Dad, who draws a deep breath before responding with a nod.
“Wait. What do you have to do?” My head swings back and forth between them. I hate when people have silent conversations in front of me, and the stakes here make it so much worse. “Somebody talk to me, or I’m going to scream.”
That’s still not enough to get an answer out of anybody. Ren grips the bars, still clutching the note. “Let me out. Let me be part of this.”
Now I get it. My insides go all cold and an uneasy feeling creeps up before I blurt out, “You can’t! This is a trap!” I look at Dad, desperate for him to back me up, but all I see is resignation in his dark eyes. No, this can’t be. “This is her way of getting to Ren, obviously. You can’t just walk into that!” It doesn’t seem to matter how I shout or how much sense I make. I may as well not be here.
Out of desperation, I grab Dad’s arm, squeezing until he looks down at me. “Dad, please. I love Luna, you know I do. But this would be giving Rebecca what she wants. It’s too risky.”
“The risk doesn’t matter,” Ren insists. “I don’t matter as much as Luna does.”
No, no, he can’t say that. He can’t believe it. This is a nightmare. Somebody needs to wake me up. “But?—”
“I can’t let her be there for another minute!” Ren is red faced and shaking. “Don’t you get that? I’m not letting her suffer. If I have to go and exchange myself for her, that’s what I’m doing.”
“You know we would never let that happen.” Dad’s voice is firm, and it has the power to give me a little bit of hope. If he’s sure Ren will make it out of this, I can almost believe he will.
“There needs to be a plan,” I plead. I look at Roman and Sophie, and they both nod in agreement.
“We know you love your sister,” Roman tells him. “But she wouldn’t want you risking yourself.”
“Of course, we’re going to plan this out.” Though Dad leaves out the obvious part: there’s not much time. He doesn’t need to say it. We all feel it weighing on us with every tick of the clock. Ren is practically beside himself, breathing hard, staring at the floor with his hands still wrapped around the iron bars. Please, hold it together. Please, stay with me.
“Come on. We’ll go upstairs and talk this out.” Dad ushers Roman and a weeping Sophie down the hall and upstairs. He only gives me the slightest glance over his shoulder, like he’s checking to see if I’ll follow. I doubt he’s surprised when I stay put. Like I would abandon Ren at a time like this, even for a minute.
“I need to kill her.” The intensity of his whispering makes me shiver. He’s not even talking about me, but my blood turns to ice, anyway.
“It’s going to be okay in the end.” Do I believe it? Maybe not, but I need to try. I have to force myself to try. “They’re not going to hurt Luna. They need her for a bargaining chip, remember?”
“It doesn’t matter. The fact that she’s with them at all… it’s too much.” He scrubs his hands through his hair, growling as he does. “Here I am. There’s nothing I can do about it in this fucking cell.”
“I know it’s hard to believe this right now, things being the way they are… but you know Dad would never leave Luna there. I’m sure they’re upstairs putting a plan together as we speak.” They’d better be, anyway.
That doesn’t make him feel any better. “A plan I’m not allowed to know about.”
“Or they’re trying not to bombard you.” It’s useless. He doesn’t feel like listening, and besides, I barely believe half of what I’m saying. It’s the sort of stuff I need to tell myself to keep calm, or else I won’t have a choice but to break down and weep the way Sophie’s been doing all this time. It’s all I can do to hang on to myself and not completely lose control. Once that happens, I’ll spiral when Ren needs me to be strong. I don’t want him worrying about me on top of what I know is going through his head about his sister.
“Why did she have to go? Why, goddamnit?” I hate the helplessness in his voice as he slams his palms against the bars between us. “Why did she have to take a risk like that?”
“She was doing it for—” Big mistake. I catch myself before going too far, but not soon enough.
“For me. You can say it.” He groans miserably, hanging his head. “She went to the house to get stuff for me. This is my fault.”
“Don’t even think that.” All this time, I’ve tried to avoid pressuring him too much. Practically walking on tiptoes, afraid to rock the boat in case I end up bringing River to the forefront again. But some things I can’t ignore.
“You listen to me,” I hiss when he doesn’t respond. “You didn’t do any of this. None of this is your fault, do you hear me? None of it. You’re not the one locking people away. Hurting them, torturing and starving them. That’s Rebecca. That’s William. That’s not you. Rebecca made the choice to watch your parents’ house and have Luna kidnapped. You didn’t do that.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he grunts.
“You’re right. I don’t understand, but I’m trying to. I love Luna, too,” I remind him. It’s not easy to push my emotions aside and get the words out without letting the tears flow.
“I know you do. Fuck, I don’t know what the fuck I’m saying anymore. What is taking so long?” he shouts, looking through the bars and down the hall.
It’s not long before the faint sound of a door opening upstairs catches my attention. The door leading down from the first floor. Quick footsteps echo down the hall before I see Q round the bottom of the stairs.
My heart beats a little faster with every step he takes. He won’t look at me, keeping his attention focused on the floor for the most part, so I can’t see his face long enough to tell what he might be thinking.
When he approaches Ren’s cell, I hold my breath. He doesn’t say a word. He only slides his hand into his pocket and withdraws a key, which he uses to unlock the door. The squealing of the hinges says more than words ever could.
If only I knew whether Ren was going there to save Luna… or to sacrifice himself in her place.