AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As he inched closer, something under the bottom shelf drew his attention. What he saw curdled his stomach. A stack of brick-sized parcels, each end plugged with multiple wires, filled the space from floor to shelf—clay-like blocks of C-4 explosive. Enough to turn the wing above him into a pile of rubble, maybe bring down half the Castle. On him.
He squirmed closer, seeing something white tucked between the stack and the shelf leg. He rolled to his right side so he could get a better look at it—a piece of lined paper.
For Anya,it read.
The name rang no bells. Anya... Had that been one of the club’s consultants? Or someone tied to Lucas?
Whoever she was, it didn’t bode well. The C-4 made one thing certain—someone had a bigger plan, and whoever had knocked him out definitely wasn’t the dead Lucas.
But the issue looming larger was Hartley. If she wasn’t down here in the dungeon, where had the bomber taken her? Was she still alive?
“No,” he grunted, refusing to let his thoughts go down that dark alley. He rolled to his front, hunching to his knees. He threw his weight forward, propelling himself the last few feet to sprawl at the foot of the stairs. His shoulder crunched painfully against the stone, but he hardly felt it, fueled by desperation.
He had to get loose. He had to find Hartley. In that anguished moment, everything became clear. He didn’t just love her. She was everything. He had wasted precious time playing games to keep her at a distance. He would sacrifice anything, withstand any torture, to find her and be with her.
Jaw set with determination, Monty rolled onto his back, contorting his arms to work at the ties binding his wrists. As the plastic bit deeper into his skin, a mantra beat in time with his racing heart.Find her. Save her. Whatever it takes.
He would not lose her, not when he’d just found the missing piece of himself. The rest they could figure out later. First, he had to get free.
And when he did, heaven help anyone who stood between them.
CHAPTER26
The strange scent of ash and wood reached Hartley’s confused brain. She’d been dreaming about falling, then landed on the bed. Only the bed was hard.
She tried opening her eyes, expecting to see the curtains of the Castle bedroom but instead finding trees and a stack of lumber. The light was an indigo glow, filtering through the skeletal Treehouse ruins. It cast everything in muted blues and grays. She closed her eyes again.
Am I still dreaming?she wondered, because being in the Treehouse made no sense.
Her head pounded and her stomach roiled as she blinked gritty eyes open, expecting to see something different. She didn’t. Splinters and sawdust dug into her cheek where she lay curled on her side. She shifted, wincing as her bound hands scraped against the debris.
“Awake at last, I see.”
The gravelly voice jerked her head back. Bile rose in her throat, and she vomited into the sawdust, breath wheezing in and out. As her vision swam into focus, she made out Karol’s hulking form sitting several feet away, watching her.
Not Karol anymore. Jackal. His words floated back to her, but even if they hadn’t, she wouldn’t have recognized him. The man who’d always taken her side was gone, buried in the animal-like shape that stared at her.
“Jackal,” she rasped, squinting. “What...” More of her memory filtered back in fragments. The fight with Monty. Jackal standing over them. Then nothing. “Where’s Monty? What have you done?”
Jackal cocked his head, expression unreadable. “Monty’s indisposed. We have business to discuss, you and I.”
Dread congealed in Hartley’s gut. “What business? Maybe if you untie me, so I can sit up, we can talk through whatever this is.” She strained against the ties binding her hands behind her, heart pounding wildly.
“Can’t do that. But we do have much to discuss before the grand finale.” Jackal’s voice dropped, a sinister edge belying the calm words.
Adrenaline shot through her. “What finale? Please, tell me what’s going on.” She injected a pleading note into her tone, trying to reach the man she once knew. Karol. Her former head of security…whom she’d fired not so long ago. But she’d been okay with him coming back. That had to count for something, didn’t it?
Jackal dragged a hand down his face, exhaling raggedly. When he looked up, his eyes were anguished. The animal glint in them gone. “We’re the same, you know. You and me. Both of us love someone who’ll never love us back.”
Hartley stilled, surprise breaking through the fear. It wasn’t Jackal, with the evil glint in his eye. This was Karol, and apparently, he’d loved someone.
“Who?” she tried.
He gave a brittle laugh. “My darling Saigo. Although that’s not her real name. It was Anya. But that’s the only thing I could find out about her, hard as I tried. Isn’t that sad?” His voice broke on the last word, and his face morphed into pure rage. “Sad? Fuck sad!” he shouted.
Unease slithered down Hartley’s spine. She was dealing with two personas with no way to know which one would appear. “What do you want?” she whispered.
He lifted his chin, eyes glacial. “Don’t play dumb. You know what I want.”
