Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LEON - PRESENT DAY
The guard falls, and time stops. Everything seems distant, like I’m watching someone else’s life unfold.
There’s only ringing in my ears and a body—a large man, face down in the dirt.
I’ve never… Jesus Christ. I’ve never shot a man in the head before.
Never killed someone while looking them in the eyes.
My hands shake as I lower my weapon, but there’s no time to process what I’ve just done.
Because Bailey is here. She’s real, and alive, and standing fifteen feet away from me with blood on her hands and terror in her eyes. Jasper’s holding her tight, murmuring, crying.
I close the space between us, needing to touch her, to feel that she’s alive. Fucking alive, and okay. But the blood…
“Are you hurt?” I ask, reaching for her hands.
“Leon?” She whispers my name, her voice exactly like I remember. The wall surrounding my heart cracks in two. Shit. Tears well in my eyes. “I can’t believe you’re real.”
I feel the same way but I don’t have words to relay that.
She’s here.
Thinner, with longer hair, and wearing a frilly dress I’d never have recognized her in. But she’s Bailey.
The other women’s cries of agony snap me back to reality, and Bailey runs to her. “Help her, please!”
“She’s bleeding bad,” Jasper says. I can read his tone… it’s not looking good.
Damon kicks the guard’s weapon away from his body and scans the tree line. “We need to move. That gunshot will bring more.”
Breathing heavily, I force myself to think tactically, to push down the overwhelming relief and joy of seeing Bailey again. Her friend, Polly from what I’ve heard Bailey call her, is dying. There’s more people after us. This isn’t over.
I crouch beside Polly, pressing my hands against the wound in her side. Blood seeps between my fingers, warm and sticky. She barely stirs, just whimpers as I move my hand away.
“Can you move?” I ask her gently.
She inclines her chin a bit. “I think so.”
“Bailey, can you walk?” Damon asks. He’s got his gun out, scanning the area around us.
She nods, but she’s trembling all over. Jasper moves toward her slowly, speaking softly. “It’s okay. We’re here now. We’re going to get you out.”
He lifts her, and she holds onto his shoulders. “I’ve got her.”
I wrap my arm around Polly’s waist, helping her to her feet. She leans heavily against me, and I can feel her strength ebbing with each step. Carefully, I pick her up, cradling her in a bridal position, as her cries grow weaker.
Fucking hell. That is not a good sign.
We make it maybe a hundred feet deeper into the woods before she quiets and goes completely limp in my arms.
“We have to stop,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm while I’m freaking the fuck out. I lower Polly gently against the base of a tree, wiping my bloody hands on my pants. Bailey scrambles out of Jasper’s arms and drops to her knees beside us.
“Polly?” Her voice cracks as she touches her pale face. “Polly, can you hear me?”
I turn on my flashlight, positioning it on the ground, and press my hands against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. There’s so much blood. Too much. It’s soaked through her dress… There’s no way. I don’t know what to do.
“Is she...” Damon asks quietly, coming to my side.
I check for a pulse at her throat. Searching desperately… For Bailey, please let this poor girl live.
For a moment, there’s nothing. Then I feel it. So fucking weak, but still there.
“She’s alive, but barely,” I say. “The bullet must have hit something vital… Shit, i-it’s bad.”
“No,” Bailey whispers, smoothing Polly’s hair back from her face. “No, she’s going to be fine. She has to be fine. Polly? Polly, wake up!”
Jasper kneels next to us, struggling to keep himself calm. “What can we do?”
I look at Polly again, and know that we’re out of time. But I can’t say that, not with Bailey falling apart beside me.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” I say instead.
“How?” Damon asks. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, and we can’t exactly call an ambulance.”
Polly’s eyes flutter open. They’re glassy and lifeless like she’s struggling to see. “Bailey,” she whispers.
“I’m here,” Bailey says, wrapping Polly’s hand in hers. “I’m right here.”
“Don’t go back. He’s… they’re—” I struggle to make out what she’s trying to say. “Safe now… you’re safe.”
“Don’t talk,” Bailey pleads, choking back a sob. “Save your strength.”
Polly tries to say more but her voice trails off.
“Fuck,” Jasper cries, as Polly’s eyes roll back. “Dude, she’s dying!”
“Polly!” Bailey cradles her cheeks in her palms. “Stay with us!”
I sense someone coming, and force myself to back away from Bailey. Damon sees me move, and comes to my side. We both hear them at the same time. Footsteps. Multiple sets, stalking through the underbrush.
“Company coming,” Damon mutters, checking his weapon.
I glance back at Bailey, who’s clinging onto Polly. “Fuck,” I say under my breath. She’s going to hate me for this, but someone needs to make a decision, and I won’t let Bailey get taken again… or any of us for that matter.
“Bailey,” I say quickly. Her tear-streaked face turns to me. “We might have to—”
“No.” She sniffs and wipes her eyes, her voice turning to steel. “I’m not leaving her.”
“Bailey,” Jasper argues. “I’ll carry her, but we have to move.”
I point my gun toward the approaching footsteps. There’s no time. Even if we move now, they’ll catch up to us.
Then two figures stop just over a small hill, close enough that I can make out obvious details. One is another guard, this one more stocky than tall. He’s in black, with a vest on, like the others.
But the second figure is tall and carries himself differently. It looks like he’s wearing a long coat, similar to what I’ve seen on businessmen walking around the city.
I know it’s Alfred immediately… without seeing a single detail up close. But what will he do when he realizes it’s me here?
“Lee?” Damon asks, closing in next to me.
“Wait,” I mutter. “Don’t shoot… not yet.”
Alfred moves closer and Bailey scrambles backward, covering Polly’s unconscious form with her own. Her eyes are wide with fear, telling me everything I need to know about what she’s gone through here.
He stops, and holds his hand out for the guard to do the same. Our eyes meet, and recognition sparks in his features but only for a split second.
“Sir,” one of his guards says, “should we—”
“No.” He studies our group, keeping his expression blank. His gaze lingers on Bailey’s terrified face, before moving to Polly’s body behind her. “What a mess.”
He glances at me again, and I see him take in my stance, my weapon, the way I’m positioned protectively near Bailey. I can’t get a read on him or what he’ll do next and it has me primed to fight.
“Let them go,” he says finally with a wave of his hand.
The guard can’t comprehend what he’s heard. “Sir?”
“You heard me. Clean this up.” He gestures toward where we left the other guard’s body. “All of it.”
Bailey lets out a small, broken whimper, and Alfred’s attention shifts back to her. For just a moment, his mask of indifference slips, and I see the possessive urge to rip her from us rise up.
“Goodbye, my dear,” he says softly. “I do hope we’ll see each other again soon.” Then he turns to walk away, the guard reluctantly following.
I’m shaking with rage, unable to lower my weapon. It would be so easy to shoot him in the back right now. Watch him bleed out slowly… suffer for whatever it is he’s done to Bailey. To me. To so many others.
“That’s it!” I shout. “You’re just fucking letting us go?”
Damon touches my shoulder and I flinch. “Brother, what the hell are you doing?”
“No,” I seethe. “He needs to pay. He needs to—”
“Guys, we have to go!” Jasper interrupts.
“Oh God. No…”
Bailey’s voice snaps me back to reality. Shit. Her friend. She’s hurt. She—
“Polly?” Bailey whispers, shaking her gently. “Polly, no. No, no, no!”
I watch helplessly as Polly’s chest rises one last time, then goes still. The light in her eyes dims. There’s no doubt, she’s gone.
“No!” Bailey’s scream tears through my soul, raw and heartbroken. “No, she can’t be. Polly! Polly, wake up! Please!”
She throws herself over Polly’s body, her shoulders shaking from the force of her sobs.
“Bailey,” Jasper says gently, reaching for her. “I’m so sorry. Come here, I’ve got you.”
“I can’t leave her!” Bailey wails, clinging to her body. “I can’t leave her here alone!”
“I’ve got her.” I tell Jasper, placing a reassuring palm on his shoulder before kneeling at Bailey’s side. I touch her for the first time in over a year, and something switches in her. She crawls to me, climbing into my lap, sobbing against my chest.
My heart fucking cracks in two. Another person dead. Another beautiful soul I couldn’t save.
“She saved me.” Bailey tries to reach back for Polly again, but I wrap her in my arms, lifting her up. “No, please…” But she’s lost all fight now… her sobs dissolving into whimpers, and incoherent words.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur into her hair. “I’m so fucking sorry, love.”
Jasper nods at me before blocking Bailey’s view of Polly. It fucking kills me to leave her here, but we can’t move her. It’ll only cause more trouble.
Bailey’s cries echo through the trees. It’s a sound that’ll haunt me for the rest of my life, and somehow I’m sure this moment isn’t even the worst of what she’s endured.
I take one last look at Polly’s peaceful face before forcing myself to walk away, leaving her alone in the darkness.