45
Thank fuck I have a GPS implanted in my Bugatti. I swipe open the app while I wait for Zain. Before it even loads, he rolls up in his Lincoln Continental looking furious as fuck. I jump in the passenger's seat without giving him a moment to ask questions. His neck snaps in my direction.
“I at least owe you my help,” he growls reluctantly.
I wear a shit-eating grin. “That's my boy.” I slap his shoulder as he speeds off.
My focus jumps back to the task at hand.
The app finally loads and my stomach drops.
She went to Zain's. To be with Vesper no doubt.
That's her only lifeline. “Go to your house. NOW,” I bark.
He punches the gas pedal, and I fill him in on the drive.
I'm internally kicking myself for making Zain rush over.
If I hadn't been impatient Zain could have held her at bay until I got there.
Now I have to worry Vesper will hide her from me, and that sure as shit isn't happening.
Zain has the wheel in a death grip. His gaze wanders over to me.
“You're impulsive as fuck. Did you even try to talk to her before you locked her in an ossuary?!”
he grinds out in disbelief. The car weaves through the side streets with practiced precision.
I snarl. “Fuck you, alright? And talking? You're the one to talk. Don't act all high and mighty, man. If I remember right, you’re the one who had a drugged, passed out Vesper in your bedroom, who might I add, also tried to run away from you!” I bite back.
He glowers. “You know that was different.”
His eyes fall back onto the road. I scoff.
Different my ass. I watched from the sidelines as he slowly unraveled, going insane as he stalked her.
He was dead set on ruining her fragile existence like a psychopath.
So different? Nah, he's just in denial. He has far less to lose than I do over this shit.
I slam my fist on the dashboard. “No! That wasn't any different! You have no idea the shit at stake here! This is my life on the line. You have no idea how fucked up these Elites are. How fucked up Mortensen is. They're gonna eat her alive in the Void.”
His brows raise, challenging me. “And you're not doing exactly that?
Using her for your own benefit? Plus, the threat is neutralized.
You said yourself Mortensen buried the hatchet with Jax's family, the Andersons."
The fuckers got me there. I am pissed. I do want to use her for my own selfish gain.
I'm not even remotely sorry for it. My teeth grind against my tongue ring.
As far as the whole Jax thing, it has yet to resurface.
Maybe it is dead and buried. Literally and figuratively.
I just can't trust a thing out of Mortensen's mouth.
He clicks his tongue. “Knew it. So predictable. Too easy to read.” He shakes his head.
I scrub my hands down my face. “What the hell does that even mean, man. I have my shit together.”
His eyes stay trained on the road. He swerves in and out of traffic.
“It means you never think. That's how she got away in the first place. Can you let her go? What the hell is your fascination with her, anyway? If she doesn't wanna be helped, it isn't our fault. I can tell Vesper we did everything we could. I didn't mean for you to get involved this deep.”
I'm raging. I want to punch something. If he never wanted me this invested he shouldn't have caused these chain of events to unfold, leaving me to pick up the pieces.
But again, he hits the nail on the head.
The fucker. That is exactly how she got away.
I let Mortensen get to me so I drowned in the bottle just to refrain from my responsibilities yet again.
Bad timing, I guess. As far as letting her go, not a chance in hell.
She is a volatile reflection of myself. Where I crave destruction, defiance, and saturation of emotions, she demands internal damnation with a side of resistance to feel numb.
Somehow, I chase the high she offers with her damaged state. It's intoxicating and addicting.
“This is your fault,” I deflect, shuffling in my seat.
He barrels through the neighborhood taking a sharp turn. “My fault? Vesper wanted Clara saved, sure. At the end of the day, Kieran, if we can't do it, then so be it.” His eyes leave the road to see my reaction.
I'm volatile. Zain knows it. I know it. Everybody knows it.
I choose not to react. Before I can get another word in, we skid to a halt in front of his house.
The lights are off and my Bugatti is nowhere to be found.
I check my app. Yup, it's here all right.
She could have ditched it somewhere near the back.
That's plausible. She's smart as fuck, I wouldn’t put it past her.
I mean hell, she knew well enough to wait until I was piss drunk to escape.
That sobered me up quickly. I don't even wait for him to exit before I'm barreling through his front door.
“Vesper? Clara?” I round the corner, circling the main level. All is quiet without a soul around. Zain shoots through the door with pure terror written on his face. That isn't like him. He's good at keeping his shit in check, but when it comes to his girl, nothing is off the table.
He takes the staircase two at a time, flying into his bedroom.
He kicks open every door just to come up empty.
I wait at the bottom of the steps knowing exactly where they are.
His eyes drill into me. He grips the banister at the top of the stairs.
“Fuck!” he screams plastering a new hole in the freshly painted walls.
Mortensen. He's gotta be behind this. He knew I took Clara from the Void, what I don't understand is how Vesper plays into all of this.
Why would he want her? Is this some revenge scheme to force me into submission?
To force Zain to comply? He knows I don't give a shit about Vesp. Not the way Zain does.
“I'll drive,” I say, noting how heated Zain is.
Plus, he doesn't even have a clue where the Void is.
He tosses the keys to me as he trudges down the staircase.
I spin on my heels and sprint to the car.
Zain jumps into the passenger's seat while I sink into the driver's seat. His lips are knitted in a tight line.
“Fuck the car. Just find them,” he shouts.
He doesn't have to tell me twice. I turn over the ignition, throw the car in gear and peel out without a second thought. The car speeds through the quiet city streets. Fuck the cops. I'm not stopping for anyone. Zain grinds his jaw. “If she's hurt, I'm gonna fuckin’ lose it, Kieran.”
His voice is devoid of emotion. Zain is the type of guy who processes stuff silently until he breaks and goes insane on you.
Right now, I'd say he is dangerously close.
I pick up the speed doing nearly 80 focusing solely on finding them.
He can have his own vengeance. I can see it in his eyes. I won't be able to hold back, either.
He's calculating his next move carefully. So that's why I know he's already got it all figured out. If he wants blood, he gets it. There is no standing in his way. He doesn't fully understand the depths of their depravity. That place is a fucking cult.
After a few minutes we pull onto a quiet gravel road.
The lights of the town dim in the rearview, casting darkness over the interior.
The lights of the car illuminate the road ahead.
Fancy high end cars line the gravel drive.
I steer to the right taking us off the roadway and into a secluded wooded tree-line.
I throw the car in park. Zain looks to me as if I'm the one with the plan.
He should know better. Honestly, I'm ready to burst inside with or without him. He can either come or not.
“You're not supposed to be here, man. If we do this shit, there is no going back in time and fixing it. You understand? This is where my help stops. They may not even be here at all truthfully and if they are we're both fucked.”
Zain nods in understanding. I know good and well Clara is inside.
And if Clara is in there, so is Vesper. She was probably just another casualty of my fucked up choices.
If only I had listened to Zain and talked some sense into her.
I snort. No one can tell Clara anything.
She does what the hell she wants. I sink against the steering wheel and do something I haven't done in ages.
Reflect on my choices. Better yet, if I had stopped giving a damn about her and let the Void take her, I'd be golden right now.
I could have told Zain and Vesper to fuck off. To handle their shit themselves.
I jolt from the front seat, slamming the door behind me.
I roll the sleeves of my jacket up. The glow of the headlights catches my ink making it dance along my skin.
I levitate to the door in a haze. The first set of large crested double steel doors part for me.
Zain trails behind me. The Elite doorman's eyes practically bug out of his head, but he says nothing and instead moves aside.
Smart. No one crosses with Kieran Grimshaw. I smirk darkly as I stroll forward. My boot connects with the second set of double doors, making it slam against the hard stone wall. It splinters off the hinge. The chatter instantly dies down as we step through the destruction I just created.