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So much for my keeping things undercover.
At least he didn’t get a chance to go on as Ferris stepped into the room. ‘Brax’s plans changed. He has some meeting with an Annelid leader later this evening, so he came earlier.’
‘I’ll get right up.’ I tried keeping some façade of dignity when the best I could do was to crawl out of the room.
Fortunately, a certain Cole saw right through what I was trying to do. ‘Yeah, right up,’ he grumbled, sneaking one arm beneath my knees and one around the small of my back. ‘Put your hands around my neck so the move won’t be too sudden when I lift you.’
For some reason, it felt incredibly weird that someone who was set to break me was actually helping me out at this level. But I wasn’t going to question his new attitude, especially not at a time like this. I just let myself be swept away in his arms, at least for the ride to the living room.
‘Is here okay?’ he asked, placing me on a divan sofa.
‘Yes, thank you.’ I gently parted from his embrace under Brax’s cut-through gaze. It wasn’t jealousy— far from that. More like a wave of anger that I was rejecting him and still allowing Cole to get impossibly close to my body and my soul altogether. Something changed during our trip to Emerald city, and it was becoming more and more obvious that nothing would ever be the same when it came to him and me. Now all I could do was wait and let time decide if, in the end, that’s a good or a bad thing.
‘I don’t have much time to waste.’ Of course, it had to be Brax, the one with the attitude. He waswastinghis time on me, and I was beginning to think he was right from his point of view. I had nothing to offer in those moments, so it was only fair that he wouldn’t want to offer anything in return.
Determined to relieve him of any duties I may have placed on his shoulders, I decided to open the subject. ‘Then tell me what happened that day. I remember bits and pieces, but I can’t seem to figure out the bigger picture.’
To my surprise, it was Ferris who decided to elucidate the mystery for me, and not Brax, the one I had initially asked. ‘Do you remember the previous day?’
‘Yes. I remember. I also remember going into the Pleasure Room to take the letter, then arriving at the governor’s mansion... and then...’ Sudden fatigue almost melted my whole body into a helpless puddle as flashes of images that weren’t adding up ran through my mind. A glass, a red dress, the earpieces, a bathroom, all spinning in crazed circles, aiming to extract the very last drop of air out of my lungs.
Everything almost turned black when Ferris’s arms shook me back to reality. ‘Bea, get back here.’ I could hear him roar as he was trying to get my attention.
‘What... Why is this happening?’ I was confused, trying to understand where the reaction was coming from and, most importantly, why I couldn’t remember anything.
‘It’s called Post Traumatic Stress. Different people react in different ways to it, and it seems your body is blocking memories related to the events that initially caused the stress.’
He definitely knew what he was talking about, especially with his past always being there to haunt him.
‘I’ll carry on telling you what happened.’ Ferris pulled a chair in front of me. ‘But I need you to tell me when to stop. Got that?’ He needed to assure himself I was well enough to continue listening to what they had to say.
‘Got it.’ I nodded, bracing myself to keep back the nightmares from surfacing.
‘Okay. I’ll start from when you went into the house. You tried seducing the governor into taking you to different areas of the mansion so you could search for all leads where he may keep any sex footage of him and whomever... That surprisingly worked.’
‘Surprisingly?’ I said with a certain irritation in my voice. Was he underestimating my intelligence?
‘Be careful, Ferris. I don’t see such a bright future for you with you pissing her off.’ Cole decided to intervene, making fun of my outburst. If only he knew what I had planned…
‘Oh, I know she’s much more powerful than she lets any of us see.’ My king of darkness cast a genuine smile, shadowed by a tint of silent agony. He, of all people, understood best, and he, of all people, should have known better than to continually test me. ‘Resuming what I was saying... You managed to get him to ditch his guards, and when the time was ready, slipped a little something in his drink to get him to pass out.
‘Meanwhile, I got a call from my people down at the hospital. They had found a kidney donor for your brother. We needed to act at that moment or wait for who knows how long for another opportunity. We had to do something fast. So, Cole decided to go be with Sebastian at the hospital and assure himself that everything was going smoothly.
‘I think Cole left around the time you returned to the governor’s safe. Unfortunately, there was nothing that we could use in there, so the next stop was his office.’ Ferris took a short break. ‘Are you okay? Can I go on?’
I nodded again in confirmation, though I couldn’t say I was exactly okay. A state of anxiety was building up in the center of my chest, slowly transposing me there again as prey to the avalanche of fists.
‘Okay... Shit, here comes the hard part. Seconds before you managed to download the entire data from his computer, the governor came into the room along with half a dozen of his men. He—’
‘Hit me... I can remember now... So many times and so strong... The pain... I couldn’t get up, and he kept kicking me in the stomach...’ I could barely breathe and found myself needing to bury my head against some cushions in the lamest attempt to hold back my tears.
‘It’s okay... It’s okay. It’s over,’ Cole’s voice was trying to soothe me as he was bringing me to the safety of his chest.
‘Did... Did he—’ I could barely ask.
‘Sexually abuse you? No. He only managed to rip your top off, but Brax arrived just in time.’ Cole was the one who answered me.
‘What happened?’ I already knew Brax came to get me out, but I couldn’t understand exactly how.
