Chapter 14 #2
I pull back from him and glance in the same direction, noticing Victoria’s awkward posture.
“Richard, this is Victoria.” I gesture to her and look up at him, hoping he’ll take my raised brows as a clue to not say anything hateful. On the phone yesterday, I told him that she would be here and who she was. Not in great detail, obviously, but I think he got the gist.
“Ah, yes. Hello.” He nods towards her with an awkward dip of his head.
“Well, I brought lunch for everyone. There should be enough for the boys once they all get back.” His arms lift from our shoulders to do one of those ‘dad claps,’ before he makes his way back to the garage.
As Serena walks away with him, I step up to the kitchen island.
“Hey,” I whisper to Victoria. “Don’t be nervous. Richard is really nice.”
“Yeah, no. He seems great.” She nods erratically, like she’s trying to play off her nervousness. “At least he seems more enjoyable than Zeke.”
“Towards you? Absolutely.” She actually chuckles, and it’s no more than a few seconds later that they walk back in.
“Where is this doctor you were telling me about?” Richard asks me.
“Probably watching us from the shadows like a stalker,” Ser answers and winks at me. I playfully narrow my eyes, not appreciating her joke. Richard just looks around at the three of us, thankfully not understanding it, and we all lay the food out to gather our plates.
Ser and Victoria go first, cutting small glances at each other before walking into the dining area. Richard stands next to me and speaks again once they’ve created enough distance between us.
“So, how’s my granddaughter?” he asks genuinely.
“She’s great, constantly moving it feels like.”
“And how are you? How have you been feeling?”
“Better. My blood pressure is still a little wonky, but it’s better than it was before. So, mostly okay.” I add some salad to my plate when Richard turns to face me. A part of me doesn’t even want to look up, knowing the face he’s going to display, but I know I don’t really have a choice.
“What do you need, sweetheart?” he asks in a genuine, worried tone. I give him a soft grin and shake my head.
“I don’t need anything, Dad.”
“Are you sure? You know your mother is dying to take you shopping. We can take you out for dinner, wherever you want. That salon in the mall has great massage ratings.”
I can’t help but giggle at his attempts.
“Yeah, I know. For right now, though, I think it’s best to just lay low.
Damien and I have been buying things online, and it makes him happy knowing what’s coming, you know?
He’s been really particular about what kind of fabrics and materials we get, so it won’t irritate her skin.
Apparently, he has a whole plan for her nursery.
He’s been really into that the past couple of weeks, and it helps keep his mind off things.
I know it sounds dumb, but it makes him feel better.
” I try to justify our reasoning without going into too much detail, but he shakes his head, telling me there’s no need.
“No. No, that’s not dumb at all. I remember when Marla was pregnant with Serena, and all of the emotions that came with it.
I can’t say I was much different.” He smiles at me, then leads me over to the dining area to join the other girl.
Richard sits between me and Serena, like he always used to do, and while the rest of us start to eat, he starts talking.
It’s nice to just have normal conversations.
He talks about coming over for football games soon and even includes Victoria, asking her if she’s ever been to a game or watched it on TV.
When she says no, that only prompts Richard into telling her all about the sport and insists that we have a watch party soon.
I’m shocked at how that actually seems to make her happy.
She’s smiling and getting into the discussion, asking why he likes it so much and what we used to do for Sunday games.
Ser starts up her inevitable ‘I like baseball better’ argument, and I take that as my cue to clean up.
Before I can even grab Richard’s plate, he playfully jerks mine from my hands and stands up to do it for me.
He smirks and takes the dishes into the kitchen with Serena hot on his tail, just to prove herself right.
I can’t help but laugh. I look over to Victoria, wondering how she feels about it, but I no longer recognize her.
Her face has paled, and her eyes are directed to her lap, so wide they might fall out.
“Victoria?” I try to get her attention, but she doesn’t budge.
Hell, she might have even stopped breathing.
Taking a quick look around to make sure no one is watching, I step over to her.
“Victoria?” I try again, and for a moment, I think I kicked her heart back into gear.
She jumps like I struck her and when she finally looks at me, there are tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
She looks down at her phone and then back up to me as a tear runs down her face. I take it from her, anticipating it to explode with the horror on her face, but when I look at the screen, I see that it’s so much worse.
Unknown
You were given to the Society and now the debt must be repaid. Either fulfill your purpose or we will take your replacement as payment. You have ten days to surrender yourself.
My blood runs cold when the attached video starts to play.
Elizabeth, the same little girl from Victoria’s photos, is clinging onto the leg of an older woman, looking up at what I assume is either another phone or a camera.
She looks confused and scared, like she’s never seen the other people around her before.
“Say hello to your mommy,” a deep voice, coated in malice, commands her. Elizabeth buried her face into the woman’s leg, squeezing onto her so tightly that her little fists turn red. I glance around the room to look for Damien, but remember they left for Carter’s property a while ago.
“Shit…” Even though I want to tell him, I’m not sure he can handle it—not with him already testing his limits today. I pull my phone out to call Zeke, shocked when I see that he’s already calling. “Zeke?” I answer the call worriedly.
“Ash, you need to get out here right now.” His voice is as frantic as mine.
“What? Why?”
“We don’t know where D is. There was a fucking deer making noise out here, and when we turned around, he was gone. We can’t find him.”
Panic slams into me. I gasp softly, suddenly not able to catch my breath. My mind is circling everything that’s come up in a matter of seconds, somehow all exploding at once, and I’m scrambling to think of what to do.
“Okay… Okay, I’m coming.” I hang up and turn to Richard and Ser, who are finally walking back up.
“Can you guys stay here with her, please?” My free hand finds Victoria’s shoulder and grips her tightly.
“Don’t do anything rash. We’re going to figure this out.
” I hand Victoria her phone back and rush away from the dining area, not bothering to make sure they actually agreed to stay.
Air whips across my face as I swing around the staircase, heading straight for the back door.
My heart is pounding out of my chest, and I’m so focused on the porch that everything else around me is blurry.
Fresh air floods my lungs as I burst through, and the wooden porch shakes under my feet, urging me to move faster.
“Damien!” I scream for him, running through the backyard towards the first trail marker hanging from the trees.
As long as I stick to the bright orange ribbons, I should be able to follow them easily.
Damien and I never got the chance to walk through the forest, and now I wish we had.
There are rocks, tree roots, and other uneven terrain, but I quickly adjust as I enter the tree line.
I’ve never realized how dense our woods are until now.
The trees are so close together that even in the afternoon sun, it’s hard to see past the first few yards.
The pathway they’ve chosen so far is laid out nicely, and mostly straight.
Every step I take is careful though, knowing the risks.
I don’t only have to worry about falling or getting lost. There’s no way to tell what kind of headspace he’s in right now.
He’s been afraid of these woods since he’s been home, thinking that an assassin was hiding in the darkness.
I should’ve known better than to leave him to go up here without me, but he seemed so sure.
He wanted to try, and I couldn’t tell him no.
He’s so desperate to have everything back to how it was, that he’s willing to do whatever it takes. I should’ve known he wasn’t ready.
“Ash?!” I hear Zeke from up ahead when something else makes me stop in my tracks.
A familiar feeling surrounds me, almost speaking to me.
My brother calls for me again, but I barely hear him over this pounding urge to follow this sensation.
As I look to my right, I don’t immediately see anything other than trees, bushes, and dirt, but I know something is over there.
It’s drawing me in, calling to me in a way that only he can.
“Damien?” I call out for him again, a little quieter this time.
When he doesn’t answer, I straighten my spine, cradle my belly with one arm, and step further into the woods, following this feeling.
It reaches out for me like a dark mist is crawling its way to greet me.
I’ve followed it before, and I would follow it a million times over.
The club, the woods, alleyways—I’ve never been lead completely blind.
My faith in Damien has never wavered, and I refuse to cower when he needs me most.