Chapter 35
Serena
Enzo leers at me from the chair, fingers pressed together in front of his face.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say hi?” He asks as he slowly pushes himself from the chair and starts stalking towards me.
Ice runs through my veins.
How did he even get inside? Isaac said that he had set the alarm before he left. There’s no way that Enzo should be standing here in front of me.
This can’t be happening.
My head shakes as I stumble backward toward the foyer, panic rising in my chest. Every step he takes toward me makes my heart beat harder into my ribs. The distance between us closing far too quickly.
I turn on my heels and try to run, but my foot slides on the forgotten cottage cheese splattered across the floor.
A gasp tears from my throat as my feet fly out from under me, my face slamming painfully against the hardwood floor.
Pain radiates through my cheekbone as stars explode across my vision.
No no no. Get up. You have to get up.
I scramble frantically, desperate to get away before he can reach me. Terror claws through every inch of my body as I drag myself across the floor with shaking arms.
I don’t get far before Enzo straddles my hips, pinning me to the ground. I scream, praying someone hears me. But deep down I know it’s pointless.
There is nobody around for miles.
Enzo grabs my hair and pulls, bringing me to a standing position. Pain prickles along my scalp and shoots down my body. He grabs my arms, twisting them violently and holding my wrists against my back while he walks us to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“I watched you that night you know.” He whispered softly against my ear. “That night you let him fuck you against the window. I hid myself in the darkness of the tree line, watching as another man claimed what was mine.”
Twisting, I try and break free from his grasp, but he only holds me tighter.
“Oh Serena.” Enzo tsks behind me. “I had better hopes for you. I thought you’d be happy to see me.” The same hot, rancid breath that plagues my memories washes over my face, instantly turning my stomach.
“Fuck..you.” I choke out, struggling harder against his grip.
Enzo curses in my ear and lets out a dark laugh before suddenly shoving me forward, pressing me against the glass wall, hard enough to rattle it. Pain shoots through my shoulder as he presses against my back, trapping me there.
“I searched a long time for you Little Flower.” Grabbing the sleeve of my robe, he pulls it down slowly, exposing my breast to the cold air.
“I pleasured you and showed you what it was like to come before anyone else.” His grip tightens painfully around me, his tone turning dark.
“And how do you repay me? You go and fuck a lowly bartender.”
I still, tears running down my face. “How did you even get inside?” I whisper shakily. My mind races desperately for a way out.
“That was easy,” He laughs. “I slipped in through the back while it was disarmed yesterday.”
“Isaac is going to fucking kill you when he comes home.” I spit, struggling against his hold. Enzo lifts my head again, jerking it back in one violent movement, slamming the side of my face against the glass.
“Don’t.” His voice drops lower as he presses my cheek harder into the window. “Say his fucking name around me again.”
“Besides.” His mouth drags close to my ear. “He’s going to come home to nothing.” I flinch when he licks the tears from my face, leaving a trail of his rotting breath behind. “After I fuck every hole in your body, I’m going to burn this place to the ground.”
Fear floods my body.
He grabs my arms and pulls me away from the wall, giving me a moment to react. In a split second, I twist hard and drive my elbow backward with every ounce of strength I have.
He stumbles back with a howl, releasing my arms and covering his face, blood rushing from his nose. “You fucking bitch!”
I run.
Moving my feet as fast as I possibly can. They pound against the floor as adrenaline takes over my body completely. If I can make it to the basement, I can lock myself in.
This is my chance.
Even if he does set the house on fire, I’d be safe underground. And then I will just wait in the office for Isaac to return.
The kitchen is within grasp and hope surges through my chest as I watch the basement door get closer with each stride. Just… a little… closer…
And then something cracks against the back of my head.
Black dots dance across my vision as my body crumples to the ground. Rolling over, a broken groan leaves my lips while I clutch at my head, struggling to orient myself and focus through the dizziness.
The room tilts around me. I barely register Enzo on top of me again before a searing white-hot pain rips through the right side of my stomach.
A scream rips from my throat, shock flooding my body.
His face blurs before me, leaning down, and grabbing my jaw harshly in his hand. “You’re going to wish you never did that.” He snarls.
Another blow to the head and everything goes dark. Somewhere far away, I feel the weight disappear from my body.
Dread fills my body as the realization hits me. Isaac isn’t going to be able to save me from this. He’s going to be too late.
I’m never going to feel the safety of his arms wrapped around me again. Never feel the surprisingly delicate touch of his fingers dancing across my skin in the silver streams of moonlight. Never get to tell him how saved me.
Not only from Tyler, but from the stains of my past. How he showed me that I didn’t have to let what happened to me define me. And how he made me feel beautiful in my own skin, no longer ashamed.
The smell of gasoline invades my nose. And then heat.
The last thing I feel is warmth licking across my skin before the darkness finally swallows me whole.
Isaac
A whine comes from the passenger seat next to me. I glance over and see a pair of uncertain brown eyes looking back. Watching me, still trying to figure me out.
Reaching over, I pet the soft fur of the Golden Retriever puppy and scratch behind her ear. Her oversized paws shift and she licks my hand, causing the ring dangling from the pink bow around her neck to glisten in the light from outside. I chuckle and give her another pat.
“Don’t worry girl,” I murmur, “You’re about to meet your person. And I promise you’re going to love her.”
The puppy gives me a soft bark and then twirls in circles before laying down next to the maraschino cherries. A slow smirk pulls at my mouth before I can stop it.
After I dropped Savannah’s body off with Charlie, I stopped at the store to get some food. I know my girl is going to want some Half-Baked ice cream later and we are currently out. When I saw the jar of cherries, I couldn’t help myself.
Serena and I are going to have a do-over from the bar. She’s going to scream my name while I fuck her and lick the syrup off her pussy.
I almost didn’t want to leave her this morning. She looked like an angel sleeping next to me. Her lashes fanning across her cheeks and her soft pouty lips pursed and ready to be claimed.
My poor Little Firecracker has been through so much in her life, and again in just the past few weeks. My jaw tightens as her voice replays in my head.
As much as I loved that she trusted me enough to tell me, I didn’t like hearing what Enzo did to her.
He took her childhood away from her, and she deserved so much more than that. She deserved to keep her innocence for as long as possible. Not to be exposed so young to the darkness like I was. My beautiful girl made to feel like she is broken for so long.
She carried that with her. Alone. For all these years. Looks like we have more in common than I thought.
My fists tighten around my steering wheel, and a sharp exhale leaves me.
Serena will never have to carry it alone again.
For the rest of my life, I will do whatever I can to help her forget and heal from it.
I know that it will never go away, but I can at least do my part in helping the memories fade.
Black smoke ahead of me catches my attention. My heart sinks when I realize what area of the woods it’s coming from.
Stepping on the gas, I speed and weave between cars and turn down the gravel road that winds through the trees. When I reach the corner to our driveway, I see ambulances and fire trucks scattered across the clearing.
Fire fighters hold a hose that is spraying water on charred remains of what was once our home.
I fly out of the car and race towards the crowd of first responders, my heart pounding against my ribs with every step. I don’t see Serena anywhere within the uniforms and vehicles in front of me. Every second that passes without finding her sends another wave of dread crashing through me.
My breathing turns sharp and uneven as my mind starts spiraling toward the worst possibilities.
Where the fuck is she?
A police officer stops me from going further. “Sir, this is an active scene. You can’t be here.”
“Fuck if I can, this is my house.” Two EMT’s walk out of the place where the front door used to be, carrying a gurney down the porch steps. A black body bag on top.
No. Oh my God. Please no.
I can’t lose her. Not again. I barely survived last time, and if she is within those ashes…
A sick feeling settles in my stomach as I shove past the officer and he shouts from behind me, but I don’t hear what he is saying. All of my focus is on the body bag in front of me. My hands fist, trembling by my side.
I look at the blonde EMT. “What happened?”
She shakes her head. Her face telling me what I already know. “I’m sorry sir. We received an anonymous call that there was a house fire here in the woods. When we got here, it was too late. The fire fighters put out the fire, but when they went inside…”
She doesn’t need to finish for me to know that they found her body. I can see it all over her face.
“They found my they found my fiancee.” I finished her sentence. It wasn’t official, but I was planning on asking her when I brought her the puppy. Now it looks like I’m never going to get that chance.
She nods in confirmation.
I need to know for sure. I need to see her for myself. “Open the bag.”
Her eyes widened. “Sir…?”
“Open the fucking bag!” An officer edges closer and places his hand on his hip. I’ll fucking kill him before he has a chance.
The EMT flattens her lips. “Sir…the body was unrecognizable. We were only able to identify it was a female by her hair.” Her voice is laced with sympathy.
“I don’t care. Now open. The. Bag.” My fists clench next to my side. If she doesn’t open this bag right now, I’m going to fucking lose it. They’ll have to break out another body bag.
She hesitates but then pulls the zipper. Exposing the body inside.
The EMT was not wrong. What remained barely resembled a person. The body reduced to nothing but a blackened form. The skin gone in places, split and peeled back.
Warped beyond recognition.
The heat having erased anything that once made it human. Caramel colored hair, singed and covered in soot, frays around the body. It’s the only thing that tells me that this is Serena.
My girl.
I collapse to my knees.
The world around me is disappearing. I barely feel the EMT patting my shoulder before they continue to take the body away. Telling me something about contacting me to pick up the body or something about a funeral?
I don’t fucking know.
Smoke still hangs in the air around me. Nothing about this feels real. I don’t notice that the cars and firetrucks have left. Leaving me on my knees, numb and empty.
She was just in my bed a few hours ago. Sleeping and waiting to find my gift that I left for her.
I was going to come home and surprise her with her gifts, and we would celebrate all night in bed.
A wet tongue licks my finger, snapping me out of my daze. That’s when I notice a set of tire tracks leading away from the house, but not in the direction of the road.
Instead, they lead into the woods on the other side of the house. A repeating pattern of four cutting through the dirt, wider than the standard vehicle. Thick blocky treads that wavered, subtle shifts left and right that hinted at a lighter, more agile vehicle.
A four-wheeler.
I open my phone and pull open an app. My Little Firecracker asked me to remove the tracker from her phone, and I did. But there was no way I was going to leave it at that.
The tracker saved her life.
So, I had another one made. And I put it in the necklace that I left for her on the dresser. My hope is that she saw the gift before the fire because this will only work if she put it on.
The app loads and a glimmer of hope sparks in my chest. A single dot blinks on the screen in front of me. It’s not moving, but it is no longer at the same location as the house.
I pocket my phone and grab the puppy, putting her in the car, rolling down the windows so she doesn’t get too hot. She will only slow me down right now, and I need every part of me to focus on getting Serena. Not worrying about the dog getting lost or some shit in the woods.
Removing my phone from my pocket once more, I open the GPS and run towards the tree line.
Trees blur past me and the snap of branches under my feet echo through the woods. My heart pounds as I watch my blue dot move closer and closer to the red one that is Serena.
Hang on Mi Vida, I’m coming.
Closer and closer. Inch by inch.
The GPS shows that I’m only about five hundred feet from her. My jaw tightens and my muscles tense as I prepare myself for whoever I may have to kill to get to her.
My legs can not push me fast enough. I check my phone again, ducking to avoid a low hanging branch. And it shows that I’ve passed her.
Impossible.
I would have seen her if I did.
Turning around, something on the ground catches my eye. Shining from beneath a pile of leaves. I bend down, brushing them aside and my breath stops.
It’s a rose gold necklace with a crystal paw print pendant. The one I left waiting for her on the dresser.
If her necklace is out here, that means that the body they pulled from the fire isn’t hers. Which means that Serena didn’t die in that fire, and she is out there somewhere.
She’s alive, and I am going to find her.
God help whoever took her.