Page 66 of Hers To Keep
“Just stop, Alek, you’re digging an even bigger hole for yourself. Our allegiance is and will always be to each other first. But it’s seemed for some time now that you’ve forgotten,” Beck says, casually leaning back against the cabin fence and pulling a cigarette from his jean pocket.
“You think Ace’s allegiance is with us first, before her?” A wild laugh erupts from Alek as he paces around. “He has us out here on a wild goose chase, chasing after his whore, when his uncle—the boss—just tried to get rid of her. Tell me, dear Beckett, you honestly think Ace would choose to save you, were she in danger?” Alek sneers, but Beck ignores him, lighting the cigarette in between his lips.
BANG!
Suddenly a gunshot echoes through the trees, startling us all. The leaves before them rustle loudly, something falling out of them at their feet.
“Shit, what the fuck was that?” Bass yells, as they move to take cover behind the trash bins.
BANG!
Another shot rings, this one closer, again rustling the leaves in the trees as something, most likely some kind of animal, falls out of it.
“Fuck, we need to get out of here!” Alek yells, as he moves heading the way they came from.
“We have to make sure she’s safe first,” Bass says, but I don’t stay to hear them argue, as I move toward the back door slowly opening it and seeking shelter inside.
The inside of the cabin is dark and musky, the smell of something rotten engulfing me as the tinge of dust makes me cough brutally. I bend forward, my chest aching, feeling bruised as Icough. I look around for a light switch or lamp but find nothing. The room is pretty much vacant, nothing but sparse pieces of furniture covered in cobwebs and dirty sheets. Whoever this cabin belongs to hasn’t been here in months, or years.
Suddenly something falls behind me hitting the floor with a loud bang, causing me to jump back in fear. I turn toward the sound, my back facing the door I came in as a cold, unnerving breeze blows behind me. A window cracks loudly as something comes flying in from the outside, landing at my feet. With shaky fingers and my heart nearly coming out of my chest, I bend down to pick up the rock that was thrown inside. I instantly feel a presence behind me as I close my eyes terrified of who or what it may be.
“Hey there, sis,” says a deep, monotone voice coming from behind me. A voice I never thought I’d hear again. I slowly turn, coming face to face with clear emerald eyes I’ve seen a million times before, glaring at me from within the shadows.
Holy Shit.
“You,” I mutter breathlessly, all the air leaving my lungs at once. “How…” I stutter, as he slowly approaches me, his hand reaching out to caress my cheek, his fingers gently tracing over the blood on my lips before tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. The gesture is tender, something he would have never done before. He’s wearing dark ripped jeans, his now tattooed and toned chest showing beneath his long red cloak.
“My you’ve grown up,” he says, bringing his hand down slowly grazing the exposed skin of my shoulders. His fingers roam over the scrape against my arm, as I flinch at his touch. “You’ve had an eventful night, haven’t you, sissy?” My eyes follow his movements before I look up to meet his gaze. In his eyes I see a look I hadn’t seen in him before. “You always were beautiful, Scar, but now, even like this—all bloody and covered in dirt—you are absolutely stunning. Must admit the things going through my head right now are less than brotherly.”
A lustful gaze takes over him as he licks his lips, his eyes lowering to my chest. The son of a bitch is checking me out. I smack his hand abruptly, pushing it off of me.
“What the hell are you doing here, Roman?” I ask in a hushed tone. Roman Wolfe, my stepbrother in the flesh. Saying his name out loud is frightening to say the least. “How did you get here?”
“Oh, I’ve been here all along, sis. If it weren’t for me, Wesley Servite would have had his way with you long ago.” My eyes widen as he mentions Wesley, and he clearly notices. “Who else did you think has been watching out for you? Who else do you think scared away those pathetic little boys? You didn’t honestly believe it was your little boyfriend, did you?” he asks, mentioning Ace. My eyes roam over him once more, my mind racing, millions of unanswered questions running through my mind, and then the realization hits me.
The red cloak draped over his shoulders is identical to the one the hooded figure next to Ace wore the night of Chaz’s murder at Servite Manor.
“It was you, wasn’t it, the one in the red hooded cloak?” His smile widens, confirming my assumption. “Ace told me over and over again that it wasn’t him who killed Chaz, but I never once believed him.” Tears, which earlier were threatening to erupt, now stream relentlessly down my cheeks. I’m surprised I have any left in me. Seems like since I saw my mother for the first time, the night Chaz was murdered, a dam broke and now the tears come flooding out every chance they get. “I hated myself, cursed myself every night for loving a monster. For loving him fearlessly after all he’s done.” I chuckle loudly, the matter at hand not at all funny, but that all this time I’ve been the fool falling for everyone’s tricks. “And it wasn’t even him.” He stares at me, a wicked grin taking over his now rugged features.
Roman’s still as beautiful as he was when we were kids, his light brown hair now shaggy and longer, his emerald eyes a unique shade of green showing a darkness they didn’t have in thembefore. Tattoos cover the entirety of his lightly tanned, and toned physique, while a light stubble hides his angular jaw. The resemblance to his sister is more apparent than ever.
“Just because he wasn’t the one to pull the trigger doesn’t mean he’s innocent in all of this. Who do you think is the one that brought your mother back? Let me guess, he told you he’d never met her, that he’d never seen her before. Who do you think led her back to you? It wasn’t Wesley. He despises Lilith. She knows all his secrets, enough to destroy him. Wesley wanted her dead, and I was to do the deed, but your little Horseman got in the way. He brought Lilith here, set her up with a place to stay, gave her all she needed to make her come back, and all so he could have the upper hand on his uncle. He even used you to do it. Made his uncle believe he cared about you, so he wouldn’t see any other weakness in him. Servite was so enamored by you, so utterly obsessed that he didn’t see what Ace was plotting behind his back. A way to ruin him.”
My heart aches at his words, but I know they can’t be true. Ace couldn’t have been faking this. Our connection is too real. If he’s done what Roman says there has to be a reason.
“But why? Ace wouldn’t have known to go after Lilith. He wouldn’t have known her connection to Wesley.”
“No, but another did. A third party. The third member of this unholy trinity.”
Another person. Yet again everything I thought I knew is wrong. My mind immediately goes to Maxwell, to my father. He has to be this third person Roman is talking about.
“You were told the story of how you were conceived?” I nod, remembering what Wesley and my mother admitted to doing to my father. “How your mother and Wesley drugged your father, Maxwell Smoak, tricking his then girlfriend Gianna Marchesi into believing he cheated.” I nod my head in agreement, thinking back to the truth I found out just weeks ago but learning her full name for the first time. Marchesi. Gianna Marchesi.
“Her name means nothing to me,” I say, not remembering ever hearing her last name before.
“Well, if I’m not mistaken, your composure shows me they failed to reveal the whole story.”
“Yes, I know they’re keeping something from me. Something Maxwell refused to let my mother confess. But I’m sure you’re dying to enlighten me, aren’t you Roman?” I meet his glare with one of my own, still not understanding how after all these years he’s standing here in Hillcrest Hills before me.