Chapter 4
Love
Metallic taste gets in my mouth, down my throat and seems to be coming from my forehead. I can’t stop it from pouring down. I don’t know where I am. It’s dark, and I hear a car’s engine. Not hell, I guess.
The last thing I remember was what I thought was a knife through my head.
But it wasn’t. I wouldn’t be here. I try to get a sense of the smells.
I’m on Declan’s car, on his car’s trunk to be specific.
I inspect my clothes and the whole space.
I have no phone as I already expected. And the trunk is empty of anything but a screwdriver.
I grab it and hide it on my belt under my clothes. It can come in handy.
My father will find me. I’m sure he will. Yet I need to make sure I stay alive until he does. And for Rian’s sake, I have to be in one piece. Rian isn’t responsible for Declan’s actions, but my father won’t see it that way.
Before I scream, “Declan, you creep, let me out!” I decide to play unconscious, I made no sounds until now, let’s keep it that way.
I close my eyes and try to lie there as when I woke up, but there’s too much blood entering my mouth that way.
I lean my head slightly backwards, and the blood runs across my forehead falling to my hair and partially rolling down my neck.
I stay in that position for only god knows how long. When the trunk is finally opened I fight my eyes from opening with the sudden light, it’s too bright. I’d say he’s pointing some kind of flashlight at me.
When he’s almost touching me, I change strategy. He’ll feel my hidden weapon if he picks me up. I pretend I’m now slowly regaining consciousness. “Where are we?” I ask Declan, blinking my eyes several times.
“Somewhere safe,” Declan says and I immediately know where we are. Declan helps me up and I get out of the car. We’re surrounded by woods. Thick woods. He went to the mountains.
“Declan?”
“Here, Dad! Love is here!-”
“No problems?” Max appears from behind a tree like a real-life monster.
“What did he do Declan?” I whisper to Declan, trying to see if the person I knew is still there.
“Tried to show your mother her poor love choices. Seems like Declan needs to clear your head as well. You got the blood of the devil,” the blood of the devil.
I heard him say that once to my mother about Josh.
That Josh was different because he had the blood of the devil. Is he referring to my father?
“Do you have any problems with Vance? He got something you don’t? A wife that does not fear him but loves him perhaps?” I ask, and Max’s blue eyes darken. I got it right.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about-”
“You’re right. I don’t. But the way I see it, you’re jealous my father managed to have a ruthless status and still have a family that stands by him, not only by fear or respect, but because they love him.
As I see it, only Declan loves you. You’re lucky, I thought you’d be on your own!
” I exclaim. Yes, I want to live. But no, I won’t let any of them touch me or try to brainwash me.
“She’s just like her mother,” he says and tries to caress my cheek but I open his head with the screwdriver.
“What the fuck, Love?” Declan asks and I hit his father a second time. This time, he falls flat on the ground. After he passes out, I point the screwdriver at Declan.
“Don’t come closer!” I warn Declan but he isn’t there, as he looks at his father, brain exposed on the ground, the monster in him comes alive.
My mind says, “Run.” Run away before Declan is out of the trance, looking at Max.
And so I run.
I go to the woods. The woods my family used to hunt in and I go into the thicker part of it looking for the cliff and the deer stands in the trees. There might be someone there. Or perhaps a lost gun.
I don’t listen to my leg muscles burning like hell, I keep running. Trying to control my breathing but failing. My vision blurs for a few seconds, and I trip, but I get back up and keep running to the last deer stand before the cliff.
I can hear Declan’s steps behind me, nearer and nearer, about to catch up with mine.
As I climb up to the tree stand, I feel Declan’s hand grasp my leg. I don’t calculate well what I’m about to do, I stab Declan’s hand with the screwdriver. He grunts, refusing to scream despite the injuries.
I keep climbing until I reach the wooden doors, and I open and lock them behind me.
Declan can still reach me. And probably will, that’s why I have a plan B.
It isn’t what I want but it is what will happen.
Declan had everything planned with his dad.
I screwed up his plan, no pun intended. Now he’s acting by instinct.
And that is more dangerous than any plan he might’ve had.
“Love,” someone screams from a distance. Josh screams. He’s alone on the other side of the creek; he looks like an ant from here. I check Declan and see him trying to climb the tree and failing. He’s too heavy or too unprepared. The more seconds pass by, the angrier he gets.
“Josh, stay there,” I scream when Declan changes plans. He takes his gun from his belt and points it at Josh. “He has a gun”
“So do I. Duck!” Josh yells back and I gasp, staying as low as I can in the tree stand. His words don’t calm me, they only assure me one of them is getting out of here in a casket.
Weapons firing starts, one of them hits the tree next to me, by then I’m too aware that it could’ve been me.
Shots start coming from below. I unlock the doors and jump down purposely on top of Declan. My feet to his head.
I fall and probably sprain my ankle but that’s the least of my problems. I kick his face and get up from his lap, and run for the cliff. I stop four steps from the edge.
The sun begins to set and I know in a while I won’t be able to tell how far I am from falling to my death.
New Year’s Eve is proving itself to be as painful as Christmas Eve and the timing doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
Someone got out of their way to top Kane’s power and try to rise with our crumbling.
I’d bet my life it was Max Denfell, I’d fear say with Declan’s help.
Trying not to faint I breathe in deeply as both Declan and Josh approach. I hear footsteps on my right but can’t spot anyone.
“Declan, shoot me, not Josh!” I scream when Declan corners my brother against a tree.
“But that’s no fun, Love,” he says, smiling at Josh. I know he has seconds to live, so I ask desperately.
“Take me, we’ll leave, you and me. But you need to let Josh go,” Declan seems to weigh what I just said. I’m not even sure what I just said myself. The darker it gets, the harder it is to see anyone, so I step towards Declan and Josh.
“Don’t move. There’s only one way I’m leaving here with you,” he says and knocks Josh out with a blow on his head with his gun.
He didn’t fire, but my body acts as if he did.
My palms sweat even while I’m freezing. I shake and it’s not just cold.
The adrenaline is telling me to go, to run again, but Josh would end up killed. And I keep my word.
I walk towards Declan, and he holds my arm tightly, guiding me inside the forest. Everything that happens next is a blur, both because it happens in a fraction of a second and because it’s dark; all I see are shadows and silhouettes.
Someone attacks Declan. Dominik does, I’d recognise him in any shape or form.
Declan is thrown to the ground, and there are several punches involved after.
I don’t see them clearly, just the movement, but I do hear Dominik and Declan’s fists hitting each other’s faces.
I’ll have to trust Dominik is just as deadly as Declan.
He took on the mastermind role for the operations soon after Declan left.
He was the only one they found who could do an equally good job.
When the moving stops for a second, I see someone reaching for a rock, Declan. I run towards the cliff and count my steps as a guide of how many centimetres I have between me and a 60-metre free fall.
“Declan, don’t! If you do, I’ll jump. You’ll never have me,” I don’t understand what happens next, but I see someone get up. Dominik, he walks in my way, and I wonder where Declan is. If we’re safe, if Declan isn’t going to attack Dominik again.
I hold my breath when Dominik comes near enough for me to see the damage to his face and head. “Are you going to be-”
My ankle twists with all the shaking and my foot slips; I fall down towards the cliff. I feel myself fall a few metres and close my eyes waiting for the impact, but it never comes.
“Hold my wrist, Love,” Dominik screams and I look up. He’s holding my wrist with one hand and a tree with the other. I grab his wrist and hold on for dear life.
“I’m going to fall,” I yell sobbing, my voice breaks as tears stream down my face. I wonder how long I’ve been crying for, but right now I’m more worried about my hands loosening their grasp on Dominik’s wrists.
“Don’t let go, Love,” he screams, but I do.
“But you’ll fall,” I scream and he lets go of the tree to hold me. My arm starts hurting and I want to give in to the strength of holding all my body’s weight.
“My only way down is with you. And I promise you, you’re not falling, ma Vie,” Dominik says and I hold him again.
I can see his green eyes shine with the moonlight, and tears are actually coating them.
I hold his arm, and when he pulls me up, I help him by putting my feet against the floor and trying to stand again on the cliff’s edge.
When Dominik manages to drag me up, he lets us fall behind, me over him. Away from the cliff. “You saved us,” I whisper to him, my body tensing up when his hand falls on my waist.
“I’ll always do,” Dominik whispers back, fog leaving his mouth, my teeth chatter, until Dominik wraps both his arms around me.
“I can’t thank you enough,” I say and Dominik’s hold shifts. I feel the tension in the air; I can almost grip it.
“Do you like me or do you appreciate all I did for you?” Dominik asks and I don’t think before acting.
I kiss him, wildly, like I was waiting for it for the two years I’ve known him, and maybe I was.
Dominik doesn’t need to fight me for dominance; I give it to him.
That’s the thing with Dominik. I trust him blindly, in any circumstance.
As Dominik’s lips roughly brush against mine, his tongue owning me, his hand slides to my back and glues us together. My body tingles to the level my nipples harden, brushing against Dominik’s clothes and chest.
“I’d love to fuck you here, but your brother is about to regain consciousness, and he’d kill me.
Or die trying. And I’d much rather keep you to myself,” he says, slightly parting our lips , he helps me up right after.
I walk in the darkness, with no clue where I’m stepping, holding onto Dominik’s arm as if he’d disappear if I didn’t.
“Joker, come to live, man. Declan is dead,” Dominik says and for some reason I take a hit on my soul. Declan is dead. I killed Max. Dominik killed Declan. Rian’s got no family left. No one but us. Josh and I are his family now.
“Can I take your phone?” I ask Dominik, he nods and hands it to me.
It’s exactly midnight. I check the phone and there’s no reception.
Happy New Year. We get out of there, when the phone has one bar.
Dominik calls Kai, and they come to pick us up.
Dominik and Josh refuse to go to the hospital or be seen by a doctor.
Thankfully, Declan isn’t the only doctor in the family.
Rian is a paediatric surgeon; he can perfectly access their wounds.
And he does, even after Josh tells him the news.
He acts tough and doesn’t cry until he closes his room’s door.
I knock on it after saying goodnight to Dominik and Josh, who are planning to move, Damian, Marcus, and Dominik himself, to our private condominium.
As they said, we need to strengthen security, our alliances, and our family’s power.
Because every pawn on the board is moving and the board itself is shaking.
A strong shift is about to happen and I’m not sure I’ll like the extra protection again.
But right now I couldn’t care less. Rian doesn’t answer me when I knock, but I come in anyway.
He’s curled up on his side on the bed. I go towards him and don’t try to engage in conversation; all I do is hug him from behind and let him cry his eyes out.
I stay like that all night, until I end up blacking out from tiredness.
An era has ended. A (hopefully) better one is starting.