Chapter 38
Freya
Without any object ions, the guards grant me passage back to Daringville; it seems my photo is on the approval list. When I step over the tracks, my shoulders relax a little, which confuses the fuck out of me. Although this isn’t home, it now feels like it. The trailer has never felt that way—home was only ever Alec. He was that comfortable place where I could just be myself, and he never judged me or told me to act differently. Fuck, I’ll never get used to the fact that he’s gone. My heart feels like it’s completely shattered and I’m trying to put a million pieces of it back together.
Having the guys by my side has been precisely what I needed, but the thought of going home and feeling lonely is not what I want. I want to be with them and that’s fucking crazy. Never in my life did I think I’d be back over these tracks, falling for the most feared members of The Brotherhood who are getting initiated as I wait. Those same men I warned my brother about. Despite the lump in my throat, I continue walking through town toward their private estate.
I arrive at the guard’s box and reques t access.
“Sorry, ma’am, but I’m not authorized to let you in,” a younger guy says before shooing me away. Fucking asshole.
I kick a rock on the ground, then sit on the curb opposite the box.
As I reach for my phone to call Lucas, I mistakenly open my photo app and find a picture of Alec’s face. He took a selfie one time when he stole my phone. He’s sitting on the toilet with his tongue out and holding up two fingers in a peace sign. Tears fall onto the screen, and I don’t bother wiping them away. He’s really gone. They could have taken anyone else—hell, even me.
The gates open and a car drives out, but it’s not until the car door slams that I bother looking up. I frown as Lucas’s mom, Nadine, kneels in front of me.
“Oh, sweetie, are you okay?” she asks, her eyes the same brown as her son’s.
My head shakes involuntarily as I struggle to express myself, the words eluding me. My life is a mess, and I can’t think straight.
“Do you want something to take away the pain?” she asks, opening up her purse and pulling out a bag of powder.
My eyes widen. “No way! That shit only causes more headaches.”
Nadine kneels in front of me, placing her hand on my knee. “Are you worried you’ll end up like your mother?”
“She made her choice. I’m not weak like her.”
Nadine blows out a laugh. “No, sweetie, you aren’t, but once or twice won’t make you an addict. You’re strong, your mother is weak.”
I shake my head. There’s no way I’m touching that shit no matter what she says.
She places the bag in my lap. “My boy needs a strong woman in his life, and with this, you’ll have the power to take o n the world. Just think about it.” Before I have a chance to utter a word, she’s gone, effortlessly slipping into her car and driving away.
I raise my gaze and spot an older man in the backseat of the car. His face presses against the window, and my mouth drops open. I feel like Alec’s ocean-blue eyes are looking right at me. In a flash, they’re gone, the car zooming away down the road.
I stare at the bag of powder in my hand and shake my head, throwing it to the ground. My phone buzzes in my other hand and a message appears from the unknown number.
Looks familiar, doesn’t it?
Why did she give me drugs? What does the text mean? Why would it look familiar? I reread the text over and over... and then it clicks, just as another message comes through.
Your mother didn’t become addicted to drugs by accident.
All the blood drains from my face, and I think I’m going to be sick. My phone drops out of my hand, and I lean forward, spewing up bile. Memories flicker in my mind of Mom back when we lived in Daringville, back when things were happier. She’d been fine for so long—but what if someone gave her drugs, too?
Nadine’s the mother of the man I’m falling for—but what if she’s not what she seems? Jumping up, I retrieve my phone and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. She’s dead .
I hit dial on Lucas’s name, and he answers straight away. “You okay?”
“Yeah, where’s the graveyard?” I ask in a hurry, and he gives me directions before I hang up without saying goodbye.
The gate opens once more, and without pause, I sprint through it toward Hazen’s estate, evading the guard’s attempt to halt me, and I don’t stop until I’m outside his place. The garage is open and there’s a guy cleaning Hazen’s dirt bike right outside it. I peer around while leaning against the side of the house. After five minutes, the man stops, dropping the rag into the soapy bucket, and goes inside the garage. Before I can second-guess myself, I sprint toward the bike, swing my leg over, and start it. I feel the vibration as it stirs, rumbling between my legs.
“Hey,” the guy yells and races back out, but before he can reach me, I’m flying down the driveway, onto the road, and out of the estate through the still-open gate.
With the wind blowing past me, I feel as though my cheeks are being showered with a million kisses. Hazen will likely be furious with me for taking his bike, but I don’t care. Nadine is going to pay.
If what the messages say is true, Nadine started my mother’s habit all those years ago and got us kicked out of Daringville. I always thought it was Dominic, never her. It changed our lives forever. I need answers, and I’m going to get them from that bitch’s mouth.
Leaving the bike next to Gage’s car, I run down the trail into the forest. The sun dips behind the trees, casting shadows all around me and turning the sky a marshmallow pink. I continue walking until I finally arrive at a massive pair of wrought-iron gates, the entrance to the cemetery, and push them open.
Before me, there are countless headstones arranged in perfect rows on the grass. I stick to the paved pathway that leads me through the rows of graves as the sun dips farther beneat h the horizon. Soon it’ll be dark, and the thought of experiencing this place at night fills me with an eerie sensation of excitement and nerves that runs through my entire body.
Movement catches my eye up ahead, and I catch a glimpse of Nadine’s long blonde hair disappearing through the large archway of an imposing mausoleum-type structure. I hurry the last hundred yards across the graves and follow her inside the building. Ahead is a dimly lit tunnel, and I creep along the descending path until it opens up to reveal a massive tomb. Three hooded figures stand before a large gravestone with three skulls, surrounded by rows of graves.
I freeze just outside the tomb’s entrance, unable to move as I observe what’s happening before me. Nadine is completely out of my mind as I see the guys getting initiated, one by one. The air is heavy with the acrid smell of burning flesh, making it difficult to breathe. I feel an overwhelming urge to rush over and offer comfort, but I’m frozen in place. This is a special moment for them, and I can’t ruin it.
Hazen is the final one to undergo the ritual, and once he’s done, the older man I spotted earlier in the car glances in my direction, so I step out of the shadows.
Nadine spins around and glares at me with intense hatred, almost making my knees buckle. It all comes rushing back to me—the drugs she gave me, the cause of my mother’s addiction, and the resulting consequences.
I clench my fists and sprint over the gravestones until I’m face to face with her. I push her and she loses her balance, her eyes growing wider.
“You bitch!” I scream, and hands wrap around my waist, pulling me backward into a warm body .
“What are you doing?” Lucas snaps, holding me against his chest.
“She tried to feed me drugs and did the same thing to my mother all those years ago. She’s the reason Mom’s an addict and our whole life got turned upside down.”
Lucas releases his grip on me and moves closer, fixing his gaze on his mother. She vigorously shakes her head while putting on a fake smile.
“She’s lying. I’d never do that. You’ve now completed the initiation—you are a leader, and it’s time to celebrate. Don’t let this little rat ruin it for you,” Nadine says, glaring at me, then softening her eyes as she shifts her focus to Lucas.
“Don’t call her that,” Lucas says in a low growl.
Nadine laughs. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her?”
The only sound during a long pause is my pounding heart in my ears.
“Yes, she’s one of us now,” Lucas admits, pulling me under his arm.
“Stupid, stupid boy. Have I taught you nothing?” Nadine throws her head back, her laughter echoing through the room. Suppressing the urge to lash out, I grit my teeth and keep my fists clenched tightly by my sides.
From behind us, a voice bellows, “Enough!” and I spin around to see the older gentleman from the car holding a walking stick. His gray hair is slicked back above his pale, drawn face, and he coughs a few times. “This has gone on too long, Nadine. Lucas deserves to know,” he says.
“Know what?” Lucas asks, glancing between his mother and father.
My heart beats faster. What does he know?
Lucas’s father moves until he’s within arm’s reach of me. His ja wline resembles my brother’s, and he has the same nose. He looks so much like Alec it’s scary. “Alec LeClair is my son, and she killed—” He pauses and tears well in my eyes, spilling down my cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers, reaching out, and his hand lands on my shoulder. My battered heart is squeezed by an invisible vise as I try to process what he’s just said.
A loud scream echoes through the tomb, and Lucas’s father’s eyes go wide before there’s a sickening crack, and then he’s falling forward. I catch him, but his weight is too much, and we both collapse to the ground, his body on top of mine. Blood oozes from a wound on his skull and his eyes start to close. My hands are covered in red. More yelling and screaming pierces my ears, but I can’t hear what’s being said.
It all happens too fast. I catch sight of Nadine from below her husband’s body as she drops something to the ground. I move his body off me, and he falls to my side. From her boot, Nadine retrieves a gun and pulls the trigger, hitting Lucas’s father right in the chest. He groans with finality as blood blooms across his shirt from the bullet wound. With a scream, Lucas rushes toward him, falling to his knees at the dying man’s side.
“What the fuck have you done?” Lucas yells, clutching his father’s shirt. Nadine’s hands quiver, yet she maintains her grip on the gun.
“You killed my brother,” I whisper mainly to myself, but Nadine turns my way, the gun pointed at me, and she nods with a sly grin.
My ears ring and I can’t think. I can’t breathe. All I see is her—everything else blurs into the background. I rush at her, and she cocks the gun, but I snatch it out of her grip. Turning it around, I aim at her heart and pull the trigger .
The deafening bang pierces my ears and Nadine falls to the ground. Lucas leaves his father’s side and staggers over, his gaze shifting between his lifeless mother and me. He drops to his knees, his whole body shaking as he desperately clutches his mother’s hand and checks for a pulse.
As his blood-curdling scream fills the building, my ears ring. “No, no, no! Please come back.” He drops her hand and starts doing compressions. I want to help, but I’m frozen in place, unable to move.
After he pauses his futile CPR to check for any signs of a pulse. “Come back. You can’t leave me. Please!” he screams, falling back onto his ass and my heart splinters into a million shards of glass.
Helplessly, I watch the cascading tears and I long to ease his anguish. I want to make it better. Leaning over, I desperately grasp onto the rough ground, my trembling hands barely able to support me as I sink down onto my knees in front of Lucas.
“I’m so sorry.”
I extend my hand toward him, and his attention shifts from his mother to my reaching fingers. I hesitate, then attempt to retract them, but he grips my hand. His father’s blood stains my palms, leaving a lingering metallic scent in the air.
“What have you done?”
The venom in his voice sends a chill down my spine, and my hands tremble uncontrollably, while Lucas tightens his grip. He holds my gaze for a heartbeat, his eyes full of pain and betrayal, then he drops my hands, pushes himself up, and walks away without a word.
What’s left of my heart breaks in two .
I turn around to seek out Hazen and Gage, but they follow Lucas out of the tomb without looking back. They are leaving me again, like before, and no one is here to help pick up the broken pieces, not even my brother.
The End