“I AM NOTHING LIKE HIM,” he sneers angrily. Definitely hit a nerve.
“It’s not just about revenge, darling,” he says grimly, but his eyes flare with anger, and his hands fists at his sides. I cringe. I need to keep my cool. There’s a lot more at stake than just my life. I have a bean to think of.
“It’s about power. Enough to take over The Circle. Revenge is just the sweet little cherry on top.” So all this is for power? Greed.
“What’s The Circle?” Luke asks with a bored face.
“It’s a rich and powerful group. They are untouchable. My friend and I have BIG plans for the future.”
“It’s nice to dream,” I snip.
“Oh, you’re lucky … Darren wants you. You’re going to marry into our family. You’ll live like royalty.” I gag down the vomit pushing up. D eventually has a full name – Darren. Jackson was right.
“I’m nobody’s princess,” I say feeling nauseous. Maybe my bean does not like having its daddy replaced with some psychopath.
“Mel is my brother’s girlfriend. My brothers are going to GUT you!” Luke shouts, his eyes brimming with anger. I swear all the Grimms suffer from some kind of stupid death-or-glory slant.
Harry’s face contorts into another sinister Joker-type smile. He opens the door to leave but turns back. He laughs softly and makes a tsk-tsk-tsk sound with his tongue.
“I won’t count on it, little Garcia. I won’t count on it.” Then he’s gone.
We stare at the closed door for an unknown amount of time after he leaves, just blankly looking at it without blinking as if it is our last hope.
“So it’s safe to say he’s totally bonkers,” Luke scoffs. Kiara falls onto the bed, probably due to the same tension I’m feeling in my body.
I try to open the door, knowing it won’t budge. Then I look around, taking in our surroundings.
I walk to the planked window and look outside, but only see trees in the moonlight. And the ocean in the distance. We are on the second floor of the building. Kiara joins me and she squints her eyes as if that’s going to tell her exactly where we are.
I turn around to take a better look at the room. It’s not very big and it seems as if nobody stayed here for a long time – there are visible cracks in the moss-covered walls; torn pink wallpaper is still evident on one wall; broken tiles that fell from the bathroom walls – all clear signs of decay. At least the bathroom hosts a toilet that seems to be in not-too-bad shape – a good thing since the bean likes to squash my bladder more than needed.
“Something about this house seems familiar, don’t you think?” Kiara asks.
“It’s just an old freaking house in the woods … with horses on the door and a big-ass chandelier and a huge staircase,” Luke pouts. “It’s ugly and dirty and broken.”
I look at Kiara and she seems just as shocked as me. Could we be in the haunted house?
“I’m hungry, do you think they gonna feed us sometime?” Luke complains while opening a broken cupboard as if he’s going to find some hidden food inside. Wind blows through the unglazed window, and clears the fog from my mind. We need a plan.
The sound of the door unlocking again makes me stand in front of Luke while holding my breath. Another huge man, covered in tattoos, walks in and drops a pizza box and bottles of water onto the only table in the room.
His gaze moves hungrily over me and then settles on Kiara. He licks his lips and I can feel Kiara’s grip squeezing the hell out of my arm, but I don’t dare to flinch or move.
“Eat up.” His eyes still clinging to Kiara’s chest. His lustful gaze moves back to me and he gives me a stinky grin before he locks the door behind him.
“We need to get out of here.” She nods and bites her lip. Luke rushes over to the pizza and grabs a big slice, putting it almost whole in his mouth.
“Go slow, dude. It’s not going to run away,” I laugh, trying to be brave for him. Kiara takes a piece of pizza and hands me one.
“We need to keep up our strength and you need to feed the bean.” I take it reluctantly from her, knowing she’s right, but I also don’t want Luke to stay hungry. I decide to eat only one piece, and then let him have the rest.
“What is it with you girls and beans, huh?” Luke comments with a mouth full of food. Kiara laughs, but it’s not a happy one. He stuffs that pizza into his small body with big bites until nothing is left.
He yawns and rubs his eyes with his fists. We all get onto the bed and I cover Luke with the thin one-and-only blanket, stroking his dark hair.
“Why did that man call me Garcia?” Luke asks while Kiara fiddles with a loose spring sticking out from the worn mattress, looking at it as if she blames it for all our troubles.
“Well … eh … I think it’s something you have to ask your mom when you see her again.” I don’t know what to tell him.
“Is it because of Sophia?” For a second I’m not sure who that is, but then it dawns on me that she’s his birth mother. So does he know he’s not Haley’s son then?
“Yes. But don’t think about that now. Now we need to think up plans.” He nods eagerly.
Kiara pulls a straight side-grin and I know by now it’s her I’m-fucking-scared face.
“Okay then.”
“It’s cold,” Luke complains, so we snuggle up close and huddle under the blanket, trying to use our body heat to keep warm – in silence, each one occupied by our own thoughts. Somewhere along the line, Luke and Kiara fall asleep. But I can’t seem to drift off.
I know that Uncle John and the boys will do everything possible to save us, but what if they’re too late? Or worse … get killed?
What if they hurt Luke, cut up Jackson, rape Kiara, kill my baby? I’m not sure which of these scenarios is worse … and I for sure as the raging fires of hell don’t want to find out. Time seems to stretch out, each second seems like an hour and each hour seems like a lifetime.
Every little noise has me jerking up, unsettled, just to flump down again. My arm pounds with pain, but somehow I welcome it, needing something to ease the fear clinging to my spine like a freaking demon to the gates of hell.
The door opens again and then I feel like I’m going to faint or throw up, or both. For a moment I think that maybe I am hallucinating again, but Kiara’s fingernails stab into the skin of my upper arm and I know she is seeing the exact same sight as me.
Tattoo-creep drags in a man that looks almost like Uncle John’s twin and drops him with a ‘THUD’ on the floor, unceremoniously, before kicking him in his ribs.
“Ug,” he snorts painfully, curling into the fetal position. Tattoo-creep laughs out loud and winks at Kiara before leaving. I swallow down some spit, although my mouth is as dry as the Sahara desert. Neither Kiara nor I attempt to move, we just stand there looking at each other with huge owl eyes, contemplating the possibility of the situation.
There, laying on the floor, in the flesh, is my fucking long-lost father. Sorry, but this situation calls for a real swear word. He groans pitifully again drawing our eyes to him, his body and clothes covered in blood – a rotten metallic stench, mixed with sweat, radiates from him and I pinch my nose close with my fingers.
“Yuck, he stinks!” Kiara is also holding a finger under her nose. This brings me into action and I turn him onto his back slowly. Kiara grabs a bottle of water and hands it to me. I hold it to his battered lips. His steel-gray eyes open and I can see the wondrous confusion in them.
“Miranda?” I guess I remind him of my mother. A smile spreads over his face and he reaches out and softly strokes my cheek with his thumb.
“Melaena!” He comes to his senses a little. Numbness takes over my body, I don’t feel anything, zilch, nothing and to top it off, I can’t think as well. I’m sure even my autonomic system has shut down, I’m not blinking or breathing … and my heart has stopped.