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“I’m not sure, but we better get dressed,” Aiden said into her ear, further deafening her.
Sienna nodded and reached for her clothes. She pulled them on one by one as fast as she could. Aiden did the same and she had to suppress a smile when he cursed because he put on his shirt the wrong way. It wasn’t a laughing matter, but it was better than going into a full-blown panic mode.
When they were dressed, she made a move to go to the door, but Aiden grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She frowned, then tilted her head and furrowed her brows, giving him a questioning look.
“It might not be safe for you out there,” he explained or at least that’s what she thought he said. “I’ll try to get ahold of my brothers to see what’s going on.”
Aiden led her to the corner of the gym and instructed her to crouch behind the equipment so she wouldn’t be immediately seen if anyone was to enter the room. Sienna hated the hiding, but she understood his motives, so she obliged without getting into an argument.
Aiden was furiously typing away on his phone, then brought it up to his ear and moments later back down only to type again, listen to something again, then stare at the screen. His face was turning red and Sienna suspected it had more to do with the anger than the worry that made his eyes furrow.
He joined her behind the pile of mats, kneeling on one knee, so they were on the same eye level. Sienna put a hand on his tense bicep, his frustration visible on every part of his body.
“What’s going on?” she mouthed again, slowly seeping into the well of worry.
The still-sounding alarms couldn’t be ignored anymore. It was clear that this wasn’t a drill, otherwise, they would have turned them off by now. Something bad was happening. Sienna had a horrible feeling that it had to do with Kyle.
Aiden leaned closer to her ear, his breath tickling her as he spoke with a serious voice. “My phone isn’t working. There’s no signal and even the WIFI’s down. I can’t get ahold of anyone and have no idea what’s going on, but I’m pretty sure that we’re under attack and they set up phone signal interference devices so we couldn’t communicate with one another.”
“Is it Kyle?” Sienna asked, turning her head to the side so she could look into Aiden’s eyes. He didn’t need to reply, because the answer was written clearly in his eyes.
Kyle had come and this time it would be a fight until death. Sienna’s nightmare would stop only when one of them would die.
They didn’t have the guns, or even a couple of knives. All they had were their bare hands, but after the morning they’d had, Sienna was feeling quite spent and would prefer to grab a couple of hours of sleep as opposed to fight her greatest enemy. She couldn’t bring herself to lift her hands up, much less throw a punch. The Carrington heirs squeezed every drop of energy out of her and instead of complaining, she was practically begging them for more.
She might’ve been a dirty, naughty girl, but at least she was also completely and utterly satisfied. It was an incredible and rare feeling. Before she’d been with all of the heirs at the same time, she’d only gotten a sliver of release. Now it was clear that she needed them all. Sienna would fight for them as much as they were fighting for her. She wouldn’t let Kyle take it all away. She wanted her future, and she wanted it with them.
A couple of things happened at the same time in the next few moments. First, the whole building shook as if they were in the middle of the worst earthquake that had hit the United States in centuries. Aiden actually had to get up and put his weight against the gym mats to keep them from getting buried underneath. A long, spider-like crack spread across the walls, making it look like they could collapse at any moment.
Second, the screeching loud alarm turned off so suddenly that if Sienna’s ears hadn’t been ringing, she would’ve thought the alarm was a vivid part of her imagination. The sudden and abrupt silence was replaced by different signs which turned out to be much worse, confirming their worst fears.
Sienna closed her eyes shut and covered her ears with her hands so hard that it felt as if her head might turn into a pancake. It didn’t matter because the sounds still came through, or maybe they didn’t, but they were already seared into her brain. Once was enough to never forget.
People’s cries and screams echoed down the halls, painting ghastly pictures in Sienna’s mind of the horrendous things that Kyle’s thugs were up to. It didn’t take her long to realize that the earthquake wasn’t real, but a result of a bomb blowing up in a rather close proximity, yet still far enough for the gym not to collapse unto itself. A steady stream of gunshots kept the pace like a drummer did with the rhythm of the song.
Sienna looked at Aiden, for once, unable and unwilling to disguise the fear in her eyes. Kyle was here. He had come for her, and he wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Going out to look for him was different, because before she was ready, but now it was him who came into her home. He invaded her last safe space, her comfort zone, the only location where she thought that Kyle wouldn’t be able to touch, but he did. Nothing and no one were safe from him.
“I’ll barricade the entrance, but you stay here and keep your head down,” Aiden ordered and even though he looked like a warrior in his element, she could see he was worried about her wellbeing.
He was just as much in the dark about what was going on outside as she was. It wasn’t a good feeling and they weren’t used to not being in charge. He straightened the unsteady gym mats, then gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before he went to the door.
Aiden took the shortest of moments to study the door, coming up with a quick plan in his head, then proceeded to follow it. Sienna observed him, wishing she could help, but she knew he’d be calmer and more effective if she stayed hidden, so she did, making sure that not even her head could be seen from above the mats.
Aiden went to the metal weight lifting bar, took off the weights on both sides, then stuck it between the door handles, to keep the door from opening. It wouldn’t help much because the door was made out of wood and could be broken down in many different ways, but it was a way to buy them more time in case they were discovered. Maybe those few minutes would be enough for the reinforcements to arrive.
Sienna peeked from behind the mats when she heard Aiden’s grunts and groans of exertion. He was pushing various pieces of gym equipment toward the door to barricade it further. Whoever might want to get in the gym now would seriously think twice before trying. She hoped that they wouldn’t think it was worth the effort.
Aiden half-dragged and half-pushed the treadmill against the door when someone tried to open it. Sienna covered her mouth with her hand to suppress a startled cry. She slid down, hiding behind the mats, but not before making sure that she had a little hole from where she could keep an eye on the door. Aiden stepped on one side of the door and waited, ready to attack whoever was attempting to enter.
A loud curse came from another side when the door refused to budge, but Sienna couldn’t quite place the voice. It was familiar, but she wasn’t sure who it belonged to. One thing she was certain about was that none of the other Carrington heirs were out there, but that didn’t mean that the intruder was an enemy. It could’ve easily been one of the people working for the Carringtons or the Lockwoods, which would explain why a part of her recognized the voice, although there was something in her gut telling her that she was wrong. Sienna couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach, which was why she pressed her hand even harder against her mouth to prevent herself from making any sounds, and sunk back into the shadows, trying to make herself invisible.
The door rattled, but the metal weight lifting bar kept it from opening even an inch. The person on the other side started banging against the wooden door with something heavy, but thanks to all the gym equipment that Aiden dragged in front of it, Sienna didn’t feel threatened.
The attempts to break in had stopped as quickly as they started and after another moment of silence, Sienna had finally let herself exhale in relief, believing that the person had given up. She waited another minute and when nothing happened, she stood up to look for Aiden’s reassurance. That was when the shit hit the fan and her body was smashed against the wall, pushed by the combined weight of gym mats that moved with the pressure of the bomb going off.
Sienna’s head hit the wall with a crack that could be heard even over the explosion. Her vision varied between blurry and dark, as if her body wanted to black out, but her mind was insisting on staying conscious. Her ears were ringing with a high-pitched sound that could’ve been the result of the deafening explosion or her definite head injury. It didn’t matter because the danger was here, which meant that whatever Sienna was dealing with, she had to shake it off and face it. The other option was certain death, but she wanted to live too much to give up without a fight.
She crawled from underneath the mats, her whole body aching as if she had received the beating of her life. Nevertheless, she knew that everything would be better when she was with Aiden.
