Chapter 24
NOVA
LET ME DO IT
I’m not sure where my act of frailty ends and genuine deliriousness begins. What started as ‘pretend to be hurt and trick them into thinking I’m defenseless’ turned into actual, genuine pain. And ‘pretend to be confused and dizzy’ turned to blood loss and stars in my eyes.
Can I walk? I’m not even sure anymore.
If I stand, will I fall? No clue. But I have a sinking suspicion that if I try to escape, all I’ll manage is to run my face into the floor and end up right back where I started.
I curl into Lincoln’s chest, since doing so is entirely in character for whatever the hell this is.
I close my eyes since I am, in fact, really friggin’ tired.
But every now and then, I open them again to figure out where Tank is.
The big one. The one who threatens rape and comes with a reputation promising follow-through.
My hands dangle, swaying with every step Lincoln takes, my fingers brushing his belt. His cologne is as familiar to me now as my brother’s. As comforting as walking into Ry’s old room and taking a long whiff. His rage, though terrifying, brings me assurance.
But his throwaway comments… that bitch? Let me try?
He came to me as my enemy, a sneaking serpent, much the same way Bastion Conroy was to Aster. Lincoln’s intentions when he arrived in town and lied to me from the outset were abhorrent at best.
I knew he was the one who messed with my electrical box. I knew he was in my home, searching for the treasures I intentionally told him about. While he thought he was tricking me, I held on and prayed I’d live long enough to receive answers.
To think Ryan hadn’t set me up with a state-of-the-art home security system, cameras that literally documented the moment Lincoln opened my front door and walked through my living room, would be to dishonor a good man’s sacrifices.
Every damn day of my life, my brother reminded me to scour my surroundings. To know who was in my life, and to be thorough in who I invited into my home.
I couldn’t stop the SUV from taking his life.
For that, I was too slow, too na?ve, and too under-prepared to change a tragic outcome.
For the rest of my life, I know a part of me, a large part, will wish I’d died, too.
The thought of skipping through the afterlife with my brother is far more welcoming than my current situation, bleeding and hurt, being carried through an evil man’s mansion while another, perhaps more evil man, hopes and salivates at the thought of taking my body against my will.
I know Ryan tried to keep me safe. He protected me, even after death, and provided a sanctuary for me to escape to. He gave me everything I needed via those pages. Love. Apologies. Truth. He gave me a safety net and hope for a better future.
But he didn’t give me a name.
Just as Arabella Aster was a stubborn woman led by her heart, even at the cost of her own life, I, too, choose love over freedom.
I choose family and loyalty over a phony existence.
Ryan neglected to tell me Richard’s last name—whether by design or mere oversight, I don’t know—but he gave me the clues I would need, and the forewarning that Richard would send someone to finish what they’d started.
I never needed to search for the man responsible for annihilating my entire bloodline. All I had to do was sit and wait. Patience and a plan. Richard Aster would make the introductions on his own, and I would follow the trail right back until I could return the favor.
Aster’s daughter is dead, and soon, he will be too.
His judgment day is coming.
Fuck Richard Aster.
I could have carried sympathy for the man who lost his child to brutality, if not for the fact that he brings the same to others.
“Can you hear me?” Lincoln tightens his arm around my ribs. His other hand clutches my thigh, so I know exactly where I’ll have bruises. “Nova?”
His voice is barely more than a whisper. I crack my eyes open, and though he speaks, his lips hardly move. “Nova?”
“Mm.” I’m not sure if my dizziness is fabricated anymore. Nor my fatigue. But I muster a grunt that painfully claws at my stomach. “Awake.”
“I’m not gonna hurt you, okay?” His stride grows a little slower, allowing a few extra feet between Tank and us. “I’m gonna get you out of here.”
“Kay.” I close my eyes and slump in his arms. “Just need to rest a second.”
“I’m sorry you got caught up in this,” he rasps. “I’m gonna make it better.”
“In here.”
Tank’s deep voice sends tingles along my spine and down to my toes. Maybe I came here with grand plans to exact revenge, but that dude scares me. The viciousness in his eyes and the savagery of his intentions. He terrifies me.
“Let me take her.” Tank’s hand wraps around my arm. His fingers dig into my biceps, and his breath slams against my face. “I’ll deal with her—”
“No.” Lincoln yanks me back, painfully stretching my limb because of Tank’s tight grip.
If I die today, it’ll be with Tank’s fingerprints marking my skin.
“I said no!” Lincoln shoulder-checks the monster and stalks into a bedroom of luxurious furniture.
A massive four-poster bed stands proud in the center of the room, with silky covers and lovely sheer drapes that, in any other circumstance, could be romantic.
Unfortunately, in this circumstance, all I see are columns to be tied to. A bed strong enough to withstand Tank’s furious intent. Sheets that may soon bathe in my blood.
A prison is still a prison, no matter how pretty it is. And death is still death, even if I lie upon the finest mulberry silk.
“You’re not coming in,” Lincoln growls, releasing my legs until I fall with a squeal, though his supporting arm stabilizes me. He presses his newly freed hand to Tank’s broad chest. “Get the fuck out.”
“Aster assigned her to me.” Tank’s menacing dark brown eyes burn my flesh. “She’s mine.”
“Aster just gave me my seventh day.” Lincoln takes a step back, supporting my weight, and grabs the door.
“Don’t come in here ‘til I have the fuckin’ code.
If you step across the threshold and ruin my progress, I’ll feed you to Aster’s dogs myself and make sure the old man knows who fucked this up for him.
” He whips the door closed, the heavy, thick wood slamming noisily against the frame, then he flips the lock and sweeps me up again.
“You knew.” He carries me toward the bed, fury and fear an overwhelming concoction emanating from his pores and seeping into mine.
But his hands are gentle as he lays me down, his touch is feather soft.
“You knew who I was, Nova. What I was doing. Why I was there.” With a shaking hand, he brushes hair off my face and leans over me. “You knew, and you let me in anyway.”
“Needed to know who hurt Ry.” I’m too tired to argue. Too exhausted to get up and run. But hell, I gather enough strength to trail my fingertips over his stubbled jaw. “I gave you a bunch of chances to screw me over, but you didn’t.”
He chokes out a devastated laugh. “And I tried to cut you free. I didn’t want to know where you would go, or the identity he’d set up for you.”
My eyes flash. My heart skips.
“If I didn’t know, it couldn’t be tortured out of me.”
“You read the letter.” Tears well in my already stinging eyes, pooling in the corners until they dribble over my temples. “The first one. You saw it?”
“Right after he took you. I was gonna follow your ass all the way to the state line, but when I got to your house, you were already gone.”
“The letter was hidden.” I cast a wary glance toward the door, terrified Tank might come storming through. “Did he see it, too?”
Lincoln lays a gentle kiss over my lips.
“You told me about your hidey holes, Nova. The box in the garage with spare keys. The one in your bedroom with personal stuff. Cash and ID. Nonemergent items, but things that were special to you. The rest of the house was trashed, but I saw the lines in your ceiling and tried my luck.”
“I knew you’d eventually get it.” I’m so tired, so weak.
So I allow my eyes to flutter closed. “It’s really difficult to drop hints for a dude who was there to cross me.
I needed to be subtle, but clear enough you’d understand.
You needed to find the letter to know where I’d gone.
I was kind of hoping you’d come for me.”
“So silly.” He caresses my cheek with trembling strokes of his thumb. “Was your plan to get a concussion and lose the ability to walk? Because so far, you’re doing great.”
“My plan was…” I frown. Blinking, blinking, blinking. “I-I don’t know. I was going to kill him. But the rest…”
“Getting stuck inside a maze of hallways and fingerprint-locked doors,” he growls. “Being held captive inside a house packed with guards on Aster’s payroll.”
“Hallways and guns aren’t nearly as scary as Tank.” My voice trembles as fear trickles through my veins. “He’s not a very nice person.”
“He won’t touch you for as long as I live.” Lincoln grabs my jaw and pulls my focus back to him. “Not while I’m alive.”
“Which scares me, too.” I exhale a shuddering breath. “Because I don’t want you to die. You wanted to trick me, and I kept my secrets to trick you. But all we really did was trick our hearts.”
“Starting a war with uncontrolled hormones and poorly regulated impulsivity,” he recites words from Ry’s letter. “I guess that makes you Arabella, and me, Jameson. Ryan said you’d consider it romantic, while he and I agree it’s just plain stupid.”
“The love between a princess and her soldier is romantic,” I whimper. “Conroy’s existence isn’t.”
Heavy fists pound against the door, startling a cry from deep in my throat.
“I don’t hear any negotiations,” Tank snarls. “You’re in there to get the code, Castro. If I find out you’re fucking when you said I couldn’t—”
“He’s our Conroy.” Trembling, I attempt to sit up, only for Lincoln to push me down again. “He destroyed Arabella. He’s the reason this all began.”