Chapter 12 #4
'That Terry guy who showed me up said he's waiting for some escort he lined up, but they've already turned her away,’ Shade murmurs over the feed. ‘No one will interrupt.’
I let out a breath and turn toward the rooms on my right. They’re separated from the rest of the club by thick drapes over the entrances. The first one is open, but the second, where Mav is hiding, and the third are closed.
I walk toward the third room, but just as I get there, Joe’s bodyguard, Jacob—the man who held me down the day of the Stinger, but actually didn’t do much else, so he’s not high on my revenge list—comes into view.
His face is bruised, and he has a white bandage on the bridge of his nose.
I wonder if Joe punished him for losing me as well.
If so, he’s lucky to be alive. I wonder if he knows it.
I try to stay nonchalant, hoping he doesn’t realize it’s me in the low light and, I think I’ve gotten away with it, when he stares right past me at first.
I go to the thick velvet drape of the third room with my tray and, as I do, my eyes flick to him. He’s staring at me now. He realizes who I am.
He glances at the entrance to the room, and then at me again. He’s going to sound the alarm.
But, then, miraculously, he looks the other way and takes two steps down the walkway as if intently staring at some other potential threat. He’s letting me do this.
I let out a breath and remove him from my revenge list completely, trying to still my humming heart, my shaking hands.
Don’t want to drop the tray and wreck my chance!
I steel myself. I can do this. I think about all the things he did. I can do this. He deserves his comeuppance. I owe it to myself, and to be honest, that poor downtrodden sister of his. To all the other women he’s hurt, or killed.
Except Nasty Nurse, of course.
I go through the curtain, and push all the other distracting thoughts away. I have a job to do and this will be my only chance to do it.
Joe is splayed out on the couch. He looks right at me, and there's no recognition in his eyes.
I offer him the drink on the tray, my eyes downcast demurely.
'Finally,' he says with a snarl. 'I don’t know whose cock I have to suck to get a fucking drink in here.'
He snatches the glass and downs the contents, slapping it back on the tray hard when he’s finished.
That was easy. My lips quirk up. Anticlimactic, actually.
‘Get me another.’
And then he looks at me, really looks at me, for the first time, and he startles.
‘Marguerite.’
MAV
The sadistic asshole downs the drink she offers him like he’s dying of thirst and my eyes widen a little bit with glee. It’s done.
That motherfucker… I almost wish I was the one doing it. Hell, I do wish I was doing it, but I know why she has to be the one.
He doesn't even know that it's her for about thirty seconds. And then the son of a bitch looks her in the eye, and uncertainty clouds his features.
'Marguerite. What are you doing here?' He stands up. ‘How are you here?'
And then he smirks, 'Have you realized how hard it is out there? Come crawling back to beg me to take you as my wife?’
He laughs when she says nothing.
‘Get on your knees, you dumb little bitch.'
My fists tighten. Fuck, I want to go in there and beat the ever-loving shit out of him.
But I don't. This is our girl's moment.
I just watch through the peephole.
Daisy ignores Joe’s words and holds her ground. ‘You killed the nurse?’
The asshole's eyes travel over Daisy, over what’s never been and never will be his, like he owns her.
'She served her purpose… Well, she failed at her purpose, actually. Now, my wayward little whore, the real question is, what am I going to do with you?'
His eyes narrow, gleeful and malicious, and he produces a small, black remote. 'Go over there and lay on the couch. Open your legs wide for me, I want to look at what's going to be mine soon, what I'm going to share with my brother whenever he asks, so long as he's a good boy.'
Joe’s lips curl up into a sadistic smile.
Daisy doesn't move.
'Now, my darling, or I'll have to correct you and then maybe I’ll have a little fun with you while you’re passed out. Just a little, like I did that day with Aggie in your room. Do you remember?’
'No.'
‘You don’t? Well you were very out of it from all the zaps she gave you. You even wet yourself.’
‘No,’ Daisy says levelly. ‘I mean I’m not going to do as you say, Joe.’
He smiles spitefully. ‘I was hoping you’d fight me.’
He points the remote at her and presses it, and then his eyes narrow when nothing happens.
He snorts and he throws it onto the table. It skitters across and thuds to the floor.
'Your father assured me you were practically a vegetable, easily subdued and manipulated.'
'He's not my father,' Daisy snarls. 'You are vile and disgusting, and you’re stupid, too. You underestimated me and it’s going to cost you everything.' She tilts her head. ‘Very soon, you aren't going to be a problem for me anymore, Joe.'
He steps close to her with an angry sound, towering over her, and grabs her by the throat. She doesn’t cower even a little, and I’m filled with pride even though I want to charge in there and save her.
But our girl is fucking Valkyrie. She’s already done that herself.
‘What’s happening?' I hear Shade in my ear asking.
‘She’s okay,’ I murmur, watching Daisy smile a little.
'You're looking a little blue, Joe. Feeling all right?'
He looks at his hand and then at her face, maybe wondering why he doesn't seem to have the strength to choke her. His arm falls away, and he stumbles back, sitting hard on the couch. He looks past her and tries to call his bodyguard for help, but he can't make a sound above a whisper.
And then he stares at Daisy, suddenly realizing that this is because of her.
‘It was in the drink.’
‘They’ll catch you,’ he chokes out.
‘No, they won’t.’ Daisy sinks down in front of him on her haunches. ‘And I know that because I made it that way. I know you take Fentanyl. I saw the prescription bottle on your desk that day. It’ll look like an overdose.’
She stands up. ‘You know, you deserve it. No one has deserved it more, after all the things you did. All the people you've ever hurt, or humiliated, or killed.'
He makes a gurgling noise, and his eyes roll back in his head, and I hear Daisy's relieved breath.
She grabs the tray and the glass he was drinking from, and leaves the room without a backward glance.
I smile as I watch her pass. She heads for the back stairs to go down and back across the dance floor in the direction of the rear exit.
I leave my spot slowly, and I go out onto the walkway.
I watch Daisy start to cross the crowded dance floor, but then the lights change, plunging the room into darkness for a split second, and when I can see again, I’ve lost sight of her.
Frowning, I glance at where the others are. Blake is still by the speakers, and Shade is at the bar in the same seat. Both of their eyes seem to be darting around.
'Daisy?' I ask through the mic, 'Daisy?' but I hear nothing but static. 'Guys. Can you see her? Where is she?'
'I'm on the dance floor,' I hear Blake say.
He makes his way toward the area where I saw her last.
'I can't see her.'
'Shade?' He’s up and leaning over the balcony.
'She's not there.'
I run down the back stairs and out onto the dance floor, pushing people out of my way.
I get to the spot where I last saw her. The tray is on the ground, upturned.
'What the fuck happened?'
I run towards the edge of the dance floor, looking frantically.
I go through the door and into the quieter hall, and I look up at the cameras, but fuck, they're off.
I'm wild with worry and fear.
'What the hell just happened?'
I hear Blake behind me. He jumps through the door.
'Where is she?' He grabs at me.
'I don't know! She was there, and then the lights went out, and she was gone. The tray was on the floor. She's not here.'
'Daisy? Daisy!' Blake says into his mic.
Shade gets there a second later. He has his phone out and his fingers are flying over the screen.
'Maybe she went to the car. Maybe she's with Sauvage already.'
His phone pings and he shakes his head silently. A few seconds later, Sauvage comes bursting through the end doors.
'You have lost ma petite fleur,' he snarls, looking genuinely worried.
'Like you give a shit,' Blake snarls, stalking towards him. 'All you care about is the fucking drugs she can make for you.'
Sauvage backhands Blake across the face and then has a gun to his forehead so quickly and so casually that it reminds us that, though he’s a softy around Daisy, he’s stone cold and dangerous as hell.
'You waste precious time,' he snarls. 'The cameras are off. I don't know what has happened to her, but if she has been taken, we need to act quickly.'
Daisy
My head is pounding.
I can hear low, muffled machines humming… like engines.
My eyes flutter. Where am I?
I take in a fuselage. I'm sitting in a chair. I'm strapped in.
‘Oh dear,’ I hear a male voice say next to me. 'You shouldn't be awake. It'll ruin the surprise…’
‘Right, Marguerite, as glad as we are to have you back, the doctor says it's best that you get back into your normal routine.'
My eyes crack open, and I’m met with a gray ceiling—one I recognize. The voice as well.
'Now, I mean it, Marguerite, I don't want to correct you, but I will.'
I sit up slowly and blink at the man in the white uniform.
A Blank.
He's holding a white key chain on a belt I know far too well, and I feel the old Stinger around my thigh like an unwanted companion.
This can't be happening. I can't be at The Heath.
I stare at the Blank, whose name I’ve forgotten, dumbly, but my legs, clad in the gray trousers that I lived in for a decade, slide to the floor almost automatically.
The Blank nods and leaves my room, satisfied that I'm up.
My mind is stuttering, unable to comprehend what is happening. I was just at the club, wasn’t I?
I remember Joe collapsing, and then I left the room and I went down to the dancefloor. The lights were too bright. The music, too loud. And then there’s nothing after that.
I stand on unsteady legs, feeling sick and groggy. What is happening? How did I get here? This has to be a dream. A nightmare.
I can't be here. I must be somewhere else. I need to wake up. I pinch myself hard. Nothing happens.
I put on the slippers that are beside my bed absently, and I walk slowly from my room in a daze.
I go down the hall, past residents I know. They look at me and I stare back at them as I pass.
None of them speak.
I continue down the corridor, past the Blank’s break room to Stoke’s office.
I don't really know why I’ve made my way here, or what I expect him to tell me, but I need to know something. I raise my hand to knock, but the door is already opening.
'Marguerite.'
I blink at the man in front of me, knowing he's familiar, but I can't seem to put two and two together at first.
It's because he's out of context. I realize I've never seen him here before.
‘Joseph Banderville?’
‘No, Miss Novelle. Don’t you recognize me? I’ve been treating you here at The Heath for the past ten years. I’m Doctor Lansdon.’
He looks over his shoulder, speaking to someone. ‘She appears to still be suffering from the same psychosis. She’s been confused like this since early September.’
I’M SORRY!! But the final book is coming in Jan/Feb!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the fourth part of Daisy’s story.