Page 85 of Hers To Keep

Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out Alek’s cell phone and turn on the flashlight, using it to guide my way further inside. At the front of the staircase, I light up the floor looking down at my feet and find red rose petals scattered along the marble floor, like one would scatter them for a romantic Valentine’s Day surprise leading toward the bedroom. Bending down to pick up one petal, I find it isn’t a red rose petal, but in fact a white one soaked in a thick red substance I’m afraid might be blood.

The petals drip along the floor as I wipe my fingers against my jeans and head down the hall toward the living area on the right side of the foyer, following the trail of blood-soaked petals. Irecognize they’re leading toward the same room Ace brought me to that night months ago, where we waited for Wesley to join us.

My boots echo on the marble floor and I curse myself for my chosen outfit. At first it seemed smart, my black jeans ripped at the knees, a black crop top, faux leather jacket, and military style combat boots, an ensemble meant for war. But now I’m thinking I should have worn something slightly more bullet proof.

Because to no surprise, as I sluggishly step through the doorway, there he is.Ace. Sitting in the middle of the room tied to a chair, his face bloody and beaten, his clothes ripped off his body, exposing large, bloody, gashes covering his torso which I assume could have only been made with a large whip.

My heart falls to my feet, my body nearly following it as bile threatens to rise in my throat and erupt like hot lava, burning everything in its way. Tears uncontrollably spill from my eyes like venom upon my bruised and scarred cheeks, as I stare at Ace with his head hung low, his chest slowly rising and falling, the only sign he’s still alive.

I want to run to him, to take him in my arms and tell him I’m here, that I’ve come to save him, but my legs refuse to move forward. I feel as if I’m sinking in quicksand, plummeting to my untimely death. My throat is dry and closing in on me. I can’t scream, or cry out, or even yell for help. I’m utterly immobilized.

A sinister cackle echoes in the room as Wesley appears from the dark shadows behind Ace, holding a gun in his hand and pointing it directly at me. If it were possible for my heart to beat any faster, I assume it would run down the hall away from me and the scene playing out before me.

Wesley continues his strut toward me, stopping behind Ace, and pointing the gun directly at his temple. The feel of the cold mental barrel awakens him, and he shifts in his seat, lifting his head. Our eyes meet for the first time tonight, and the fear in his gaze as he sees me, nearly kills me.

“No!” he cries out, the cry erupting from his lips, shattering mysoul. I take a step toward him but stop when I hear the safety of the gun click.

“Not so fast, sweetheart. One more step and I'll blow his pretty little brains out all over the floor. Not that he has much, if he did, he’d have known better than to go up against me.” Wesley’s dressed in a slick black three-piece suit, his blond hair cut short and combed neatly in place, his face clean and shaven, and his blue-green eyes display an intense look of hatred as he looks toward Ace, toward his own son.

It’s revolting.

“Scarlett, why the fuck did you come here? I thought I told the guys to keep you away,” Ace shouts, but Wesley quickly slaps him across the face with the back end of the gun. His head falls to the side, blood spewing out of his mouth onto the marble floor beneath his feet.

“Someone owed me a favor,” I mumble, hoping to distract Wesley, my voice cracking as I watch Ace’s head fall.

“You’ll fucking pay for this if you put a damn hand on her,” Ace sneers, spitting blood at Wesley’s feet.

“Shut the fuck up, Wallace!” Wesley shouts, but just as he is about to slap him once more, a loud yelp escapes from deep within me.

“Please, stop. Don’t hurt him anymore. I’m here, I’ve done what you asked. I’m here and I brought it with me.” I pull the ledger from the pocket of my jacket, holding it up for him to see. A wicked smirk takes over his heinous scowl as he whistles, calling for someone to join us. Just as if she were summoned from the depths of hell itself, my mother appears behind me, dressed in a long white gown, her black hair flawless as ever. She struts toward me, yanking the ledger from my hands with lean fingers, her long red fingernails scratching me as she pulls it, then turns and walks straight toward Wesley.

“Well, well,” Wesley says, taking the ledger from her hands and holding it up to me. “What shall we do with the two of you now?”

Chapter

Forty-Seven

SCARLETT

My body shudders feverishly as I walk toward where Wesley has commanded me to stand after my mother took the ledger from me. Before I gave up the only leverage I had.

He’s pulled up a chair beside Ace, ordering me to sit, and with a gun pointed directly at us, I’m in no position to refuse. Beside me Ace groans as the rope used to tie his hands behind his back slices through the skin of his wrists as he tries to break free.

“Your mother didn’t think you’d show, sweetheart, but I assured her my nephew must have some magical dick between his legs, because no matter the crimes he’s committed against you, no matter how he betrays you, you keep coming back for more.” His crass words anger me further, but there’s nothing I can do that will free me from these monsters. We’re so terribly outnumbered. The only thing I can hope for now is for Alek to hurry and get help.

Wesley stands before us, the gun in his hand still pointed at the two of us, while my mother moves loudly behind us. I can’t tellexactly what it is she’s doing but as she moves rapidly around the room, she causes a loud ruckus.

Immediately the stench of gasoline, just like that night at the cabin, burns as the fumes invade my nostrils. I see her from the corner of my eye pouring the transparent yellow liquid all over the furniture in the room, splashing the curtains, and spilling it all along the floor. Once she’s finished, she moves to stand in front of us pouring some of the gasoline at our feet before dousing us both in it. I turn my head, closing my eyes and mouth before it splashes in.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the accidental fires that seem to keep popping up around here in Hillcrest,” Wesley asks, but not really expecting a response. “I heard an interesting rumor about how my nephew and his girlfriend have become quite obsessed and become arsonists of sorts. Starting one in my very own office last Halloween where they were caught making out, then up at the cabin they were staying at, almost blowing themselves up, and finally doing so at his family home. It’s quite tragic really, that love drives us to such madness.” He moves toward me, placing the gun at my temple as Ace groans beside me, begging him to stop.

“To be young and in love, it drives us to madness, Wesley. We’re living testaments to that,” my mother sneers, setting the empty container of gasoline beside my chair. Her eyes cut deep into mine as she watches me with such an abhorrence, I can feel it in my core.What did I ever do to earn such an intense hatred from her?

“Yes, my dear Lilith, what a shame we showed up too late. We could have stopped them had we known how unstable they were,” Wesley mocks, sarcasm apparent in the measly tone of his voice.

I laugh wildly at the stupidity of their plan to make us look like two lovers whose love ended in tragedy. “So that’s your plan, make us into your modern-day Romeo and Juliet. To stage it and make it look like Ace and I went and blew ourselves up. No one will believe you.”

He crouches down to my level, his lips so close to mine as hemutters against me. “I don’t need anyone to believe me, child, you forget who I am. No one will question what we tell them, there won’t be an investigation into the matter.” He runs the barrel of his gun down my check, my heart beating forcefully, overflowing with fear and anticipation of what comes next.