Page 83 of Hers To Keep
He’s done it. He’s actually fucking done it.
Wesley’s kidnapped Ace, has him hostage, and I’m the only one who can save him.
How am I supposed to if I’m being watched every fucking second of the day? Like I’m some helpless child or an unstable chick who’s about to have a mental breakdown. Even though it’s pretty fucking obvious I just might.
It’s been two days since the car crash. Two days since he took Ace from me and gave me seventy-two hours to get him back. The first twenty-four hours I spent unconscious, in a hospital bed from the intensity of the concussion I suffered when I slammed my head roughly against the windshield, after Luke rammed his SUV into us and flipped our car over.
They left Remi, Lexi, and I made it in the car, injured and bleeding as the smell of gasoline became so strong it burned in my throat. All I remember is seeing Ace’s face slashed and bloody from the intensity of the crash and the shattered glass beside him. I watched as two of the guys Luke came with reached inside pulling him out of the car, while Luke came around to the passenger side where I lay in agony and restrained by the seat belt, the fabric digging painfully into my neck. His fingers traced the gash on my cheek as I screamed from the intensity of the pain that flowed through me as he dug his finger deep into the cut.
His voice continues to play over and over in my head like a dreadful recording.
The Boss says you have seventy-two hours to bring the ledger and your fine little ass to Servite Manor, or you’ll never see your pretty boy again. Tick Tock, sweetheart, for those who cross the devil, shall fear his wrath when they descend into hell.
The next twenty hours I've spent locked in Ace’s room at the beach house, with the Horsemen and Jade irrationally guarding my door. I’ve refused to see or talk to any of them, so Lexi and Remi have been the ones tending to my needs. I’m pissed off that they have me locked in here refusing to let me out, supposedly for my safety, but they don’t understand that I need to make sure he’s okay. They don’t understand the gravity of Wesley’s threats. Every hour that ticks by, is an hour Ace might lose.
Which is why the next four hours, I will spend doing whatever it takes to get him back. I can’t lose him. I refuse to lose him.
Ace is everything to me; he’s the reason I fight every day. He’s the reason I have yet to succumb to my destined fate and acceptmy place in the clutches of evil. The only person in my life who I’d sacrifice everything for. What frightens me the most, is that he feels the same way.
I can’t let him pay for the mistakes I made. I betrayed Wesley. I failed Ace. Now I will save him if it’s the last thing I do.
I need to sneak out of here, and there’s only one person who I know without a doubt, will help me do just that.Is it foolish to trust him after everything that’s occurred between us?Probably, but I’m desperate and out of options. For now, he’s my only hope.
If you get into bed with the devil, there’s a risk you might get burned.
“I want to speak with Alek!” I shout, banging on the door of Ace’s bedroom. “I won’t stop screaming until I speak with Alek.” It’s a long shot that Alek is still even here. I saw him when they brought me here from the hospital, the scowl on his face when they carried me in proving he blames me for Ace’s disappearance, which is why I know he’ll help me save him.
Alek couldn’t care less what happens to me. He hates me, that much I’m sure of. Despises everything about me, everything I represent. A worthless punk from the wrong side of town who gets to indulge in the pleasures he believes are rightfully his. I can’t say I actually blame him. I mean, look at all that’s happened because of Wesley Servite’s toxic obsession with me. People are dead, others threatened, and Ace is missing.
I hear footsteps approaching the door as I back away knowing I’ll be whacked in the face when they open it if I don’t move. I expect it to be Bass yelling at me to calm the fuck down, or Jade trying to convince me to eat something but how can I eat or calm down when my boyfriend has been kidnapped by his psychotic uncle.
By his own father.
A rush of guilt threatens to overpower me as I remember I am keeping something from him yet again, but this he’ll have to understand.
I’m pleasantly surprised when in fact it’s Alek’s long blond hair and patronizing eyes that appear from behind the closed door.
He saunters into the room, closing the door behind him as he steps forward not saying a word. He watches me, his eyes lingering over my eye covered in a dark purple bruise and my eyebrow adorned with a large gash straight across leading down my cheek. His eyes turn somewhat somber as they watch me, but pity isn’t what I want from him.
“I’m surprised you came. Didn’t think you’d answer to a command not from your master.” His frown deepens at my comment laced in sarcasm altering into a scornful scowl.
Fuck.Surely insulting him will not make him help you, Scarlett.
I’m almost sure he’s about to walk back out the way he came, but he steps forward closing the distance between us. “Didn’t want to have to listen to your incessant bitching all night long. Figured I’d come in here and maybe shut you up for good.” He stops before me, his body straightening, obviously trying to intimidate me, but he forgets who he’s talking to. Nothing scares me anymore, not after all the shit I’ve been through.
“You’d be doing us all a favor, Alek. Maybe with me gone, he’d see no reason to keep threatening Ace and then he’d let him go.” I move forward, my head tilting upward level with his chin. Alek stands at about the same height as Ace, but where Ace is broad, muscular, and toned in all the right places, Alek is long and lanky. He’s also pretty toned, but it’s more of natural muscle, not from hours spent at the gym lifting weights like Ace or even Bass.
“What the fuck do you want, Scarlett?” he asks, clearly unimpressed by my small talk. He drops onto the couch beside the bed, leaning back casually, his legs crossed over one another showing no interest in what I’m about to say.
“I need your help,” I say, cutting straight to the point. I’m not sure if Ace has told Alek about our blood relation, but I’d rather not find out tonight.
“And why in the world would I fucking help you of all people?”he sneers, a rebellious chuckle escaping him. I guess that answers that question.
“Because despite how you feel about me, Alek—cause trust me, it’s blatantly obvious you don’t like me—Ace is your brother, and I know for a fact you don’t want to see him come to harm.” His gaze shows a hint of understanding at my statement, but he doesn’t seem convinced. “Because that’s what will happen, Alek. Wesley Servite is a vicious monster, a ruthless devil who will stop at nothing to make him pay for his betrayal.”
Alek sits forward resting his elbows on his knees as he leans toward me, his blond hair falling brazenly atop his clear blue eyes. “So what, I turn you in instead?” His mouth lifts slightly on one side, his usual condescending smirk making its comeback appearance.
“Yes, you sneak me out of here so I can trade myself for his freedom.”