Chapter 35 Eva
EVA
“Evie, stop it.” Gracie pulls me back by the elbow. “Just leave it, okay.”
“No way,” I shout as I struggle out of her hold, marching toward the playground with my hands on my hips, my ballerinas splashing in the rain.
“Aunt Lizzie is going to be mad if we’re late,” she warns.
“She’s a bully, Gracie. She’s always so mean.
Because no one stands up to her. I’m not letting her get away with it this time.
Here, hold my bag.” I hand her my Catwoman bag, which has a big yellow fluorescent Catwoman face with ‘EVA RYCROFT’ printed in bold letters.
Then I stomp to Sarah Johanssen, who is standing by the slides, drinking the pink slushie she poured on Gracie.
I yell at Sarah until she is red in the face, then march back. But Grace is gone. Her bag lies on the ground sideways, and mine is missing. I look around. There is no one here. Where did she go?
“Gracie?” I yell into the wind.
No sign of her. A fluorescent light catches my eye.
A shine in the car that’s pulling into the street.
Something’s moving in the back, but I can’t see clearly.
The windows are too dark. Is that Gracie?
Where is she going, and who is that man who is driving?
I don’t recognize him, and we are not allowed near strangers.
Aunt Valerie is going to be furious if she finds out.
I run after the black car as it drives away, trying to see through the back window. But I can’t see anything. And the car doesn’t even have any numbers written on the bottom.
“Bean, focus,” Mum is shouting at me now, sniffing through her tears. Aunt Valerie is crying, too. Uncle Jonathan and Dad seem angry. “Tell me what you saw.” Mum shakes my shoulders. “What did that man look like?”
My chest feels full of bees, palms sweaty, as Mum continues to cry, and then my eyes well up, too. Why are they all mad at me? I didn’t do anything.
“Lizzie,” Dad interjects. “Easy.”
“Mum, let her go.” Dan pulls Mum’s hands off me and replaces her on the floor in front of me, while I sit on the couch in our living room, beside a strange lady who is playing sketch. “Bean, you know how you are so good at Guess Who?” Dan asks.
“I always beat you.” I shrug, proudly.
Dan smiles. But he looks sad. Everyone is being weird today. And why is Gracie not back?
“You do. Let’s see if you are good at Show Me Who.”
“How do you play that?”
“I’ll go first.” Dan looks at the woman beside me, and she starts drawing. “I have a mother with bright blue eyes, a heart-shaped face, a small nose…” When he finishes, the woman holds up a sketch. Wow! The face she made looks exactly like Mum’s.
“Now, you try. But you only win if the sketch she draws matches the man you saw in that car. So, tell her everything you can remember, okay?”
“I can do that.” I shrug and begin, “He had dark hair, scary gray eyes, he was taller than Dad….”
“Is this him?” the lady asks when I finish describing him.
“Yeah, but he also had this big scar down his jaw.” I jut my chin up and stroke a finger down my jaw to show her where it was, and she draws one on the sketch. “That’s him. I win,” I declare.
I slam on the brakes, making the tires screech so hard, I think I may have popped one.
A few paces ahead, Grace is walking toward the campus with Nick, Chris, and the other culprit, Caden.
They all stare at me with a mixture of emotions.
But there is no time to explain. I only shot Kane in the arm.
The Grim Reaper will be back on his feet now, and Mason will come after me if I don’t get the heck out of here.
“Get in,” I yell, rolling down my window. “I know everything.”
Grace and Caden exchange a look. Chris and Nick stare at me like I’ve lost the plot.
“Who are you talking to there, Etheridge?” Nick asks with a questioning gesture. But Grace and Caden know. I can see it on their faces, guilt and denial swirling in their eyes. Yet their feet don’t move.
“Now!” I shout.
They trade uneasy glances, then start toward the car. Caden gets in next to me. Grace slides into the back. I don’t wait for the doors to close before I floor the pedal, making the Ranger Rover surge forward.
“What’s going on?” Caden demands as I swerve past the campus, away from the Fort town center, breaking all speed limits. “And why the hell are you in James’s car?”
“What’s going on?” I drawl. “Let’s see: I just found out my parents didn’t die in a hit-and-run; they were murdered. But that’s not news to you, is it?” I glare at them. “And then I find out I was apparently kidnapped when I was seven. Only I wasn’t the one taken.”
Grace’s eyes meet mine in the mirror, and for a tragic moment, the air freezes.
To think she went through that, when it was supposed to be me.
Everything that happened back then makes perfect sense now—Grace growing distant abruptly, Mum sinking into depression for the next year, their sudden move to London the following year, and most suspicious of all, our parents changing Dan’s and my surnames from Rycroft to Etheridge.
A trade made for Grace’s ransom, no doubt.
That thought kills me a little.
My grandfather has an empire to hand down. My father only had Dan and me. Knowing he was willing to trade that legacy for Grace’s ransom makes me ache with pride and bleed with guilt in the same breath.
Grace fidgets in her seat. My eyes rip from hers, unable to face what I see there.
“Kidnapping?” Caden’s eyes flash between Grace and me. I guess I’m not the only one in the dark, then.
“You’ve both been working with Dan,” I accuse. “This one would jump off a cliff if he tells her to.” I throw a look toward Grace. “Why the hell did you agree to this?” I ask Caden.
Caden’s face washes pale. “What do you mean?”
“Drop the poker face. I saw the notes on your phone. It’s like when you took that stupid hack job when you lost that stupid bet. Not to mention, you have been hell-bent on getting close to Hugo since you set foot in Fort, despite my many warnings. Spill it.” I slap the wheel.
Grace peeks at Caden from under her long eyelashes with a secret smile while I blast down the quiet main roads, overtaking a few cars.
Caden presses his lips together. “Dan and Jack asked me to hack the Fort systems.”
“And what would have happened if you got caught? These are dangerous people. When will you learn, Cade?”
“Take a breath, you are freaking out.” Caden makes a calm-down gesture.
“Of course I’m freaking out,” I screech, drawing harsh breaths. “I shot Kane.”
“You did what?” Grace shrieks.
“So, now we need to get the fuck out of here before my boyfriend and his thug friends find us, okay?”
“What?” Caden throws his arm out.
“Stop saying what!” I snap.
“Okay, but what’s the plan?” Caden asks. “You can’t drive us to London. This is their car. You know they have trackers on all of them, and if your boyfriend finds out about me, I’m fucked. That one has had it out for me since day one, thanks to you. I’m definitely taking extra hits for that.”
“No one’s getting hit. I’m getting us all out of here.” I sigh. “And then you are both telling me everything you two know about the accident. Everything. And no one calls Dan. Got it?”
“Evie, Dr. Janet said…”
“I don’t care what she said, I need to remember,” I choke out, my voice shattering at the last word.
“Fine.” Caden grabs my shoulder, and only then do I realize I’m shaking. My fingers curl around the wheel like it’s the only thing holding me together. “We’ll tell you everything. But how are we getting out?” Caden asks.
“Remember when Jonathan came to fetch me after I went rogue that night.”
“Yes…” Grace drawls, not liking where this is going one bit.
“Jack had a backup plan in place for a scenario like that.” I motion toward the circular compound ahead, the helicopter visible from a long distance. “I made the call half an hour ago. The pilot will be here shortly.”
“Um—” Grace starts fumbling with her fingers. She’s terrified of flying.
“It’s the quickest way out of here,” I cut her off before she can complain.
She makes a face but doesn’t argue as I drive through the metal black gates of the helipad marked “Private Property of Etheridge Enterprises.”
As soon as I’m past the threshold, a thunderous growl radiates through the asphalt, and a black shadow appears in the side mirror. One I know a little too well.
My head snaps to the back window. Mason storms in on his Ducati, two Range Rovers following close behind.
“Fuck!” I shriek and hit the accelerator instead of the brakes. “The keys are in the security box,” I fire at them. “Code is Mum’s birthday. Go, I’m going to be slower.”
“Shit, you are barefoot,” Grace yelps. “Take mine.”
“Stilettoes? I will have better luck with no legs,” I huff, even as the pedal makes dents in my feet. I brake hard, as close to the helicopter as I can get without climbing the raised concrete.
Both of them jump out of the car. I lean over to open the glove compartment on the passenger side and take out Mason’s gun. I was going to leave it there. But that was before he decided to hunt me down.
Caden is the fastest, heading straight for the box as Grace shouts the code at him.
The cars fan out, grinding to a halt around us. Only the cars. Not Mason. He twists the throttle, picking up speed as he tries to mow us down.
Not us. Them. He is aiming for Grace.
Adrenaline drains from my veins, my steps faltering as I let Grace go, and come to a dead stop behind her, then turn around.
The metal horse comes screaming toward me.
Mason rides at me at full speed, unstoppable and roaring.
I close my eyes.