AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Still, nothing seems out of the ordinary as I walk along the fence, peering through the thin gaps in the planks. A three-quarter moon spills silver light on the yard and the woods beyond it, but I can’t get a clear look. Not yet.
Not until I round the corner and dart across the lawn to press myself against the side of the house, almost hugging the wall, crouching to pass under the windows.
Finally, I reach the rear of the house, crouched in the darkness and straining my eyes to get a better look at the limp girl tied to the thick tree trunk not fifty feet away. Moonlight paints her dark hair platinum and makes her pale skin glow like a pearl. The breeze blows, and she shivers—my heart can beat now. I can breathe. She’s alive.
And tied, gagged, and under the control of… who?
The impulse to run to her is almost too much to fight. All I can do is remind myself what will happen if I do it before I have an idea of the situation. I scan the area, watching and listening. No flash of moonlight off the steel of a rifle. No footsteps. No breathing once I hold my own.
No sound at all, in fact, until a voice floats my way.
“It’s about time. I thought you forgot.”
This isn’t happening. I can’t hear that voice because it belongs to someone I know is dead.
Someone who’s emerging from the woods beyond the yard. I saw her at the gala. Somehow, I knew it was her, even when it shouldn’t have been possible.
This has to be a nightmare. A cruel and twisted dream. I’m going to wake up any moment now. Only I’m not.
“Mom?” I barely recognize my own voice. The sound is more fitting for a small, frightened boy than a grown man.
I take a step toward her, needing to get closer, yearning to touch her just to make sure she is real. As I move, four men step out from the forest edge, guns drawn and pointing at me.
“I thought you were…” Memories of standing in front of her grave, placing flowers on the headstones as Natalie cried by my side assault me.
“Dead?” She finishes my sentence. “Sometimes I wish I was, but unfortunately, I have to live with the pain you’ve caused every day.”
I’m so fucking confused. I have no idea what she means by that or how we got here. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
“Cut the shit, Mason!” She suddenly yells, an unhinged tone in her voice. Her hands ball into fists, and her body shakes with anger. “I know what you did! I know about Operation Black Orchid. I know it was your fault!”
“Mom.” Her name falls off my lips like a desperate prayer, pleading with her to explain what’s going on.
“Don’t call me that,” she snaps, “You stopped being my son the day you killed my baby boy!”
I’m speechless. Shocked and confused beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. My training in the SEALs prepared me for a lot of things, but not this.
TEAGAN
“Kill him!”Mason’s mom sneers, pointing her finger at her son.
My heart stops. Using every last ounce of strength, I fight against the restraints until the ropes dig into my skin painfully. This can’t be it. I can’t watch him die.
Mason stares at his mother in disbelief. I scream, but thanks to the gag in my mouth, it’s nothing but a muffled groan. It’s enough to get Mason’s attention. He looks over at me once more. I’ve never seen so much pain and anguish in one person’s eyes.
Bang. A shot is fired.
“Noooo!” I scream against the gag.No, no, no! Please no.
Lowering my gaze, I immediately find his white shirt turning red at an alarming rate. Blood soaks his shirt as his body starts to sway. My vision goes blurry, tears running down my face uncontrollably.
Another shot is fire. Then another.
Everything happens so fast that I don’t know where to look. Someone comes seemingly out of nowhere and tackles Mason to the ground. Two… no, three, or five men dressed in SWAT gear come running from behind the house to storm the backyard.
One of the men runs toward me, blocking my view while shielding me from harm. He is wearing a black mask, but I’m pretty sure it’s Tank, judging by his size. I keep wiggling in the restraints, desperate to get free, but nothing gives. Blood trickles down my hands where the rope has rubbed my skin raw. At this point, I don’t even feel any pain anymore, at least not physically.
The gunfire suddenly stops, and the area goes eerily quiet. The man in front of me turns around and starts to untie me. He takes the gag out of my mouth first.
