34. Thalia
Chapter thirty-four
Thalia
Iknow something isn’t right the moment my eyes fly open. I sit up so fast my head reels as my hands search the covers frantically.
Why did I fall back asleep?!
“Reed?” I call out.
No answer.
I swing my legs around, my pulse screaming in my ears as I dart down the stairs. “Reed!”
Rowan rouses, his eyes ripping open as he places a hand on Addison before releasing a breath of relief. “What’s going on?”
I dip into the kitchen, still calling out for him. “Reed!”
Nothing.
My hands curl into my hair as my face begins to sting. He wouldn’t just leave! There has to be something going on.
“Thalia, talk to me!” Rowan calls.
I stalk back out to the living room to see everyone rising as they wipe the sleep from their eyes.
“Reed is gone!” I breathe raggedly. “Did anyone see him this morning?”
Alana and Connor shake their heads. Bailey shrugs.
“Fuck!” Rowan shouts, slamming his fist down beside him.
My face falls. “What?”
He shakes his head. “Theo and Dom went to Crystal’s house last night to watch over her. She was gone when they got there.”
The silence that follows is devastating.
No.
No, no, no.
My pulse pounds harder in my ears, everything melting together.
“She took him,” Alana whispers. “How did she even know he would answer?”
Nobody argues because we’re thinking the same thing. Crystal is suddenly gone, and then Reed. There’s no coincidence there.
Connor is already standing. “She probably didn’t. Anyone would have done. Let’s check the compound feeds and see where she went.”
Alana is right behind him, her phone in her hand. “I’m already scrubbing through the latest saved video.”
“Hey!” We all turn, looking at Atlas as he stands near the top banister. “What’s going on?”
“Fucking Mom…” I grind out between my teeth. “Always her.”
“She took Reed,” Rowan says roughly. “We’re getting a visual on her now.”
Atlas sighs, shaking his head. “Fucking cunt. Of course.”
“I’m going to kill her,” I whisper with cold clarity.
Rowan places a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. “We have to think rationally about this. Why, all of a sudden, would she choose to do something like this? She has to be gaining something from it.”
Then it hits me. Reed told me that some woman had been watching us last night. When we went outside, she was long gone. If his description is accurate…
“She wants to die,” I realize, my eyes widening.
“What?” Rowan asks.
“Think about it! If she overheard us last night, then she knows her father won’t help Brooks until he has probable cause to. What has she always wanted?”
Rowan’s face sets. “Revenge.”
“Exactly,” I say.
My brother scrubs a hand over his chin. “Then we need to outsmart her. Find a way to get Reed back without setting her off.”
“Um, guys,” Alana’s voice shakes.
My heart plummets as she turns her device towards us.
Reed is tied to a chair somewhere that I know by heart.
But that isn’t what has my whole body trembling.
One of his fingers is gone—completely severed from his hand as blood trickles down the armrest of the chair. His head hangs as he breathes raggedly.
“Oh my god!” Taryn slaps a hand over her mouth, masking her scream.
Emma looks like she’s going to be sick.
Crystal steps into view of the camera, her head tilting in that condescending way it always has when she talks down to me. “This is between my daughter and me. If anyone else steps foot in this shed, I’ll kill him instantly.”
Everything around me fades. The sounds, the gasps, everything. All I can see is Reed.
The deep rise and fall of his back, the sweat slicking his forehead, and—my stomach lurches—the missing digit that’s still bleeding. He isn’t screaming or begging for mercy.
He slowly looks up, and I know he can’t see me, but that doesn’t stop him from nodding once at the camera. And just like that, my mind is made up.
I retreat to my room before dropping to my knees and sliding my gun case out. I flip it open before selecting something meant for close-range and snapping the magazine into it.
I don’t stop for anyone. Not even as Rowan calls desperately after me not to do this.
I ignore my family as I trudge towards our family home—the one place that holds the trauma of our pasts.
I haven’t really been inside those walls besides to visit with my brother and Addison.
I don’t entertain the upstairs where I spent years cowering and hiding from a woman who would rather watch me get beaten within an inch of my life than be an actual mother. It’s always been too painful for me.
Except for today.
All of those horrific memories are dashed to the side. Nothing compares to knowing that the man you’ve fallen for is trapped by the monster of your past—a beast who should have been dealt with a long time ago.
Whatever happens down there is exactly what she deserves.
I get to the shed, dropping down to my knees before ripping the heavy metal door up and jumping down. Dust rises into the surrounding air, only illuminated by the minuscule light offered from above.
Reed is in the center of the floor, staring at me with wide, bloodshot eyes. “Thalia, you have to go!”
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” I say softly, trying not to look at the blood painting across the floor—his blood.
I don’t know what I’ll do if the gravity of the situation hits me fully before I can get to—
A gun shoves out of the shadows, jabbing into the back of Reed’s head as Mom steps into the light. Harsh shadows are cast over her features as her lip curls. “Nice of you to join us, dear.”
Hearing the endearment makes my skin crawl as I remain focused on Reed. My heart is racing so quickly I can hear each pound in my ears as if it’s a ticking clock.
Distract her.
“You got me here,” I say, my voice much calmer than I actually feel. “What now?”
Crystal sighs, leaning against the chair Reed is bound to as she jams the gun deeper into the back of his head. “It’s simple, really. You’re going to kill me, or I’ll kill him. One of us isn’t making it out here alive.”
My eyes flicker between them as I lift a hand. “You don’t have to do this.”
“But I do,” Mom urges before kicking off the chair and pacing slowly like a predator stalking prey.
“Your father was my whole life. He was everything to me.” She shakes her head before pinning me with a look of despondency.
“You and your brothers took him from me. My whole reason for existing this long on this godforsaken rock!”
I tilt my head, my eyes narrowing on her. “Real fucking cute. A love story for the books, Mom. You were abusers!”
She scoffs, shoving a hand through her hair. “It was training! Stop being so damn dramatic. I raised you better than that.”
“You didn’t raise us!” I shout. “You traumatized us.”
She rests her head back against her shoulders with a deep, inconvenienced sigh. “You were always easier to get along with than your brothers, you know? I think it’s because we have so much in common.”
My whole body goes rigid as rage grips me. “I’m nothing like you.”
She laughs deep in her throat before her eyes snap to mine.
“You’re exactly like me, Thalia. You’re going to dedicate your life to one man,” she waves a hand at Reed and my defenses go up before she continues, “you’re going to make a home for him.
Give him children and a legacy.” Her face darkens before she jams the gun into Reed’s temple.
“And he’s still going to fucking cheat every chance he gets. ”
I’m staring at her finger on the trigger, making sure she doesn’t pull it. “Way to trauma dump. Maybe you should just get a therapist, Crystal.”
“I don’t need one,” she smiles chillingly, all life devoid of her eyes. “Because you’re going to end this.” Her finger squeezes, and all the bets are off. She’s one hair away from ending the life of the man I—
I aim my gun at her face, all traces of good nature evaporating from me as an arctic wave washes over my spine. The calm before the storm settles in. “Don’t make me do this. Pull the trigger on yourself and let’s call it even. A life of trauma in exchange for one mercy.”
She tuts slowly, her tongue clicking against her teeth. “You know I can’t do that, sweet—”
The fire cracks through the air, causing Reed to jump as my mother’s head juts back unnaturally. Blood sprays from the single bullet wound in the center of her forehead, painting over everything in her wake as she falls back and crumbles into a heap of limbs.
Not a single tear shed for her. Not a single regret about my actions. My only regret is not getting here before Reed lost a finger…
I drop to my knees in front of him, my hands quick as they fumble with the restraints. Warmth tracks down my cheeks as I catch sight of his missing finger, guilt nearly swallowing me whole.
I did this to him.
I hurt him.
He could have died because of me.
“…Thalia!” Reed grabs my cheeks, his blood smearing across my skin as he forces me to look at him. “Fuck, you’re trembling. I’m okay, baby. Everything is okay.”
A sob rips from my throat as I shove a hand over my mouth. “Y-your finger!”
He chuckles despite everything, lifting his wounded hand. “One less finger isn’t going to stop anything. I can still do my job just fine.”
I take his wrist, choking on my cries. “I-I d-did this to y-you!”
“No,” he shakes his head quickly as he takes me in his arms and crushes me to him. “No, no, no. You didn’t do this to me, Thalia.”
But deep down, I know I did. Someone I should have been wary of got to him. How many more situations like this will it take before someone hurts him beyond repair? Someone like Brooks…
I tuck my head into Reed’s shoulder, muffling my cries as I breathe him in. Because I know in my heart this could be the last time I hold him like this.