Chapter 24
Cayden
“Darlia!” Fuck. This whole moment is fucked.
I wanted to tell her everything when I knew she could fucking handle it. But no, Marcus had to ruin that. The moment she shut me down about Olivia, I knew she wasn’t ready to hear the truth, and especially not after last night.
“Let go of me!” I growl, trying to fight back against the guards holding me down. I need to run to Darlia, to comfort her and make her see the truth, but I fucking can’t. The guards’ grip on me is too tight, three against one is hardly fucking fair.
“Don’t take her. I’ll do anything, take me instead. Don’t take her, let her live.”
“We both know that’s not happening, Mr Ashford,” the Overseer says. He’s sat in my fucking chair, his arms on my desk, and the prick just drugged my girl.
Anger unlike anything I’ve ever felt before is vibrating through every inch of my body.
My blood pulsing in my veins as I try to fight off these fucking guards.
I am going to kill them all slowly, painfully.
I want to rip every limb from his body and watch him suffer slowly for everything he’s put Darlia through.
“I don’t care, just let her go. I’ll do anything.” Every carefully constructed mask comes crumbling down, all for Darlia. I should’ve just told Darlia everything. Maybe if I told her, she would’ve understood and we wouldn’t be here right now. I could’ve gotten her out of the northern province.
I could’ve gotten her off new order territory entirely.
I want Darlia to be safe, protected, just like I promised her. Fuck, this looks so bad. She’s never going to trust me again.
Trying to inch my fingers towards the gun in my waistband of my sweatpants, I barely move an inch before the fucker’s grip tightens on my arm. “Send her to a re-education site, make her forget him.”
No.
My stomach drops, fear running through me. Re-education sites…nobody knows the exact horrors that happen in those rooms. But it’s not hard to imagine considering a usual punishment is being strapped down to a chair and being tortured until you break or collapse.
No fucking way was I letting that happen.
Kicking my legs up, I use the momentum and shock factor to get myself up. Two of the soldiers holding me loosen their grip momentarily, not expecting me to fight back so aggressively. I elbow one of the guards as hard as I can, breaking his nose in the process.
One doesn’t loosen his grip like I predicted, dislocating my shoulder. Fuck. That’s not a problem for right now.
Pulling my gun out from the holster, I shoot all three of the guards before turning around to see the Overseer pointing a gun directly at Darlia.
“You won’t kill her,” I call his bluff, only because I believe it. The Academy is many things, but they aren’t stupid. They won’t kill their best agent; not like this, anyway. My voice is confident. I know he won’t, they need her.
What they don’t need is a rebel, someone who knows too much. They may do something to her to make her obedient, but it won’t be death. At that point, she will wish they just killed her. Darlia has survived the chair, but a re-education site? Everyone has their limits.
“She won’t just forget everything I’ve shown her, you will never get her back.”
“I like my chances.”
My shoulder is killing me, throbbing in pain and unusable, begging to be put back in place. It’s low on the priority list right now. Right now, Darlia is all that matters.
“Let her stay, and I swear I’ll stop everything, I won’t help anyone else.
Just let her and Bella go. You’ll never see me again.
” Darlia would never forgive me if I didn’t include Bella in the deal.
I, however, would sleep just fine knowing only she was safe.
But I can’t give her any other reason to hate me right now.
“Mathias. I will stop everything, just let her go.” I use his name, his real name. Darlia doesn’t know it, and I never told her because the brave girl already has enough of my secrets, but I want him to know how much I know.
What’s the saying? Don’t bite the hand that feeds you? This fucker doesn’t seem to understand that as soon as I have two working arms again, I am going to tear him limb from limb until he’s nothing but a pile of mush.
Mathias falters, his mask of confidence slipping for a moment as he considers the deal: two girls, and in exchange no more rebels, no more attacks on their warehouses, no more underground networks. I’ll shut it all down. Or at least I’ll tell him I will.
“Get her to the re-education site. And shoot him.”
Without thinking, I pull the trigger, the bullet hitting his shoulder. Mathias’s eyes burn into me with a fury I pray Darlia has never seen, but right now all rational thought is out the window.
“Let. Her. Go.” He looks at me, assessing again, before raising his gun and shooting me in the leg.
Motherfucker.
Falling to the ground, I resist the cry from escaping and watch as Darlia is picked up by a group of soldiers and carried away. No. No, not Darlia.
I try to push myself up with my one good arm to fight more, but my body is too weak. My leg is now bleeding out, staining my sweatpants and the carpet while my shoulder is screaming at me to fix it. Pain is radiating through every inch of my body.
Forcing myself to get up anyway, I manage to get my good leg flat on the floor, forcing all my weight down and trying to push myself up. Just before the door closes with Darlia being dragged out behind it, I’m shot again by someone else this time, and fall to the ground.
My source just fucking shot me.
My face collides with the floor, my shoulder throbbing and tingling, which I know isn’t a good sign. I don’t realise I blacked out until I open my eyes and see the sun is in the west through my office window. It’s late afternoon now, Darlia would’ve been gone for at least a couple hours.
“Marcus!” I yell, but the words are barely coherent. The room is spinning, everything is fuzzy. Fuck, I’m losing too much blood.
Forcing myself up, I crash into the wall for support, turning to the mirror and finding the second bullet only grazed my hip, thank fuck. The first bullet feels like it missed bone, but I’ll focus on that later. My shoulder is my second biggest problem besides blood loss right now.
“Marcus!” I call out again. Shit, is he dead? Was he killed? I was so focused on getting Darlia out, I forgot about Marcus and Bella. I feel my stomach drop with nausea.
Limping, I crash into the other side of the hallway wall, the impact landing on my already damaged shoulder. With a grunt, I push off and limp to the top of the staircase. I can do this, Marcus and Bella need me.
They’re alive, they have to be.
Fuck it. Using the remaining adrenaline in my body, I run down the stairs, better to do it all at once and suffer the pain after than do it slowly. The living room and kitchen are empty, they’re already gone. Marcus is missing, and Bella is probably already on her way back to The Academy.
“FUCK!”
I failed her, I broke another promise to Darlia. She looked so hurt, and I did that. I did that to her. Fuck, I’m such a prick.
“Calm down, it’s not that bad.”
I turn to look behind me, my eyes widening as I see Marcus, bruised, beaten, but alive. I’ve never been happier to hear Marcus’s voice. He closes the distance and pulls me in for a hug, I manage to wrap my good arm around him.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I didn’t escape those bastards just to die by them ten years later.”
I laugh, but it’s hollow, before pulling away. “I need you to do my shoulder, it’s dislocated.”
Marcus grins as he wraps both hands around my arm like it brings him joy to be the one fixing me, but inflicting pain. “Do you want a countdown?” Asshole.
“Just do it, Marcus.”
“Three, two—” Pop.
Fucking hell.
I look over Marcus’s shoulder and see Bella standing there, her arms wrapped around herself looking lost. They forgot her. “Oh thank fuck, you’re okay.” A sigh escapes, one less thing for Darlia to hate me over.
“I need you to stitch this.” I look to Marcus who nods, already running off to go get the first aid kit while I sit down in the closet chair. The sudden pain starts to really hit now that the adrenaline is wearing off.
“Was any of it real, with Darlia?”
I look up at Bella like she’s just asked the stupidest question in the world, because she did, and she knows it. She’s upset. Her friend’s just been taken, and I get that. But there is nothing I wouldn’t do for Darlia.
“More than you know.” My voice is rougher than I would like it to be. I’m tired, stressed, in pain, and fucking angry. Darlia probably thinks I’m a monster, that I knew the Overseer would be in my fucking office, but I didn’t. They set me up, and it worked.
“We’ll get her back,” I promise Bella who nods, tears streaming down her face.
“Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?” I’ll break their hands if they did, but she shakes her head. Good. That’s one less problem for me to worry about.
“Can you grab my phone? I need to find out where they’re taking her. It should still be in the kitchen.” Bella nods, walking away as Marcus walks back into the room, kneeling down beside me and pouring some chemical onto a cloth, placing it against my hip.
I hiss at the sting, and Marcus smirks. “Always such a baby.”
“I can still kill you, asshole,” I manage to say through gritted teeth.
“You love me too much to do that.”
Bella walks in just as Marcus starts to check the bullet wound on my leg, handing me my phone. Immediately, I open the contact to my source and send a message.
Details. Now.
The typing starts, but the bubbles quickly disappear.
I swear to every god I will kill you if you do not give me something, anything.
Re-education site, no location recorded. Give me a few days.
I hold back the urge to throw my phone across the room as Marcus stitches the second bullet wound in my leg. “Fuck.” Groaning, I run a hand over my face and close my eyes.
What will they do to her there?
For both our sakes, I’m not answering that.
I slam down the phone instantly. He’s really starting to piss me off considering he’s not giving me any information.
I’m coming, baby. Hold on for me.
I try to focus on the details I do know.
They know she was slipping, that they were losing her, and now she’s being tortured to believe that’s who she is.
They won’t kill her. As much as they will want to, if they lose her, it will be a bigger problem than losing anyone else.
The girls rely on Darlia, and if she starts rebelling, the other girls will follow her lead.
She’s too important, and right now, I’m considering that a miracle.
There’re the old towns from before, but I doubt they would have her out there. It’s completely unguarded, and considering who Darlia is, they will have her somewhere with the most security possible.
I pick up the phone in the office, calling the one person I hate the most in this world. And much to my surprise, almost instantly the call connects. “I need your help.”
“Well ain’t this a surprise. Whatcha need, pretty boy?”
“I will cut your fucking tongue out. I need help, it’s Darlia.”
The silence on the other end is deafening. So they do have a heart. I can work with that; it means I have their attention. This asshole is the lowest of the low, even before the world turned to shit, but fortunately they worked for the government just before The Academy was introduced.
“Have you ever heard of re-education sites?” There’s a brief pause before the answer comes.
“No, the original plan was shoot to kill on any experiments that do not behave, why?”
“Because that’s where Darlia is. Can you find out where she is, or not?”
A soft gasp comes through the line, their words coming out shaky. “I can try, I make no promises, though.”
“Then try.”
I disconnect the call, turning to see Marcus standing in the doorway with two more of my men behind him, Luke and Weston.
“Her new order file was updated, they had to perform CPR after she drowned. They’re killing her, Cayden.” Marcus’s voice is careful. They’re afraid of telling me, but I need to know this, I know I do.
It makes my blood boil from rage. I close my eyes, trying to push out the mental image of Darlia being drowned. Her screams bounce around in my mind, haunting me, begging me to save her.
I’m coming, Darlia.
“Find out where she is. I want a kill order on all men in the building, and Darlia is to be protected with a 3-million-dollar reward for the person who finds her location. I want that everywhere, 3 million dollars instantly, no questions asked. And Marcus?”
He pauses at the door, looking at me over his shoulder.
“I want the names of the fuckers who hurt her, and their families.” With a nod, Marcus and Luke walk off to get the details we need while I send another text to my source, making sure to keep it brief in case he’s somewhere important or someone can see his phone.
I need him alive if I want to keep getting information.
Need some more details.
His response is almost instant but it tells me what I need to know.
Trying. Give me time.
But Darlia doesn’t have time. I don’t have time.
And I won’t let them have her for any longer than they need.
I promised she wouldn’t get hurt again, because I was assured she wouldn’t end up back in the chair. I thought that meant she was safe, that we could be careful but not have to watch her every move.
I broke my promise to her again.