Chapter Forty
Slate
Everything happens so fast: Amelie runs from the room after Dirk’s announcement, and Kalen and I go after her at the same time. Kalen may be fast, but I take the short cut and weave between tables.
When it comes to Amelie, I have tunnel vision. Everything around me fades away, a dangerous thing when you're in a room of very powerful men.
I take a different exit to Kalen, thinking we might be able to cut her off, but when I come out into the main corridor, she’s nowhere to be seen.
I search for her, but when it proves fruitless, I double back to the ballroom in search of my brothers.
Maybe Kalen has found her and they’re already back?
The room shakes violently and I lurch on my feet.
I turn back to see flames and smoke spiralling from the corner of the room, shrapnel flying and hitting people as they try to escape in a flood of hysteria.
The explosion has the room thrown into a chaotic kind of panic.
Confusion halts my search for Amelie. My feet stall when I hear a scream.
Even over the chaos of the room, my ears are so well trained that I can pick out the voices of my loved ones.
That scream was Kalen. Normally I’d tease him that he sounds like a girl, but the sound causes a war within me.
Cold dread and white hot panic shoot through and collide in my chest, spurring me into action.
Frantically, I look around, but the smoke which has now engulfed the entire room makes it hard to see what is happening. But he’s there. On the ground. Debris covering his body. I race to his side, pushing rubble off of him and inspecting him for injuries.
“Are you okay?” I ask with fear lacing my voice. I’m not prepared to lose my brothers or Amelie. There’s very few people in my life I care about besides them.
“I’m fine, just go find Amelie and make sure she’s okay. I don’t trust that Grandfather wasn’t behind this.”
Fuck. He’s right; I don’t remember seeing the old fart before this went down.
I leave Kalen to sort himself out. I was too wrapped up in Kalen’s plan with Amelie and how she felt coming around my finger, to pay attention. I need to find someone. Where is Onyx or Sawyer? Hopefully they made it out, and one of them is with her.
I scan the outside foyer and I can’t see anyone I remotely care about. My eyes meet Jasper’s and he races to my side. He is trained for situations like this, but I can see the panic in his eyes.
I know nothing is going on with him and Amelie, but she has this way of making everyone around her care about her. It’s unnerving at times that she can charm men like Baxter and have them wrapped around her finger. Fuck! Could this all be Baxter?
He has voiced his opinion about Amelie joining The Order because he hates this life. As far as I know, she’s his only friend. If he has staged this to take her away from us, I will kill him with my bare hands, consequences be damned.
“Any sign of her?” I ask Jasper.
“No. Frost caught sight of something and took off, but I lost him in this mess,” he says gesturing around. “I’ll take the rear side of the building, you head that way towards the trees. Meet me back here in half an hour if you don’t find anything.”
I nod at his instructions – standard for The Order – and take off in the direction he mentioned. There are so many damn trees, it doesn’t even allow for the moonlight to help guide my way. My phone’s torch doesn’t help me to see further than a foot in front of my feet.
“Amelie!” I call for the hundredth time, my voice getting hoarse.
Dread fills the pit of my stomach.
Where is she?
It isn’t possible she got this far. Yet, I keep searching, circling around until I get back to the main building. Frost is standing next to his car talking to Jasper.
“Anything?” I ask, my voice right with worry.
“No. No one has seen Amelie or Onyx. Sawyer is pretty messed up but refused medical help and has gone out to search, the same as Kalen.”
I swipe a hand down my face and think. I can’t think of why someone would do this, besides Grandfather or Baxter. They’re the only two with motives. Did I see Baxter in the ballroom before the explosion? I’m not sure. Though hurting a room full of people who don’t deserve it isn’t Baxter’s style.
It has to be Grandfather. Would he really be that pissed at Amelie getting in, that he would want to kill her along with innocent bystanders?
I know he doesn’t give a shit about anyone else in the room really, but Kalen has always been his pride and joy, his hope for power.
I would have gone as far to say he actually genuinely loved him. Would he risk Kalen’s life for this?