Chapter 12
The Flame
“You look beautiful, Miss.”
I stared at Frank’s reflection in the mirror, my fingers stilling against the diamond bracelet around my wrist.
The engagement dress glittered beneath the soft bedroom lights, fitted perfectly to my body in a way that made me feel more displayed than elegant.
My mother cried when the final alterations were finished.
She told me I looked like a princess. Which was helped by Adrien sending over enough jewellery to rival a museum collection, accompanied by a note telling me that none of these could rival my beauty, but he saw them and thought of me.
I threw that note in the trash.
Soppy words wouldn’t work on me. There was no point acting like a man in love.
“Thank you, Frank,” I replied, adjusting the ridiculous tiara on my head.
It was stunning, but it made me feel like a child playing dress-up with their mother’s possessions.
“We need to be making a move now,” Frank told me, gesturing for me to exit the bedroom. “We don’t want to be late.”
Oh, no. We couldn’t be having that!
Because somewhere downtown, an entire ballroom of people were waiting for me. No doubt Adrien was already there, smiling for the cameras, spinning his web of lies about his eagerness to marry his child bride. It made me feel sick.
They weren’t attending tonight to celebrate with us. They were there to gain something. New relationships would be formed tonight, new gossip to be found, new businesses to venture into.
It was all one big merger wrapped in white roses and champagne, and I wanted no part in it.
Luca: This is your last chance, Isabelle. I can’t protect you if you shut me out.
I rolled my eyes and turned my phone off. I wouldn’t need it tonight anyway.
The text was nothing new. Luca had resorted to vague threats for the past few days now. I didn’t feel protected regardless, but if I had to choose, I’d choose the man with the rifle, not the man god only knows how far away, hiding behind cameras and technology.
Frank lingered in the doorway, his broad shoulders almost filling the frame. He looked uncomfortable in his suit, like he belonged in tactical gear with a rifle slung over his shoulder instead of standing guard outside a rich girl’s bedroom whilst she prepared for her engagement party.
“You ready?” he asked.
No. Not even slightly.
But I forced myself to stand anyway, smoothing my hands down the fitted material of my dress before reaching for my heels.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Frank moved immediately, stepping forward to help steady me before I could wobble. His hand hovered respectfully near my elbow without quite touching.
“You’re nervous,” he observed.
“That obvious?”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about, Miss. I’ll be here all night. You won’t be alone for a second.”
I glanced toward the dark windows instinctively, and the feeling hit me again.
Watching.
Always watching.
Even after covering cameras. Even after shutting Luca out. Even after days of silence, I still felt eyes on me.
I wasn’t alone whether Frank was with me or not.
Frank noticed the direction of my stare, and his jaw tightened slightly.
“We swept the grounds twice,” he said quietly. “You’re safe tonight.”
Safe.
The word should have comforted me. Instead, it made something cold settle low in my stomach.
Because deep down, I didn’t think I’d been safe for a very long time. It was only now that I was beginning to open my eyes to the truth.
The drive to the venue was quiet.
Rain hammered softly against the windows of the car as London blurred past outside in streaks of gold and white.
Frank sat beside me in the driver’s seat.
It wasn’t often I was allowed in the front, but I had insisted.
I didn’t want to be alone in the back, and Frank was too much of a control freak to allow anyone else to drive him.
So I won the small battle and was told to sit up front.
Ahead of us, another two guards travelled in a separate vehicle, just in case I needed added protection tonight.
Frank had tried to reassure me by telling me the security was simply for the sheer amount of jewellery I was wearing. I was a walking vault, he said.
Neither of us truly believed it, but I appreciated the effort.
“What’s wrong?” Frank asked.
I frowned at him, and he nodded his head at my lap. I looked down to find myself twisting the engagement bracelet repeatedly around my wrist, a nervous habit of mine that had begun to rub my wrist raw.
“Sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologise.”
Easy for him to say.
He wasn’t on his way to celebrate his own arranged marriage whilst wondering whether his fiancée was secretly involved in organised crime and whether a masked psychopath was stalking him through camera systems.
My head tipped back against the seat with a quiet sigh.
“I just want tonight over with.”
“You might end up enjoying yourself.”
I turned my head to look at him. “Do you have a wife, Frank?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“Irreconcilable differences—at least according to the divorce papers I was served.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is. I knew what I was signing up for when I went into security.”
“How long were you married for?”
“A fair few years.”
“Were you happy?”
Frank was silent for a moment. Then, carefully, “Mr Vescari cares for you in his own way.”
I turned slowly to look at him. “That’s not what I asked,” I said with a small grin.
“It’s the only answer you’re getting.”
“What do you know about him, Frank? And no bullshit. Tell me the truth. Please.”
His expression didn’t change, but something flickered behind his eyes. Before he could answer, headlights exploded across the windshield.
Everything happened at once.
The screech of tyres.
A deafening horn.
Frank shouting my name.
Then impact.
The world snapped violently sideways. The metal of the car screamed in protest, glass shattered everywhere, and my shoulder slammed against the car door hard enough to steal the breath from my lungs.
Pain burst through my ribs as the car spun across the wet tarmac. My head cracked painfully against the window, despite the airbag deploying, and suddenly all I could hear was ringing.
I tried to blink past the pain, tried to force the fog out of my vision, and ignore the sensation of something warm and wet running from my temples.
Everything seemed to stop. Moving in slow motion. The engine hissed in front of me, rain still pattered softly overhead—which would have been peaceful given any other circumstances—and the smoke wrapped around me, making my lungs burn.
My body wouldn’t move. I tried to command my arm to lift up, but nothing happened. For long seconds, all I could do was blink dazedly, glancing around, noting the glass in my lap, the shattered windscreen, and something moving through the rain outside.
My seatbelt dug painfully into my chest, locked tight across my body, pinning me to the seat.
“Frank…” I croaked weakly.
No answer.
My vision swam sideways as I tilted my head toward him.
Blood ran down the side of his face, dripping from his temple onto his collar. His body hung unnaturally against the steering wheel, completely motionless.
Fear crashed into me so hard it cut through the fog instantly.
“Frank!”
Nothing.
My trembling hands clawed uselessly at the seatbelt, and panic rose fast and violently. The seatbelt jerked, giving me no slack, locked into place with the impact of the crash.
Outside, the guards’ vehicle had crumpled into the divider several feet ahead of us.
I heard the crunch of the glass over the hissing of the engine. Heard him before I saw him.
Helpless to do anything else, I could only watch as one of the car doors opened, and a dark figure fired gunshots into the night, illuminating the car in sharp, loud flashes.
I was in too much pain to even scream. All I could do was groan helplessly, my chest heaving.
And then the figure straightened, and another scream gargled in my throat.
A silver mask, illuminated by the streetlights.
Looking straight at me.
He walked towards me. Slowly. Predatory. Emerging from the rain as though he had all the time in the world.
No.
No, no, no… This couldn’t be happening.
Every inch of my body went cold, and I felt as though I was drowning in fear.
He moved calmly through the rain whilst my entire world collapsed around him.
Silas.
He was here. The same black gloves, the same black suit. And, of course, that fucking silver mask.
And he was coming for me.
I closed my eyes against the pain. When I forced them open again, he had crossed another few feet.
The same thing happened every time I blinked.
I never saw him move, never caught the shift itself, only the result.
Each time my vision returned, he was closer than before, advancing through the rain with an eerie inevitability that made him seem less like a man and more like something stalking from a nightmare.
The passenger door jerked open suddenly, and I cried out as icy rain blasted across my exposed skin.
He leaned inside the wreckage slowly, one gloved hand bracing against the ruined frame above my head.
I breathed through my nose, the sound of my breath the only noise to be heard as the mask lowered further into the car, hovering only inches away from me. I was so close this time that I could see through the eyeholes, seeing nothing but pitch-black eyes reflecting back at me.
The silver mask cocked to the side, jerking slightly as he scanned me from head to toe.
“Please…” I whispered brokenly, not even knowing what I was begging for anymore.
Frank groaned weakly beside me. The sound barely existed, but Silas heard it.
Of course he did.
The silver mask lifted, looking toward Frank slowly. And then he lifted his gun.
“No—!”
The shot exploded through the car.
My eyes widened, my jaw slackened, and my ears rang at a deafening pitch.
My head exploded with the noise, bringing with it a new wave of pain.
A gloved hand grabbed my jaw, twisting my head until I was looking at the mask.
He tilted my head from side to side, using his thumb to wipe away some of the warm liquid from my cheek.
In my peripheral, I could see the blood sprayed across the dashboard, I could see Frank’s body completely still beside me. And still the mask didn’t let go of me. Still, he forced me to look at him, seeing my own face reflected back at me.
My entire body convulsed with horror.
I couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
The gloved hand lowered to my throat.
“No,” I whispered.
The head cocked again, and something sharp pierced against my neck. Pain bloomed instantly, and then disappeared, taking with it the rest of my injuries. As though whatever was coursing through my veins was gathering up all my weaknesses, all my scars, and removing them, keeping them for its own.
The world began to fade, darkness swallowing the edges of my vision as the mask became the only thing I could see.
Silver.
Cold.
Watching.
Then everything disappeared.