Chapter 13 Ivy #2
I’m not sure what I expected to find. Part of me hoped there would be something so obviously incriminating that everything would suddenly make sense, but there’s nothing other than a few stacks of cash that don’t add up to much, some old jewelry, and a couple of passports.
“That’s it?”
“Not what you were hoping for?” Cassian asks as he reaches over me and takes the passports.
I take the silver bracelet from the velvet cushion it sits on and turn to face him, shaking my head. “I didn’t really have a hope but at the same time, after Ruslan showed me that picture, I guess I was hoping to find something kind of evil.”
“Evil”? Cassian flips through the passports.
“Yeah, like… I don’t know. Whatever would make someone in the Mafia get angry, I suppose.”
Cassian hums. “You don’t need a complicated reason for someone in our world to get pissed off.” His brow tightens and he looks up at me. “You don’t share your dad’s surname?”
“Hmm?” My chest tightens briefly. “Yes, I do.”
“Then why does he have a passport that says his name is Camden Harris?” Cassian turns the passport to face me, relinquishing it when I reach for it.
“What?” Almost everything on the passport is as it should be. It’s Dad’s face and his date of birth but not his name. “That’s not—”
Creaking floorboards catch my attention and I glance up in time to see someone clad entirely in black dart through the office door. “Cassian!”
Cassian spins on the spot just in time to block an incoming blow by raising his forearm.
The attacker grunts and a sharp blade glints in his clenched fist an inch from Cassian’s face.
In a flash, the attacker drops the knife, catches it in his other hand, and plunges the blade forward, but Cassian manages to block that blow too, only for the blade of the knife to cut a long red line across his forearm.
“Ivy!” Cassian grunts as he’s forced back a few steps against the strength of his attacker.
“Run!” The attacker lunges forward again and Cassian stumbles, disconnecting himself from the man who then turns to face me, blade raised.
“RUN!” Cassian bellows and he charges forward, launching himself into the stranger.
I don’t make it far. The man slams his elbow down onto Cassian’s back and he crumbles. Then he lunges for me and catches a fistful of my trailing hair. I’m jerked backward and I scream, then I’m falling as Cassian is back on his feet and dragging the man off me.
Two punches and the assailant crumples.
“You okay?” Cassian barks, dragging his phone out of his pocket.
One button press and it’s against his ear. “Ace!”
“I’m okay!” I gasp, using the wall to get back to my feet.
“Ace, you gotta—argh!”
“Cassian?” Spinning around, Cassian’s on his knees with the attacker’s blade protruding from his thigh. The man uses that hold to get to his feet, drags the knife free, and in the same second, plunges it into Cassian’s shoulder.
“Cassian!”
“Run—” Cassian gurgles, sealing his large hands around the man’s forearm. “Ivy, run!”
The last I see is them crashing hard into the bookcase as I dart past with a squeal of fright, hobbling as fast as I can on my crutch.
Out in the hallway, I leave behind the crashes and grunts of Cassian fighting and crash into the side table in the hall.
Pain flares in my hip while I pocket the passport.
I have to get out of here.
Three steps from the front door, several gunshots explode on the other side and I duck down to my haunches with a scream, my hands covering my head. Thankfully, the bullets don’t penetrate the door, but whatever is going on out there is clearly just as dangerous as in here.
Panic claws up my throat as I remain frozen for half a second, drowning in the pops and booms of gunfire while my mind goes utterly blank.
Move, Ivy. You’ve got to move!
I scramble back to my feet and stumble two steps down the hallway toward the kitchen, where the back door is, only for several masked men to tumble out of that doorway, followed by a burst of smoke and a flash of orange flame.
A scream of terror escapes me as they spot me. Abandoning my crutch, I turn and hobble as fast as I can for the stairs, using the wall and the banister for support as I scramble up them. Pain fades into the background as footsteps thunder down the hallway and the stink of smoke fills the air.
I saw that office. I saw what they did to my dad and my mom.
I’m not letting anyone catch me.
Suddenly, gunshots ring out behind me and underneath me like someone’s set off a bunch of fireworks inside the house, and I scream, every nerve in my body jumping in alarm. Panting desperately, I reach the top of the stairs and turn down the hallway, leaning on the wall for support.
Where do I go?
How do I get out of here?
What about Cassian?
I only make it two steps before a strong, thick arm suddenly wraps around my waist and weight collides with my back, sending me crashing to the ground with a scream of terror. The weight over me unlocks something inside me and I start to fight.
“No! No! Get off me! Get off! Get the fuck off me!” I wiggle and flail, kick out both my legs as hard as I can, ankle be damned. My head tosses back and forth, my torso twists, and I punch and scratch at anything I can reach until the weight vanishes and warmth closes around my wrist.
“Ivy! It’s me—ow! It’s me!” Cassian’s face blurs into view through my tears and he clutches at my shoulders. “It’s me!”
“C-Cassian?” His torn shirt is soaked in blood and his face is pale, but his eyes remain bright and alert.
“We have to go, now!” He shoves me through the nearest door, slamming it behind us both and pressing his shoulder against it while digging in his pocket for his phone. “Shit. Shit!”
I stumble to a stop and my blood runs cold.
We’re in my parents’ room.
It’s much like I remember except for the bed. The crisp white sheets are utterly drenched in blood. Mom’s blood.
Despite my racing pulse and thundering heart, the sounds of gunfire and scent of smoke fade to nothing as I’m suddenly enveloped in the cold grasp of utter shock.
I knew what happened to her, but seeing this brings the utter horror of it to the forefront of my mind. Leftover rope remains looped around the headboard, and while the evidence is less compared to my father’s office, somehow, this hits harder.
Who would do this? What kind of twisted, cruel person would let something like this happen to anyone? Bile rises faster and suddenly, I’m puking bile onto the floor at my feet, coughing and gagging through each burning retch.
“Ivy! Come on, we have to get out of—fuck!”
In the same breath as his words, the door behind him crashes open and the crack of a gunshot rings in the air. Cassian stumbles as he cries out, his body crumpling in on itself as he collides with me. It takes all my adrenaline-fueled strength bracing on my good foot to keep us upright.
“Cassian?” I gasp as he sags into me for what feels like eternity. Something warm and wet soaks into my abdomen and my chest grows so tight I can’t breathe. “Cassian!”
Suddenly, his head lifts and our eyes meet for a split second, then Cassian’s hands grip my shoulders and he shoves me hard, using all his power as the shadows of men behind him grow in number.
I don’t get to count how many.
Cassian shoves me with a yell and I smash into the window, glass giving way around me as I crash through it and out into the open air of the outside world. A scream tears from me, stolen by the rush of passing air as I fall down, down, down.
The last thing I see against the backdrop of blue sky above me is Cassian throwing himself out the window after me.