Chapter 59
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Emilia
How is she?” Heidi asks, glancing over at the zombified Kayla curled up on the couch.
“How do you think?” I retort, grimacing. “Zac suggested that I sleep in the bed with her last night so that someone would be there every time she woke up.”
“How many times did she wake?”
“I stopped counting after twelve,” I reply. A shadow crosses over Heidi’s face.
“Kayla?” Sam asks, lowering himself in front of her.
Zac watches from across the room. He’s been with her all day whilst I’ve been at work, but we haven’t spoken much since I got home a half hour ago.
“Can I ask you a question?” Sam says softly.
Kayla blinks at him twice before answering. “Okay.”
“What... What did Jace do?” he asks.
I don’t move from the kitchen doorway as I suck in a breath, scared of her reaction, yet unable to deny that I’ve been wondering the same.
“They came to remind us that I was expected at work on Tuesday. Tomorrow,” she mutters.
Her eyes drop to her lap, one finger fiddling with the other.
“Jace told them to go to hell. Said I wasn’t well enough to return.
” A tear trickles down her cheek. “The Enforcer told us that Germain wouldn’t take no for an answer and asked if Jace wanted me sent back to Killmoor. And Jace just… lost it.”
“That’s all?” Heidi breathes out, eyes wide.
“As you can see,” Kayla looks up at us, the look in her eyes nothing short of haunting, “standing up for me didn’t end well for him.”
Zac’s whole body tenses, before his expression hardens and he walks over to me. “I have to go to work.”
“What?” The word bursts out of me. “But I… We—”
“Emilia,” he cuts me off. His voice is low, eyes seeking mine, filled with a plea for me to listen, to understand. “I have to go.”
This time, the weight behind the words lands.
He isn’t just leaving because if he doesn’t, they’ll arrest him again.
He’s also doing it to step straight into the lion’s den so that he can dig for anything that might help us, find out what they’re moving, where, how often, who receives it…
Information that could finally give us a way to fight back.
“Okay,” I whisper roughly.
He barely gives me a second glance. His jaw tenses, and he nods once before disappearing, the door closing behind him.
I turn back to the kitchen on unsteady legs and tightly grip the edge of the counter as I stand at the sink. Outside, a blackbird picks at the weeds growing between the slabs, searching for food like it’s just another normal day.
A tear slips down my cheek.
Jace didn’t deserve this. He was good—gentle and kind and caring. He fought for Kayla, and they may not have been in love yet, but he was loyal. He had feelings for her and—God, did he even have time to tell her?
A strangled sob catches in my throat. He’s gone.
Dead.
“Mils?” Sam says softly. Quickly, I swipe at the wetness on my cheeks before glancing over my shoulder. He and Heidi are standing in the doorway, expressions somber.
“Has she eaten?” I ask. Heidi shakes her head, lifting the plate of toast in her hands.
“She won’t,” she mutters.
I nod, turning back to the window. “That’s fine. She can survive without for now.”
“We can’t just let her waste away,” Heidi murmurs.
I shrug. “None of us can comment. We don’t know what she’s going through.” I inhale, but it’s shaky. Letting go of the counter, I turn to face them. “I don’t even know what to say to her.”
“Me neither,” Sam murmurs, reaching out to hook an arm over my shoulder. He tugs me into his side. “But I think you’re doing an amazing job taking care of her.”
I scoff, but give him a weak smile, pulling back to reach out and mess up his hair. “Thanks, Sam.”
He frowns, hands flying to his head. Teasingly, I roll my eyes at Heidi, and she gives me a weak smile in response.
“Has anyone checked on Rayden?” I ask, leaning back against the counter.
Sam nods. “I saw him this morning on his way to work. I don’t think he’s doing well. Looked like he hadn’t slept—”
“The friend he used to talk to about everything is gone,” I whisper, the words thick in my throat. My eyes sting as the weight of the loss he must be feeling hits me.
Jace was the only one who ever caught Rayden and me together.
He’d just roll his eyes, backing out of their shared bedroom, only to return later once we were fully clothed, sitting innocently on Ray’s bed.
He’d shoot us a pointed look that warned us to be more careful, and then his expression would soften.
He’d smirk, grab whatever he needed, and leave us to it.
Ray and I talked about him so many times. After his sister disappeared, it was Jace who helped me keep Rayden from falling apart. It was Jace who held him together when everything else in his life was ripped away.
“He needs someone else,” I say, voice hoarse.
“There’s only one other person he trusts.”
“Nina should be—”
“He doesn’t even like Nina, Mils,” Sam cuts me off, staring at me with a frown.
I swallow. “I can’t bring Jace back.”
“Stop ignoring what I’m saying.” Heat pricks behind my eyes and I blink, tilting my head to the ceiling and trying to keep it inside. “Mils—”
“I know,” I say, eyes snapping to his. “I know, okay? It’s me.”
“Rayden loves—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say, shaking my head at Heidi.
“We haven’t said that to one another since we were fifteen, in a toxic relationship with that girl”—I point behind them, towards the living room—“cutting in whenever she could. We weren’t in love then, let alone anything of the sort being true now. ”
Sam shrugs. “Maybe so. But he likes you.”
“And I like him, too. He’s one of my best friends,” I say softly. “I’ll talk to him.” Reaching out, I beckon to Heidi. “Give me the plate. I’ll give it a go.” She glances at Sam, but steps forward, handing it over.
My mind spins. Rayden Adams is one of the only constants I’ve ever had. With his twinkling green eyes, blond hair, and standing tall at five-foot-eleven since we were fourteen, it was never a surprise to me that he became the most popular guy at school.
No—the surprise was when his attention turned from Kayla to me at the end of Year Nine.
I’d never known a feeling like it, so besotted, so obsessed, so addicted to him, that I never looked back.
Not even when he’d flit back and forth between Kayla and I so much that it was like he despised monogamy.
I couldn’t see the toxicity, absolutely blind with young love.
He spent years after the war apologising to me for how he treated us, until I finally snapped, telling him that if I ever heard another ‘sorry’ fall from his lips, I’d never climb into his bed again.
He just laughed, telling me that as much as he enjoyed that, it was me that he really wanted to spend time with, not my tits.
And now, I’m pretty much his only friend left in this world.
So I need to act like it. First thing tomorrow, I’m knocking on his door, Nina be damned.
Glancing down at the plate, I shuffle the toast back into the centre. It’s cold and I grimace, nearly turning to make a fresh batch.
“Kay, I really think you should…” The words die in my throat.
The couch is empty, the front door wide open.
“Shit!” I exclaim. The plate slips from my fingers, ceramic smashing against the floor as I lunge for the doorway and stumble onto the street, barefoot, head whipping left and right.
Nothing.
Not a fucking soul.
“What?” Sam fills the doorway, hearing my panic, his eyes narrowing.
Heidi pushes past him, her face draining of colour. “Where’s Kayla?”
“Fuck,” I curse under my breath. My hand claws at my hair as I stumble backward.
She’s gone.