AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t wait for her to express her hatred for me because I can see it all over her face. I gently unwrap myself from Saint, where Zoey quickly takes my place. He whimpers when I leave his side.
“Shh,” I coo, brushing the hair from his downturned face. “I’ll be back.”
It seems to appease the demons for now.
We are standing inside the enormous greenhouse, just as Pavel said, so I don’t have much time.
“Go!” I demand. Pavel tries to grab my arm, but I shrug from his hold. He doesn’t stand a fighting chance because Saint wavers, almost sending both he and Zoey to the ground.
I run down the stairs and navigate through the way we came. My aching ribs demand I stop, but I merely place my hand over them to support them the best way I can. The curved walls of the dark tunnel suddenly close in on me, but I concentrate and call out to Alek.
My voice merely echoes.
Just as I’m about to call for him again, I hear winded breaths and rushed footsteps charging toward me. “I told you not to stop.”
I exhale in relief. “You can yell at me later. Let’s go.” However, when I see we’re one person short, I arch a brow. “Where’s Dominic?”
Ingrid is huddled into Alek’s side, sobbing. When I look at Alek, he simply shakes his head.
He’s not coming because it’s safe to assume he’s dead. A part of me weeps as he could have been a monster to me, but he wasn’t, which I suspect is one of the reasons he’s no longer with us. But the main reason is because he was replaced by another pet—Saint. He was no longer needed by Oscar, so he was disposed of, just like trash.
But we don’t have time to discuss it. Turning on my heel, I sprint through the tunnel and charge up the stairs. Alek and Ingrid aren’t far behind.
“Out through the door and make a left,” Alek directs as we haul ass.
Orchids and lilies fill the greenhouse, but regardless of their beauty, they can’t erase the horrors within the walls.
Once the cool breeze strokes my heated cheeks, I inhale, gulping in lungfuls of the fresh air. Alek loops his arm through mine, hinting now is not the time to stop and smell the roses. When the garage comes into view, he whistles, and a black van comes tearing out.
The van has Russian writing on the side with a red rose as its centerpiece. It reminds me of the rose tattoos on Saint’s chest—his marred chest which reveals the depravities he’s endured.
Pavel is driving, while Sara, who is dressed very similar to Zoey, sits in the passenger seat. When the van comes to a screeching stop, kicking up gravel, we run toward it. The side door bursts open, and when Zoey sees Ingrid, she launches from it, shoving Alek in the chest. She catches us both unawares as I have no idea what’s gotten into her.
“What isshedoing here? This wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Not now,” he snarls, smacking her hand away when she tries to push him again.
“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Shit, I didn’t think this through. Although Zoey claims to be over Alek, seeing Ingrid has obviously opened old wounds. But this isn’t Alek’s doing.
“It was me!” I yell in a tumble of words. Alek looks at me, appearing surprised I owned up to it.
Her mouth is parted, poised on spewing more anger toward Alek, but when I confess what I did, she turns slowly, glaring something wicked.
“We can do this later, okay? Saint is the only thing that matters now.” I raise my hands in surrender, hoping she sees reason. I peer over her shoulder to see him lying prone in the back of the van.
“Zoey, we don’t have time!” Pavel revs the engine, but she is a woman hell-bent on fury.
She stalks me, but I stand my ground. This has been inevitable since the moment we met. “We have unfinished business, you and I.”
I’m so sick of her. She has been nothing but a thorn in my side since the first moment we met.
Done being civil, I match her pace and stop only inches away. “We do, and once Saint is safe…it’s on.”
She clenches her jaw before a sinister smirk spreads across her face slowly. All the Bible verses my father read me about going to hell suddenly come to mind because looking into her eyes is akin to gazing at Lucifer himself. “Oh, it’s on.”
Yes, it is. But right now, I need to be with Saint.
Pushing past her, I jump into the back, instantly dropping to my knees by his side. I gently brush the hair from his face, peering down at him, lost to him because he’s finally safe.
