Chapter 40
FORTY
CASSIE
Siri is nervous and whispers, “They’ve been gone ages. First Frankie and now Jack. What shall we do?”
“There is only one thing we can do.”
I stare at her with determination and she shrugs. “What?”
“We follow them.”
I nod toward the tunnel. “Follow me, Siri, it may be a little crowded in there but my educated guess is they’ve found something.”
I shine my flashlight and we begin our journey, and it doesn’t take us long to reach a hole in the floor.
“Fuck!”
I almost fall down it and Siri bumps up behind me.
“What is it?” Her voice wobbles a little and she is obviously scared shitless, but she pushed it aside to do the unthinkable and I love that about her.
“There’s a trapdoor in the floor.”
I shift so my legs are dangling into it and whisper, “I’m going in.”
“Cassie–” Her words follow me as I jump down and discover I can stand and I shine my light around me, noting I’m standing in a dark passageway.
“It’s okay. Give me your hand and I’ll steady you.”
She gasps, “Why the fuck am I here right now instead of chilling in front of a movie? This is a bad idea.”
“Because you would hate to be left out.” I remind her and she groans.
“You got that right. I’m coming in.”
As she jumps down beside me, she gasps, “Wow, this is amazing. I feel like one of those mad explorers about to discover the Holy Grail.”
“Same.”
I can’t help loving the excitement and adrenalin that is fizzing through my entire body as I push aside any fears I may have and let curiosity be in charge now.
We walk slowly, every step a new discovery, and Siri whispers, “Poor Abigail. This must be what happened. The Centurion pulled her through this trapdoor into the tunnel. By all accounts she was dragged. It can’t have been pleasant.”
I shiver. “Nothing about this is pleasant, or what happened to her. I’m guessing we will discover a lot of answers to our questions at the end of this passageway.”
“Agreed.”
Siri shivers. “Trust my cousin to go on without us. This is his kind of disturbed shit and he will be loving it.”
“Tell me what he’s like, Siri.”
I’m so intrigued by Frankie and Siri could provide an insight into his dark personality and she laughs softly.
“He’s always kept to the shadows. His brothers and sisters are just like him.”
“Are his parents the same?”
I kind of think they must be and Siri whispers, “They are. My aunt and uncle had a heavy beginning. Winter was kidnapped from Rockwell and made to marry a psychopath.”
“No way.” I stop suddenly. “That’s seriously twisted.”
“Too right it was. She left Rockwell pregnant with Frankie, Uncle Alessandro’s son, and had the baby in captivity.”
“Frankie?”
My blood runs cold as Siri says sadly, “It was two years of hell and she only escaped when she killed Massimo, her deranged husband. But Frankie was missing.”
“Oh my God! What happened?”
“It’s a long story that ended happily, but the scars run deep. Don’t get me wrong, Frankie’s parents are like my own and I love them unconditionally.”
“But?”
“But they are way too overprotective, and Frankie rebels against that. Plus, the nature of their business doesn’t make for an apple pie upbringing, so it’s no wonder Frankie is so secretive and dark.”
“What about you? You’re nothing like that.”
I can’t believe anything bad has ever happened to Siri, and she chuckles. “My mom has a lot to do with it. She won’t tolerate anything but love and kindness and gives way too many hugs and kisses. She softens an otherwise hard existence, which is why I turned out so great.”
I nudge her and she stumbles. “What. I’m stating a fact.”
I pull her to a stop as we hear voices, and then I detect Jack’s voice wafting toward us. For some reason, it reassures me because if Jack is nearby, no harm can come to us and I have always looked on him as my harbor in a storm.
“Jack!” Siri’s loud whisper reminds me he has somebody else’s heart now and I ignore how my heart sinks at that and focus instead on the man walking beside him.
His dark turbulent eyes lift to mine and the devilish gleam in his eye chases away the shadows. I can’t help how he sucks me in. I’m intrigued by him and crave what he does to me. I am head over heels in lust with Frankie Majerio and as he draws near, his wicked smirk tells me he knows it.
“You just couldn’t follow orders, could you?” He huffs with a slight shake of his head and I flip him the middle finger.
“I take orders from no man.”
Jack laughs and reaches for Siri’s hand and the smile she directs his way tears my heart out.
“Are you ok, darlin’?”
“Of course.” She snuggles in close to his side and says in an awed whisper, “What is this place?”
Frankie scans the passageway and shrugs. “Unexplored territory. It’s kind of cool, though.”
Siri’s expression is triumphant as she winks at me and it breaks a smile on my face.
“So, now we know how Abigail left the tunnel. Where does it lead? I’m guessing the boathouse.”
Frankie nods. “You guess right. He obviously waited for her to enter the tunnel before he set the trap that she fell into. He either drugged her immediately or dragged her behind him. I’m guessing he drugged her first, which is why we never heard her screams.”
“After the initial one.” I think back on that night. “She must have screamed as she fell and then nothing. He would have closed the trap door and dragged her to the boathouse where–”
I exhale sharply. “Anyway, we still don’t know how he took her to Willow Tree house. Surely somebody would have seen them. There were a lot of students in the woods that night, so how did he get her there?”
Frankie appears thoughtful and shines his flashlight around the passageway. “I’m guessing there is more to this place than we know. There could be countless tunnels under the academy that we don’t know about.”
Jack shakes his head. “So what now?”
“We set about finding them.”
Frankie reaches for my hand and as his settles on mine, it’s as if I’m anchored to Satan himself. His dark eyes flash in the gloomy interior of the creepiest place I have ever been, and he says in a deep authoritarian voice, “We will split. Jack and Siri can head back the boathouse way and see if anything else catches their attention. Possibly retrace the Centurion’s steps and work out how he transported Abigail.”
I hold my breath as he turns to me and says with a wicked grin. “Cassie will help me explore this place a little more. Then we’ll find the others and debrief back at the house.”
Jack turns to me and says with concern. “Is that okay with you, Cass?”
“Of course.”
I can’t stop staring at Jack’s hand entwined in Siri’s and hate how it bothers me. It shouldn’t. I suppose it’s because I’ve never seen him with another girl before and my reaction is a curious one. Then Frankie squeezes my hand and reminds me who I’m with, as Jack nods.
“We’ll see you back at the house. Call it one hour and if you’re not back by then, we’ll send out a search party.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Frankie appears more at home here than the house, which doesn’t surprise me. As Siri said, this is right up his alley and for some reason I would rather be here with him exploring this place than the safety of the wood and the fresh air.
As the others walk away, I take a deep breath and smile.
“So, the mystery deepens.”
“This is only the beginning.”
“What are you thinking?”
He smiles, taking me by surprise as he spins me so that my back is pressed against the wall.
“That this is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often.”
“What do you mean?” My voice scratches in the air as I struggle to breathe, because it’s pretty obvious what Frankie is thinking right now as he lowers his lips to mine.