Page 65 of Hers To Keep

“Shit,” I mutter to myself, as I quickly rush toward the front door, my fingers shaking as I try to open the lock. I reach the front porch of the cabin and come face to face with bright red and orange flames encircling the cabin, rapidly moving to consume everything in their path. I rush back inside grabbing the blanket I was covered with from the couch wrapping it around my body as I run back to the front porch. The flames are larger now raging around me as the wind blows through them, only intensifying them.

I know what I have to do; there is only one way I’m getting out of here, and things don’t look so good. “Here goes nothing,” I shout, as I run out toward the flames, wrapped in the blanket, as the crashing sound of an explosion rings behind me.

Well, fucking shit.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

SCARLETT

Running desperately through the darkness with nothing to see and nowhere to turn heightens the rest of my senses. I hear voices, and ghostly sounds where there are none. I feel shadows approaching, the hair on the back of my neck standing at the chilling feel of someone behind me.

The metallic taste of blood drips from my nose falling upon my dry, chapped lips. The force of the explosion threw me back, slamming my back and shoulder into a nearby tree. A large scrape burns along my back and right arm, my nose bleeding from the intensity of my fall as I hit the floor.

I can smell the suffocating stench of smoke from the fire nearby. I knew it was coming before I heard the explosion. The smell of gasoline reeked through the cabin, drenched the floorboards, and leaked from the ceiling. If it weren’t for the shadows I saw in the bushes, the noises I heard moving in the yard, I wouldn’t have gotten out in time. I just hope Ace hasn’t come back yet.

I know Wesley was behind it. This reeks of him and the desperation he must feel to be losing his hold on me. I told him I was done playing along, done cowering down to him and his threats, and he warned me I’d regret it.

Surprisingly, I can’t say I do.

Then we went and taunted him. Foolishly we believed we could trick the devil and deceive him. We thought he’d fall for our childish ruse but as always, he once again proves to be one step ahead. I realize I left my phone on the kitchen counter before running out, so I can’t call Ace. I just hope when he arrives back at the cabin and sees it’s in flames, completely shattered by the explosion, he doesn’t think I’ve burned in it.

How will he know I got out alive?

I hear a rustling in the trees to my right, and I know now I’m certainly being followed. He wants to make sure it’s done, that I’m taken care of. I don’t think he saw me escape but he must have sent someone out to finish his job. Only I’m afraid of who it is he’s sent after me.

It can’t be Ace. Had this happened a couple weeks ago, I might have suspected he put him up to it. That Ace was threatened. That he willingly brought me to the cabin, left me alone as he went back into town for food, so that I’d be defenseless. He’d never mean to actually harm me. He’d never put my life in clear and present danger.

I hear the whispers coming even closer, yet they’re still far enough I can’t make out what they say. I speed up my pace trying to outrun them, but a realization hits me, and I now know who they are. The three figures standing outside the floor length window in the dining room, the shadows I thought I was imagining watching me. At first, I ignored it. I thought they must just be here keeping an eye on me for Ace. Control freak he is, he’d want to make sure I wouldn’t leave or get into any trouble. He said they might show up.

I once again remember who they really are. No matter the passive aggressive nature they’ve shown in recent days, they are the Horsemen. If they’re the ones chasing after me, they must still be in the clutches of Wesley Servite.

Of course they are, he’s their master.My only question now…Is Ace?

Could I survive another betrayal at his hand?I know he’s continued to work for his uncle, to keep up appearances and make him believe he’s still on his side.But could he really go as far as putting my life in danger once again?After what happened with Maxwell, I thought I’d seen the extent of Servite’s power, but this crosses any lines I thought were in place.

So much has happened since I first arrived, and although it may be foolish of me, even if it still makes me naïve to think he genuinely loves me, deep inside I know he does. I can feel it when we’re together. I can see it in the way he looks at me. Gone is the need to control me, the need to make me submit to his demands. Gone is the need to find out what I’m hiding, why I’m here, and in my eyes, although it pains me to think this way, he’s exonerated of all past, present, and future crimes. He’s shown remorse, he’s asked for forgiveness, and although I have yet to tell him so, I forgive him. He’s a sinner who in my eyes is absolved.

Wesley is no fool though. To believe he doesn’t have the upper hand on us, that he is unaware of our ploys to fool him, then we’re the foolish ones. He’s the worst of his kind. He’s capable of anything and this could have been a ploy to be rid of both of us.

He is ruthless and vile, willing to cross every moral line to ensure he gets what he wants. I turned him down, told him there is no way I’ll ever work for him at The Gallows. He wants me to take my mother’s place, to be his new madam, and as much as I’d love to destroy that place from the inside and save those girls, I can’t bring myself to give in to him this time.

I keep running until I reach the end of the lake, my lungs feel asif they’re being ripped apart as I urgently gasp for air. A hidden cabin appears in the distance behind a brush of trees. It looks to be vacant but I’m unsure if I should risk entering only for them to figure out that is where I’ve taken shelter. However, I don’t have the strength to continue to outrun them. My body is slowly giving out, my eyes too tired of tears flowing out of them, and they’re threatening to close. My mouth is dry, my feet feel blistered, and my skin is frozen from the bitter coldness of the woodsy breeze.

I rush over to the cabin, passing the front door and heading to the back of the lot, hoping to find a back entrance where they can’t see me enter. I hear another sound come from the left, from deeper into the woods, as I move to hide behind the back porch columns.

I can see them from my place behind the column, and as I suspected Bass, Alek, and Beck walk toward the yard of the cabin, looking around for me.

“Come out, pretty girl, we promise we’re not here to hurt you,” Alek taunts as they creep closer to me. “Well, not too bad.”

“Shut the fuck up, Alek!” Bass yells as he shoves him.

“What the fuck, Sebastian?” Alek shouts back, moving to push him but Bass is quick to dodge him, shoving him once again. Alek falls back into the trash bins at the end of the yard as I watch intently from my spot behind the column.

“We’re not supposed to hurt her. Ace sent us to check on her,” Bass adds, looking around for me. His eyes find mine, but his face remains impassive. I give him a pleading glance, asking him to keep quiet, to not say a word, but I’m not sure it’s the smart thing to do. It’s impossible to know whose side Sebastian Silver is on. His mood is constantly changing as I’m sure his allegiance does. Not only is he Ace’s best friend, and seemingly loyal to him, but his father holds the second most powerful position in Wesley’s corrupt empire. And whether it be out of loyalty or fear his allegiance sides with him as well.

Alek moves to stand dusting the dirt from the trash cans from his pants. “So what, Ace gives us orders now? Since when do we follow his commands?”