Chapter 24 #2
I suspect that’s his plan all along, to hurt Levi, so I’m not sure why he wishes to share all this information with me.
I notice a small, sharp object, like broken glass, to my right, and shift a little when he starts to pace, reaching for it and wrapping my hand around it.
I hide it between my knees when he screams at me, his face all red.
“I didn’t kill her! She was pregnant with my baby girl, and there were complications.
The doctor didn’t arrive on time.” He wipes away a tear.
Does this pervert really think he lost the love of his life?
Burning in hell for eternity wouldn’t be enough to pay for his crimes.
“She died because you made her give birth for years here in the basement alone. Her death was the consequence of your actions.”
“Shut up!” he yells, pulling at his hair, and his breathing becomes more prominent while I squeeze the glass and start to tear the rope.
“It’s that bastard’s fault! He’s to blame for her death.
Her fucking Lev, whom she adored so much.
” A different kind of hatred laces his tone, and it stokes my anger.
“He was an innocent child! You’re the one who raped and killed his mother.”
For a second, I think I see confusion in his gaze, as if he were talking about another Lev altogether, but he shakes his head.
“It doesn’t matter. He never found her. And her bastard ran away and didn’t die in the woods.
” He goes to the table and puts the rosebud inside the small vase there.
“I tried to kill him for years and then even sold him, and it didn’t work.
I hoped he died a painful death, but instead, fucking Lachlan Scott had to adopt him.
” I move the glass back and forth harder, calculating how fast I’d need to run to get upstairs and away from this hell.
Levi will come.
I just have to wait.
“The boy was stupid enough to show his face to me, and after that, it was game on.”
“Or maybe you were stupid enough to pick up the decoy.” I hold back a relieved groan when the knots loosen around my wrists. “What if the hunter is the prey? Have you ever considered that you’re the one playing Levi’s game and not the other way around?”
And what a brilliant strategy it was, despite the rather disturbing outcome.
Due to Jonathan’s influence, Levi couldn't find him on his own, and he knew him well enough to predict he’d go after something or someone important to him.
Men like Jonathan wouldn’t dare to go against Lachlan, so he never touched his family.
However, in his mind, Levi is his, which makes him and whoever he loves fair game. He thinks there would be no consequences.
“The boy is not smart enough. He looks like them, but he’s nothing like them.
They are the family of cunning strategists.
Not that it helped them much.” He laughs, and now I’m the one confused.
Is he hinting at Anastasia’s family? “I will not kill you. Not tonight, at least.” He clicks his tongue.
“No. I’ll keep you and torture you, sending him videos so he can suffer alone and slowly go insane because he can’t reach you.
” He hits his chest with a fist. “He’ll finally pay for what he did to me. ”
At this moment, I realize he has no idea who Levi is at all. If he knew he was a serial killer, he’d expect him to do something to protect what’s his, but this guy is just delusional.
No wonder their business empire is on the verge of crumbling.
“What he did to you? You killed his mother.”
“Stop saying that!” he yells. “I loved her! I never touched another after her.” His face twists. “I couldn’t.”
Something nags at the back of my mind that forms a disturbing conclusion. “Your father found out about you and kept you on a short leash. That’s why you got married.”
Disgust flashes in his gaze. “He married me off to that old hag and kept my inheritance over my head with all the security guards trailing my every move. Hated them all. He wanted an heir, but I couldn’t get it up for her.
” His sadistic grin is back. “That’s why when they both died in the plane crash I could finally breathe again.
Divorced that bitch right away and left her with nothing.
No one speaks to my soul like Anastasia. We’re bonded. I’m very loyal.”
I thought I could never meet a more despicable person than Jade, but I was wrong.
“No, you aren’t. At least she has peace far away from you. Anastasia was not yours. She was a child who got kidnapped and you abused her for years before she finally died by your hand.”
The more I speak the truth, the more elevated his breathing becomes. His face grows red, and I expect him to do something so I can run away. “No! She’s with me. She didn’t go. Stop saying that!”
This makes all my senses halt as dread fills the pit of my stomach.
I watch him go to the bed and remove the blanket, and the acid in my mouth is back when he picks up a skeleton covered in a white dress, hugging it close to him as he hums something under his breath.
“Tell her, Nastenka. Tell her the truth.” He presses his cheek to the skeleton and pats the skull.
“I could never bury her. She belongs here with me in our heaven. That’s how much I love her. ”
“Oh my God,” I whisper, horrified to my bones, and swallow back the acid, barely. I cannot lose it right now. I need to stay focused. “You torture her even after her death.”
“No! She’s mine. They can never take her away from me. I couldn’t allow for the worms to eat her.” He kisses her, and I turn away, my insides crushing. “I lost our baby girl, and I guess this is my punishment.”
Oh no.
“She was so beautiful, our princess. The sweetest little girl who reminded me of her mother. I could hide her on my land in peace, and in the evenings, I’d be with my Nastenka.”
Nothing, not even life with Jade, could have prepared me for this kind of encounter.
How could this heinous demon be Levi’s biological father?
His son is nothing like him, and never will be.
For my man’s sake, I ask him, though, because I’d think Levi would want to know, “How did you lose her?”
“She’d eat something and get sick. No matter what I cooked, she’d feel bad, and her stomach would be upset.
I brought the doctor in and had all the tests done, but aside from being slightly anemic, nothing was wrong.
I had no choice. I took her to the hospital.
” He sighs and pats Anastasia’s cheek. “She had some internal bleeding, and they rushed her to the operating room, but the surgery didn’t help.
My baby girl died. I couldn't even say goodbye to her.” He wipes away the tear and kisses Anastasia’s skull.
“I lost both of them while that bastard lived. It’s an unforgivable sin. ”
Levi’s only sin was being loved by his mother, and that’s something Jonathan could never forgive him for.
Gathering all my courage, I push this reality far away, for focusing on it would destroy me right now, and instead press my bare feet on the ground while Jonathan’s attention is still on Anastasia.
“My biggest mistake was keeping him alive.”
Focus, Lavender, focus.
With this thought in mind, I sprint up and, ignoring the pain ricocheting all over me, dart to the stairs while he yells behind me, “Come back here, bitch!”
Running up the stairs, I end up in a spacious hallway in a glass house and dart outside where the moonlight shines brightly. I hear howls in the distance, chilling my blood while endless acres of land leading to the forest greets me.
I notice guards as well, who spot me right away and start chasing me as devastation rushes through me at the complete hopelessness I feel.
Where are you, Levi?
Fisting the skirt of my dress, I rush toward the forest, my feet burning against the grass while the wind billows my hair backward, the air sticking in my lungs from the effort, and I can still hear Jonathan yelling behind me.
Is this how Levi felt all those years ago?
“Just shoot at her, you idiots!” Jonathan yells, and a gunshot follows his command, making me jump to the side to avoid it and run in a zigzagging pattern to confuse them.
Ignoring the hurtful sensations racking through my body from every corner and the dizziness that makes me want to throw up all around me, I finally get inside the forest, hoping to hide among the countless trees.
Only to stumble forward, instant pain stabbing into my calf and ankle. A scream tears from my throat, and my fingers sink into the soil, an exhausted sigh slipping past my lips because it’s almost impossible to get up.
Heavy footsteps trail behind me, and I hear male voices before four men emerge from the forest, pointing their guns at me. One of them speaks into the headphone on his ear. “Tell the boss we found her.” A beat passes. “He told us to bring her and not be gentle about it.”
The men chuckle as I scoot back, trying my best to ignore the pain, and get up, even if it means running with a broken ankle.
“You made the boss angry, which means he’ll drive us crazy. You need to be punished.” One of them swings the metallic chain in his hands back and forth before wrapping it around his fist. “I think he won’t mind if we add a scar or two to your face.”
He takes a step toward me, and I press my splayed palms on the ground, lifting myself up, only to hold back my scream when he hits me with the chain right on my wrist with the Thor bracelet Levi gifted me.
Thunder echoes in the sky, the sound so loud it almost silences everything around me, as the atmosphere grows dark around us.
That’s when I hear barely audible movement behind me, and the men still, swallowing hard, so I look over my shoulder. My eyes widen at the sight of the gray wolf stepping from the shadows.
He seems massive and, frankly, very old. Do they even live this long in the wild?
His eyes, though…his eyes seem to hold so much wisdom it is astonishing.
He comes closer, and my heartbeat speeds up for a different reason entirely when he nuzzles into my neck, as if he's smelling me, and I wonder if this is my destiny.
To be eaten by a wolf.
I guess it’s better than to be killed by these men.
“Shoot the damn thing,” one of them shouts. “We need the bitch alive.”
The wolf throws his head back and howls into the night, combined with thunder and lightning, it almost scares me.
Then he taps my shoulder with his paw and stands in front of me, hunching down as if to protect me from the men, who all draw their guns, though their hands tremble when the wolf growls.
“Just shoot!” the one with the chain yells again, and it turns into a scream when the wolf jumps on him, going right for his throat, and blood pours from him.
The other three men start to retreat, but he jumps on them as well, biting off someone’s hand, and if it weren’t for my aching ankle, I’d think I’m in some kind of fucked-up dream, because what the hell is going on here?
I turn away from all the bloody gore, though I don’t feel sorry for these men, and once again try to get up because Jonathan knows about my whereabouts. I have to move.
The adrenaline rush must be doing its job because I finally manage to get up and resume my run, ignoring the broken ankle and looking around, choosing to go farther into the forest.
Survival, that’s all that matters.
Any pain is bearable as long as it means I survive and the monsters die.
“No!” one of the men yells, and I focus only on my breathing, moving as fast as I can through the forest and groaning when the wind intensifies and a drizzle starts.
Gunshots and wolves’ howls follow me the deeper into the forest I get, and complete darkness seems to surround me, growing my desperation and exhaustion because it seems there is no escape from here.
“You can’t give up,” I whisper to myself, and continue to race blind and cry out when a brawny arm wraps around my waist, lifting me.
“Let go of me.” I hit the hard chest until familiar scents penetrate my lungs, and a sob slips past my lips.
“Levi.” I clung to him for dear life, strength leaving me all at once when I hug him.
He found me. I knew he would.
“I’m here, Lavender,” he says, and leans back, cupping my cheeks. “I’m here.”
“He’s… Robert… He’s Jonathan.”
His body grows cold, and he nods. “I know. I’ll handle it, Lavender. Are you hurt?”
“Yes. Levi, he has these men and…” He kisses me hard, swallowing all my protests, but quickly ends it. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Everything is going to be okay. Don’t worry.” He steps back, and calls over his shoulder, “Take her to the hospital. Now.”
“No, Levi! Don’t go alone.” I shout as he disappears into the forest as more howls ring in the air. I try to dart after him, but freeze when someone grabs me from behind. “Let go.” I struggle in the strong grip, fear enveloping me whole at the prospect of losing Levi to this madman. “Let go!”
“He has to do it on his own, Lavender.” I recognize Wyatt’s voice just as a sudden sharp pain pierces my scalp as if something has burst inside it, and the world slowly starts to get dizzy around me until it becomes black.