Page 84 of Hers To Keep
He scoffs, turning away from me, not believing a word I say. “Servite already had you caged up and he let you escape. He didn’t want you then, why would he now?” he asks, stating the fucking obvious.
Fuck, why is he being so difficult?If anything, I thought he’d immediately jump at the opportunity to make the exchange, my life for Ace’s.
“He had me and then lost me, and now he wants to show me what will happen if I try to leave again. I know you have no reason to believe me. Hell, I know you’re the one who tipped Wesley off in the first place, telling him that Ace and I were just trying to fool him into believing we’d ended things and were actually trying to bring him down. I know you did it not to betray Ace but in hopes Wesley would finally get rid of me or worse.”
His gaze shows a hint of remorse as he looks away, not wanting to look me in the eye. “That was before,” he mutters softly, shaking his head and not making any sense.
“Before what?” I ask, knowing well enough he’s hidingsomething. He stays silent for a moment, contemplating what he’s about to say next. It’s driving me fucking crazy that this is taking us so damn long. The luxury of time isn’t on our side.
“Before I knew who you were, who you really are.” His eyes lock with mine as I nearly fall back stunned at his admission. He knows.
“He told you?” I ask, realizing Alek now knows the same blood which flows through his veins, flows in mine. I mean assuming he didn’t already know.
“He did,” he mutters, standing and reaching out to me. “Had I known before what Wesley did, what they did, I?—”
I quickly back away as he tries to grab my hand in his, angry and frustrated that he assumes us being related changes anything. “Don’t,” I whisper, woefully. “Don’t say you’d have treated me differently had you known. We both know that’s a fucking lie. You don’t like me, it’s fine. I don’t like you. That won’t change because we suddenly found out we’re related. Blood means nothing to me. I grew up without a family and instead found friends ten times better than any relative could ever be. So the fact that we’re cousins means nothing to me.” I turn around stomping over to the full-length window facing the ocean, whose waves are fiercely ravaging below. The ocean always seems to mirror what I’m feeling inside. Calm, serenity, chaos, volatile anger. “If I’ve learned anything this last month, it’s that keeping secrets is futile. The truth always comes out, and the more we try to protect one another and keep each other in the dark, the more it comes back to bite us in the ass. I made a deal with Marchesi, to not only protect Ace but protect a secret I know will destroy him. Look where that’s gotten me—now he’s still in danger.”
I feel Alek come up behind me, placing a hand upon my shoulder but I refuse to turn around. I know the moment that I do I will crumble and fall apart—the tears I’ve been fighting for days are threatening to overflow and drown us both in their waves. I never imagined things would get this bad. Wesley warned merepeatedly of the horrors he was capable of and yet somehow, I believed it was all an act. After all, the devil doesn’t act out of his own free will. He has others do his bidding.How blindly stupid I was to believe I could ever hope to defeat him?To trick the devil, the king of tricksters.
“We all do stupid shit. Trust me, I know firsthand. I trusted Wesley and my father. I blindly followed their orders because it’s what I was raised to do. Because despite what I make everyone believe, I have no fucking backbone to stand on my own. However, it doesn’t justify the shit I’ve turned a blind eye to. I’m not stupid I know what Wesley and my father are capable of, but unlike you, family means something to me. I just mean nothing to them. If my sister were in your shoes, I’d do anything and everything to protect her.”
His words sound genuine, the way he speaks of his sister Drea. I have had little reason to speak with her, it’s mainly Carrington and Kinsley who are the ones who anger me. Drea simply stands in the background or on the sidelines scowling, yet indifferent. Though unlike Ace and his sister Wynter, who barely seem to get along, Alek and Drea have always seemed connected. Their twin bond is more noticeable with the way he speaks of her now.
I turn around and face him, and for the first time since I met Alek, I see a look of sincerity appear in his blue eyes. Eyes that I now notice resemble mine. “Help me because you want to make right your betrayal against Ace, not for some stupid belief that family is indebted to family.”
Who would have ever thought I’d find myself in this position?Asking for help from the most unlikely of alliances. The only thing worse than this would be to ask Carrington for help.
Although to save Ace, I’m sure she’d even barter helping.
Alek nods his head, understanding what I’m asking. “Fine, what do you need me to do?”
Alek and I snuck out of the beach house with Remi’s help. She knows I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing with Ace’s lifehanging in the balance. Especially since he’s in this predicament because of me.
I climbed down the balcony, holding on to the vines of ivy twisted around the columns along the house, jumping down onto a shrub of bushes, while Remi stayed behind to stall the group as much as she could. She told them I locked myself in the room and wanted to be left alone, while Alek drove me out to Servite Manor to save my man.
Our drive up the winding hillside toward the manor is unnervingly quiet, neither one of us really knowing what to say to the other. I want to ask him how he could betray his best friend, his brother that way, but then I remember how I’ve betrayed everyone around me with blatant lies and withholding horrible truths. I guess we’re more similar than I had thought.
Must run in the family, a notorious Smoak trait to be a fraud and traitor.
Alek drives us through the steel gates, which surprisingly open with ease, and up to the circular driveway, a wave of fear suddenly overcomes me as we approach the house. The same house that’s been haunting my nightmares for the last month since I first took up residence here.
I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t run into any of the Servites, keeping myself locked away in the room he settled me in. Warren and his wife Willa, Ace’s parents, have been staying at their property in New York for the last few months, while Wynter wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near me, so luckily the house has been dark and grim, just the house staff and me.
I turn to push the door open before the car stops completely, but just as I am about to step out Alek grabs my arm abruptly, causing me to turn and face him.
“What the hell?” I shout, trying to get him to loosen his grip, but he doesn’t budge.
“I don’t like this, Scarlett. I have a terrible feeling. We got inway too easily, this has to be a trap.” He looks around nervously, as an eerie feeling we’re being watched overwhelms me.
“I don’t care, Alek. I need to do whatever it takes to save him. If I don’t, I’ll never be able to live with myself. Get help if you must, we’re going to need it, but don’t let my sister come here. Whatever happens, promise me you won’t let her come.” He nods sympathetically as he releases my arm.
“I promise,” he mutters solemnly, and I just might believe him.
“One more thing,” I say as he watches me closely. “I need your phone. I don’t know what happened to mine.” He nods, handing it to me without a fight as I jump out of the car.
As I step out, I take in the familiar sights around me. The sun has set, darkness consuming me in a blanket of panic and terror. The tall trees surrounding the property fiercely sway back and forth, the rough winds making them look like they’re dancing in warning around us. The moon is full and round, its bright light illuminating the house forming a sinister shadow around it. I quickly rush up the concrete steps toward the front door of the mansion not bothering to turn around as I hear Alek drive away.
I find the front door unlocked and turn the handle slowly, a strange, ominous feeling hovering over me as I step into the foyer of the manor. It’s frighteningly empty, not a person nor sound heard anywhere in the house.