Chapter 21
Cayden looks down at me, and I can see the hesitation in his eyes. It makes a new wave of nausea flow through me. I have no idea what’s behind the door, but I can tell it’s nothing good. Especially if Cayden is hesitating.
Opening the door, he leads me inside. The only light is the moonlight shining through the windows of the warehouse. It’s eerie and I don’t like it, but Cayden squeezes my hand as if reading my mind, reassuring me as he leads us further in the darkness of the warehouse.
I hear Bella’s car stop outside, the sound of two car doors opening and closing before she also enters the warehouse with Marcus, but no one speaks.
The scent of old paper, metals, and chemicals fills the space, like a clean-up job gone incredibly wrong. The warehouse is old and rundown. The walls are almost caving in, the metal is rusting and weak, and there are holes in the roof and the sides. Like one bad storm could wash all of this away.
Like it’s been designed to fall apart and leave nothing behind.
The space is lined with boxes and desks. Some of them still have papers on top of them. It looks like this place closed in a hurry, and there was no time to take anything. But we don’t stop, Cayden keeps walking until we reach a door, and his eyes meet mine.
“I want you and Bella to go in alone.” Pulling a torch out of his pocket, Cayden hands it to me while Marcus hands one to Bella. My heart starts racing in my chest. What is behind this door?
“We will be right out here when you’re ready.”
He doesn’t offer me an explanation or any answers. Instead, he only opens the door, waiting for me and Bella to step inside and find the answers ourselves. Bella steps beside me before we enter the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
There are file cabinets, boxes, desks, but then I see the name of the file sat on the desk and my stomach flips.
Project PX - The Academy Final Draft.
This is where it started.
Bella reacts before I do, grabbing the folder and opening it while I go through the file cabinet, seeing every single name listed on its own file. “Bella, what is the date on that file?”
“2043, why?”
I was only born in 2040, yet my name is here, Bella’s name is here, Lauren’s name, Kylie’s. Everyone is here.
But that’s impossible.
I was four when they saved me, when they took me from the streets and gave me a home. They couldn’t have known who I was, unless…it hits me, a pain so deep in my chest I physically recoil.
We weren’t taken at random.
It’s the only explanation that fits. The dates don’t match what they told us. How could they have all of our details if we were taken at random? How could they have so many personal details when they didn’t know we existed yet?
“Bella…Come look at this.”
I pull out her file with mine, and suddenly my knees go weak.
I slump down against the file cabinet, Bella joining me as we open the files.
There’s a photo of both of us. Both of us the same age, three years old.
I’m smiling with pigtails and a pink knitted sweater on.
It’s a photo I’ve never seen of myself before.
All of my information is there, clear as day.
NAME: Darlia Roslyn Monroe
DOB: 03/11/2040
WEIGHT: 36lbs
LIVING FAMILY: Yes
STATUS: Unclear
SELECTION: Selected for round one of trials
My hands tremble uncontrollably. For a moment, everything goes quiet. I watch the world I know crumble around me.
Everything I know is a lie.
Every person I killed, every time I spent time training, everything I worked for was a lie.
I read my name over and over, trying to make sense of it all, but I can’t deny what’s right in front of me.
Tears fall down my cheeks, and for once, I don’t stop them.
This was never a rescue mission. They never saved me, they never cared.
Everything they had told us was a lie, they didn’t save me, they stole me.
They stole my life from me.
“Cayden,” I call out. My voice trembles with the weight of what I know and he hurries in, running through the door and to my side. I need him, I need Cayden.
“Cayden…it…it was planned…wasn’t it?” Sobs rack through me as I look up at him, my voice trembling. His silence is answer enough. Cayden sits down beside me, pulling me into his lap, my head pressed into his chest. Cayden tries to calm me down, his voice a soothing murmur I cling to.
“I’m here, love. I’m here.”
It breaks something inside me, something I’ve kept locked and guarded. A fresh round of sobs breaks free. I bury my face into Cayden’s chest, soaking his hoodie with my tears. His hands glide through my hair, and I know he’s saying something, but I don’t comprehend it.
My entire life, everything I have killed for, is a lie.
I don’t notice Marcus has done the same for Bella until I look up to check on her, too. She’s in Marcus’s arms, but she’s not sobbing like I am. Bella just stares blankly ahead, letting Marcus rock her back and forth, whispering something I can’t hear to her.
“Why us? What did we do? Why did we deserve this?”
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know.”
Cayden pulls me in closer, his fingers still threading through my hair, gently playing with the strands as my sobs fill the quiet room. This is what Cayden has been trying to tell me the entire time. The Academy was never on our side, they never cared about saving us. They stole us.
They stole me.
“What…what does your selection say?” I manage to choke out to Bella, who manages a whispered, “Round four,” and suddenly all the details begin to fall into place.
I was one of the first to arrive, Bella was one of the last. They planned that. Every single detail, everything we thought was random is here, on paper.
NAME: Lauren Amelia Jackson
DOB: 21/03/2040
WEIGHT: 34lbs
LIVING FAMILY: Yes
STATUS: Cleared for trial
SELECTION: Selected for round two of trials
NAME: Kylie Tam Wilkinson
DOB: 19/12/2040
WEIGHT: 29lbs
LIVING FAMILY: Yes
STATUS: Cleared for trial
SELECTION: Selected for round two of trials
They both arrived at the same time, within a week of each other. We were told they were found on the street like me and Bella. We were all told we were homeless, that our parents were dead. But everything was a lie.
“I don’t…I don’t know what to believe anymore…”
Cayden’s answer is so simple, yet so complicated. He pulls away just far enough to wipe the tears streaming down my face with his thumb. The touch is comforting, but even he can’t take away the pain consuming me right now.
“Me, love. Believe in me.”
I lose track of time. I have no idea how long I end up sitting here in Cayden’s arms, or how long I’ve known the truth, but I can’t move.
Even if I tried, my body wouldn’t cooperate.
I feel the little girl inside of me screaming, demanding answers, demanding the truth, but I can’t manage to form the words to get them.
Bella isn’t much better off. She’s clung to Marcus, and hasn’t let go since. The two men we’re supposed to kill are the ones comforting us. It’s a cruel twist, but there is no one else I would trust to be here in this moment other than Cayden.
“I’m going to carry you to the car, love.” His voice is barely a whisper like he’s not asking, but he just wants me to know what’s going on before he does anything. He’s trying to make me comfortable, but all I feel is confused and scared.
Cayden stands, taking me with him. I don’t fight his grip or tell him to put me down. I lean in closer to him, clinging to him desperately like he’s the only thing that can ground me right now.
“I’ve got you, love. You’re safe with me.” And for the first time, I believe him.
He places me in the passenger seat of the car, making sure I’m buckled in before getting into the driver’s side and starting the engine, pulling out of the warehouse.
Cayden places his hand on my thigh, his thumb gently caressing the fabric of my pants, but he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t offer any false reassurances. He lets me sit with what I’ve learned, letting me process.
“I meant what I said, Darlia. I’ll answer any questions you have.”
But my mind is a mess. I can’t form an idea of what to ask, let alone manage to get the words out. My entire world went from black-and-white to colour in an instant. Everything I’ve known, my entire life, is crumbling down around me.
And my walls are going down with them.
“Cayden, I can’t go back,” I finally manage to whisper, my voice choked with all the emotions I’ve spent the last decade pushing down completely. He nods, moving his hand to mine as our fingers intertwine.
“I know, baby. I know.”
The rest of the drive is only filled by the sound of the car’s engine, the hum of it becoming a comforting sound.
When we arrive back at Cayden’s house, he doesn’t expect me to do anything.
He walks around, picking me up in his arms again and walks me inside straight to a bedroom, laying me down on the bed.
“Do you want something to change into love?” I nod.
He doesn’t go for my Academy bag, instead he walks into his wardrobe, pulling out a soft silk nightgown, a type of luxury I’ve never been allowed to have before. “Here, this will be more comfortable than your standard uniform.”
I don’t argue, letting him undress me until I’m just in my cotton bra and underwear. Cayden doesn’t look at my body once as he slips the nightgown over my head and down my body.
It’s longer than I thought it would be. The fabric drapes just below my knees, but there’s a small slit in the left slide making it so that I’m still able to move around freely. It’s unlike anything I’ve worn before. The Academy would never let us wear something this comfortable.
“Thank you.”
“Anything for you,” Cayden says without hesitation.
He walks back into the wardrobe, and when he returns, I feel my cheeks heat again. He’s in a pair of sweatpants, his shirt gone, his chest on complete display for me. I can see every defined muscle, carved like a sculpture that makes my eyes widen.
He’s beautiful. Cayden always was beautiful, but like this? It makes my brain short circuit.
“If you’re uncomfortable, I can sleep with a shirt. I just never do.”
I shake my head, trying to squash down the eagerness I have in seeing this for longer. “I’m not uncomfortable. Besides, I don’t want you changing your habits for me.” His chuckle fills the room as he gets into the bed beside me.
“I would change everything for you, love. Now come here.”
His arms open, and I don’t hesitate lying my head on his chest and feeling my body relax slightly after the whirlwind of information I found out.
“I don’t want to talk about it tonight, I just want to forget for the night.”
“Then forget, love. I’m here, I’ve got you.” I nod, bringing my hand up to his chest and gently tracing his lines and muscles. Cayden’s breathing changes slightly, becoming heavier, but he doesn’t stop me, he doesn’t move away.
“Does this hurt?” I ask, confused, not wanting to hurt him but not understanding the change in his breathing. Then he laughs at me. Asshole.
“No, darling, it doesn’t hurt.”
I nod, my brows knitting in confusion, but I don’t comment on it. Maybe he’s embarrassed? Maybe he’s nervous? Whatever it is, it has provided a useful distraction to the reality that’s threatening to come crashing down, but for tonight, I’m locking it away.
“Where is your sister? You’ve mentioned her, but I’ve never seen her.”
“She’s not here. When the world was taken over by the new order and everything turned to shit, her and my mother moved away. I stayed to make sure no one would ever find them.”
“I don’t understand why you would put yourself in harm’s way for someone else.”
“Love makes you do silly things, darling.”