Chapter Forty-four
I s it wishful thinking that it was Dean controlling the GPS? Was it a glitch?
I don’t know, all I know is that fear is the only thing that keeps me from crashing out.
Pain throbs in my face and ribs, the dried blood making my skin feel tight.
I know my nose is broken, and it’s hard to breathe through it.
Felix remains silent at my side, his grip on the wheel not having loosened once.
It was him all along.
The night I almost died; it was him who plunged the knife into my side. Him who held me down and tried to kill me. He ignored my pleas. He gave no mercy.
Felix all along.
My heart cracks inside my chest. For me. My sister.
I had no idea.
And he’s been waiting all this time to find me.
My blood is ice in my veins, the darkness outside the car a void wanting to suck me in.
“I need to use the restroom,” I speak for the first time in what feels like ages, my voice croaky and a little raw.
Felix cuts his dark eyes to me, “You can wait.”
I need to stall. I don’t know why I do, but intuition tells me to.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.” I lie.
“Fuck,” He growls. “My patience with you is incredibly fucking thin, Sloane.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, pressing myself as close to the door as I can get.
He lets out a long sigh and then uncurls one of his hands, reaching for me. My whole body stiffens as he caresses my thigh above the sheet I’m still wearing as a cover-up. I’ve no clothes, no cell. I’ve nothing on me at all.
“It’s okay,” He says, voice almost gentle, but I’m not sure this man knows what that word means. I used to think he was that very thing, but I’ve witnessed the rage, the violence, and gentle isn’t one of his abilities. “You’re going to make it up to me.”
“Yes,” I swallow as he continues to move his hand up and down my leg. Sickness churns in my stomach, his touch making my skin crawl.
“You know,” He says as the lights of a service station appear ahead. “This never would have happened if you didn’t end it with me. You didn’t even give me a chance.”
Tears prick my eyes. “I know.”
He pulls the Range Rover into the service station, parking as close as he can get to the restrooms, which I suppose is for his benefit and not mine. The fewer people who see a girl in a sheet and covered in blood, the better.
“Thank you.” My hands shake as I pull on the handle. “I’ll only be a minute.”
“Don’t run, Sloane,” He warns me, “I will just find you again. I’ll always find you.”
I believe him but say nothing, just simply dip my head in a nod and climb out, the grit on the ground digging into the bare soles of my feet. The grubby tiles of the bathroom floor are cool, but I don’t have the capacity to be horrified about what I’m standing on right now.
At the basin, I start to run the water, my fingers beneath it in the hopes it’ll warm up, but it remains an icy temperature.
The warped mirror ahead of me shows the dark bruising on my face, black and purple smears on my cheekbone and beneath my eyes, and there’s a very obvious bump on the bridge of my nose now, my skin crusty with the rust-colored blood.
Since I have no choice but to use the cold water, I cup my hands beneath the stream and carefully wipe the blood from around my nose and mouth, being gentle since it feels as if my face is broken.
It comes away, tinging the water swirling in the basin pink, and once it’s gone, I shut off the water, pulling some paper towels out of the dispenser to dry my face.
A loud thump on the door startles me. “Hurry the fuck up, Sloane!” Felix shouts.
“I’m coming,” I call back.
What if Dean isn’t coming?
What do I do then?
Survive.
Tightening the sheet around me, I head to the door and unlock it, finding Felix waiting there.
His hand grasps my arm tightly as he yanks me back to the car, shoving me inside.
I remain silent, I don’t fight back, and even though inside my head I’m screaming, I keep my expression neutral.
I don’t want to set him off and for him to decide he wants to finish what he started all those months ago.
He pulls us back onto the dark road, the GPS kicking back in.
We’re forty minutes out from the address, but it may as well be hours with how long it feels time is dragging.
I need to start thinking up a plan, a way out once we stop. He needs to sleep at some point but then so do I. I’ve no idea where we are going or what’s going to be around, in my condition, with the lack of clothes and the near-freezing temperatures, running feels like a death sentence.
But staying with him is too. I don’t know when he’s going to flip that switch.
He pulls the car into a lot, but it doesn’t appear to be anything other than a dark and what looks to be empty house.
“What did you do?” Felix snaps at me, that anger flipping on again.
“I didn’t,” I stammer, “I don’t know what happened!”
A sudden pop sounds inside the car, followed by a loud hiss that sounds like air escaping through a hole, and the car physically dips on the right side.
“You did something!” Felix growls, “What did you do!?”
“I didn’t!” I yell, “I promise I didn’t!”
“Get out of the car,” He commands, “Now.”
“What are you going to do?” There’s a tremor in my voice now, that fear making my heartbeat faster.
“Get out!” He pulls a knife from his pocket and points it at me. “You want to finish what we started, hm?” He growls. “Get the fuck out of the car!”
I scramble to get the door open and practically fall out of the car, my knees hitting the dirt.
I hear his door open and close on the other side and only just get to my feet in time for him to come to me.
His hand is in my hair next, tugging my head back hard, the bite of pain forcing a yelp from me.
He presses the blade into my neck, the sharp edge kissing my skin, a sting following as it cuts me. “How did you do it?” He demands as he tugs me around, forcing me to see the flat tire, a clear slash in the side.
“Let her go,” Dean’s voice echoes off the trees surrounding us, the deep timbre of it sending goosebumps over my skin. Felix spins us around so we’re facing him.
His gun is pointed toward us, but his eyes are on me. He takes in the bruises, the busted nose, and now the blood running down my neck. A darkness comes over his eyes, and a muscle in his jaw ticks.
“I said, let her go,” Dean’s voice is an octave lower, a menacing sound.
“You can’t shoot me without shooting her first,” Felix laughs manically, “You want her? Then you can have her dead.”
“Drop it,” Malakai’s voice sounds to the left of us.
“You heard the man,” That’s Sebastian.
“We’ll give you to the count of three,” Killian adds.
Tears prick my eyes, but Felix, he still doesn’t let go. Instead, the knife presses in harder, burning as it tears into my skin and forces a scream from my throat.
“No!” Felix yells, “She’s mine! You can’t have her.”
“She is not yours,” Dean growls, “She has never been yours.”
“Dean,” I croak his name.
“Shut up!” Felix snaps, “You little fucking slut!”
“Dean,” I say his name again, drawing his eyes to me.
“You’re okay,” He assures me, but it doesn’t feel that way. I don’t see a way out; despite the four of them, it’s Felix who wins here. He can slice my throat in a second, and none of them will be able to stop it. And if I am about to die, he needs to know.
“I love you.” I finally tell him.
“No!” Felix roars, and I know this is it. This is the end.
A sudden bang booms through the lot, and behind me, Felix goes down. The knife nicks my skin some more, but nothing fatal, and I stumble to the side as he releases me. Arms come around me as Killian tugs me to him, forcing my head into his chest, his hands on the back of my skull.
Three loud pops happen behind me, the sound accompanied by flashes of light and Felix’s screams.
“Don’t look,” Killian whispers, “Come on.”
“What’s happening?” I breathe.
“Dean’s making sure he can never hurt you again.”
Killian doesn’t let me turn back once, not as we make it to the darkened house and he punches in a code at the door that unlocks it, not once we’re inside and he guides me away from any windows before he sits me in a chair in what looks like a very empty kitchen.
“What is this place?” I ask, my body shaking uncontrollably.
“A safe house that belongs to the organization,” Killian advises, throwing a blanket over my shoulders before his finger curls beneath my chin, and he tilts my face, getting a look at the bruising and the cut on my throat.
The front door opens a minute later, and heavy, quick steps sound before Dean comes to a dead stop in the doorway. The blood on his face has dried, and his shoulders heave with his breaths.
“Butterfly,” He croaks, and before Killian can stop me, I’m up and out of the chair, running to him.
He catches me when I leap, wrapping his arms around my waist as my lips come down on his.
I kiss him like it’s the last time I’ll ever get the chance to, ignoring the pain that comes with it, ignoring the way the blood on my throat tickles as it trickles down the column of my neck.
Eventually, he breaks the kiss and lowers me down, taking a step back so he can look at me. He tracks the injuries with his eyes, his face twisting in grief as he catches all of them.
“I’m so sorry,” He rasps, “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“You came for me,” A tear tracks down my face.
“Always, Sloane.”
“I love you,” I whisper, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do. He would’ve killed you and hurt Lily, I couldn’t let that happen.”
His hands cup my face gently. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
A lone tear slips down his cheek.
Behind him, Malakai and Sebastian stroll in, the picture of ease and confidence.
“Felix?” I question.
“Dead,” Sebastian leans on the wall. “Dean made sure of it, and we have him ready for clean up to take care of.”
“Clean up?” I frown.
“Hired personnel who specialize in dealing with messy situations.”
Right. I forget what these guys actually do.
“We need to get you checked out,” Dean says gently.
“What?” I panic, “I can’t. The hospital will need my ID.”
He softens, “He’s gone, Sloane.”
I blink up at him, and as all the pieces of the puzzle slot together, clicking into place, I buckle.
He catches me as my knees collapse, bringing me down onto the floor and into his lap. It’s over. It’s all over.
My torment is over.
The nightmares and the fear, and the constant need to check over my shoulder — it’s over. He’s dead.
He didn’t win.
Dean’s hand strokes down the back of my hair, and his arms remain firm and steady, holding the pieces of me together.
Eventually, the sobs quieten, and the tears dry up, but on the floor we remain, the guys standing like guards, quiet but watchful. My anxiety twists and writhes, all those what ifs settling like a lead weight in my stomach.
“What happens now?” I whisper.
“We take you to the hospital,” He strokes back my hair, “And then we go from there.”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to my sister.”
“Whatever you want, or nothing at all,” Malakai says from behind me. “Clean up will make it disappear, like he never existed, which is what needs to happen.”
“I feel like it’s unfair to her.”
“You don’t have to decide now,” Dean assures me. “Let’s get you cleaned up and to the hospital to be checked out, and we can move from there. How does that sound?”
I nod in agreement and accept his hand when he offers, both of us rising to our feet.
“Lily?” I question.
“She’s okay,” Dean guides me from the house, “She’s with Savannah.”
I loosen a breath, a link in the chains that bind me coming unstuck. Dean and I climb into the Porsche while the other guys get into Sebastian’s SUV, and we pull onto the empty road.
A silence settles around us, the warmth of the car a balm on my skin, but it’s going to take a while to thaw the ice inside my veins.