Chapter 42
Chapter
Forty-Two
ASHER
Sending Anabelle away was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
I almost couldn’t do it. Once I left that room, I almost raced back there a hundred times to take it all back.
But then I’d think of my mother and her fate because of the man she was married to, and I’d stop myself.
I can’t be the reason for Anabelle’s demise.
I’ve been wallowing and drinking since she left, trying to relive the memories so I don’t ever forget them. They’re all I have left of her, and I couldn’t bear if they too disappeared one day.
I’m still wallowing when my cell phone rings. I know it’s not Anabelle because she doesn’t even have my number. I confiscated her phone as soon as she arrived here. That’s the only reason I bother to pull it from my pocket.
“What?” I say by way of answering.
“Mr. Voss, it’s Philip from the front gate. We’ve just had a breach, sir.”
I sit up straight in my chair. “What happened?”
“The car just careened right through them, sir. It was Miss Boudreaux’s car, sir, but—”
I hang up, standing and rushing out of the room.
What the hell is Anabelle thinking? She could have been hurt. I know she’s pissed at me, but she can’t put herself in danger.
I run through the house, both desperate to see her and afraid to. Afraid I’ll be too weak to send her away again now that I know what it feels like without her, even if it was only for a few hours.
When I burst through the front door, her car comes to a screeching halt nearby. But instead of Anabelle getting out of the car, it’s that asshole Galen.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I stalk over to him, and I’d love nothing more to flatten him.
“I saw what you did to her. You Vosses think you can get away with anything.”
“I would never raise a hand to her. She’d tell you the same.” My hands form into fists at my side.
“She did tell me. She confirmed for me that you’re the one who hit her and put those bruises on her. That you’re the one who hurt her.”
His words make me stumble back. Anabelle might be mad at me, but would she really falsely accuse me of something she knows I loathe my father for doing to me?
“I’m here to arrest you, and this time, all the money in the world won’t save you, Voss.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Get off my property before I call the feds and have you arrested.” I turn and make my way back into the house when I hear the cocking of a gun.
I slow, circling around to Galen.
“Make your way toward me slowly so I can put the cuffs on you.”
“Get off my property. I’m not going to ask you again,” I growl.
He laughs, and he sounds a little unhinged. “You’re not in control. Not this time anyway. Now do what I told you.”
“Not a chance.”
“As much as you’d like to think you’re above the law, you’re not.
You and your entire family are a menace to this town.
Doing God knows what up here in this place.
Do you know how many investigations I’ve tried to open only to be shut down by a phone call from the higher-ups?
Even Anabelle’s dad’s death never got a proper investigation because of your interference.
Why wasn’t I called to the scene to see the body?
You four have always thought you were above the law, but not anymore.
Everyone knows your dad was fucked up. Who knows what your mother was like?
It’s probably good she was murdered so that she’s not here to see how you four turned out.
Don’t worry, I’ll take gooood care of Anabelle once you’re charged. ”
At the mention of Anabelle and my mother in the same sentence, I lunge at him, uncaring that he’s holding a gun.
The sound of a gunshot ricochets from both in front of me and behind me, then it feels as if someone has punched me in the chest. I suck air for a second and stumble before falling to the ground. Then I’m looking at the starry night sky.
There’s some kind of commotion going on around me—screaming and yelling maybe? I’m not sure. Then she’s there. My angel. My Anabelle. Her face is over mine, blocking out the sky, but that’s okay because she’s more beautiful than the night sky could ever be.
But she’s crying for some reason. I frown and try to say something to her.
“Shhh, no, don’t say anything.” She pushes on my chest, and that’s when I feel it. My shirt is wet and pain sears through me like a branding iron.
Anabelle keeps crying and saying she’s sorry, but why?
“I love you,” she says when she presses her forehead to mine.
I swear I hear “Dies Irae” before everything goes black.
At first, I’m afraid when I wake up to darkness, but then I see a pinprick of light in the distance, and I walk toward it. I keep walking, and at first it feels as if I’m making no progress, but finally the light gets bigger, and I can feel the warmth radiating off of it.
“Asher, you’re going the wrong way.”
The voice startles me for a moment, its familiarity. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it. “Mom?”
“Asher, turn back.”
I frown, then race toward the light, race toward her. “Mom!”
When the light is so big it almost fills my entire vision, I see her, and tears leak out of my eyes. She looks so beautiful. Just like I remember from when I was a child. Unlike when I was a child though, she looks at peace, happy.
“Mom, you’re okay.”
She smiles serenely, dressed in an iridescent white gown. “You have to go back, son. It’s not your time.”
Why would she try to send me away? I haven’t seen her in so long.
“But I want to be with you, Mom. I miss you.” My breathing is ragged.
She touches my cheek the way she used to do, and a feeling of peace washes through me. “We’ll be together again eventually. But not now. I sent her to you. You must go back to her.”
My thoughts are slow like molasses. “Who?”
“Anabelle. You have to go back to her, son. She needs you.”
Anabelle.
Everything rushes back to me at once. Galen showing up at the manor, Anabelle crying over me, the pain I felt when I sent her away.
I look at my mother, tears cascading down my face because I know she’s right. I need to be with Anabelle, and that means saying goodbye to my mother—again.
“It’s okay, son. I’ll be here when it’s your time. Go, be happy. You deserve it.” She lets her hand drop from my face.
“I love you,” I tell her.
The moment the words leave my lips, I feel as if I’m being sucked backward through a tunnel.
“I love you too, son” sounds from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
And then once again, there’s nothingness.