Hers to Save

by Talia Ellison

  I groaned. “I don’t care. I just need to know the truth.” And the next time we met, I wouldn’t let Aaron walk away from me or talk in cryptic language. “Where’s that house?”

  “Octavia...” Marco sighed.

  “Come on. You know all about the security in that house or can find out. There has to be a way to get past the guards and get to Aaron. Surely they won’t watch every room.”

  “Are you sure it’s worth the risk?”

  “I’ll decide that after you give me all the information.” I wasn’t about to go on a suicide mission to figure out what was wrong with Aaron, but if the guards stayed mostly outside watching the perimeter, and Marco figured out their shifts and patterns or knew about any secret entrances, then we should be able to slip past them. Hell, I’d gotten past my family’s guards numerous times, but only because I knew them well and they hadn’t expected me to try something like that. “The guards would anticipate a lot of people attacking, right? They won’t see us coming if it’s just the two of us and if you tell me how to disable the alarms or cameras.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out, and I’ll meet you tomorrow, but not here.” He leaned in and whispered the address of a bar in my family’s area.

  “Are you sure you can get there without raising suspicion?”

  “Yeah. Roberto’s spies have ways to do it.”

  I arched an eyebrow at him.

  “What? Your family does it too. Just because there’s a truce doesn’t mean they don’t watch each other. Or how do you think the word about what Aaron did got to you?”

  “Right. See you then.” I gave him a grateful smile and headed to the exit. One way or another, I was going to get to the bottom of this.

  Chapter 11

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Marco turned to look at me as we crouched behind the trees that surrounded the house where Aaron had been taken.

  “No, I just went through all the trouble to convince my family it was okay to let me go and risked leaving the city with you because I didn’t have better things to do.” I gave him a deadpan look. Luckily, the moon was providing enough light for us to be able to see, but that meant the guards would be able to see better too. “Are you sure everything you showed me yesterday is correct and updated?” Marco had brought all the information on a special tablet and had sworn no one could reach that data except him, so there was no way for anyone to know what we were up to. I hoped Tony’s tracker that I had on me was as undetectable as he claimed it was.

  “Yeah, I checked the computer in my father’s office to make sure.”

  “Is your father one of the guards here? How do you know he doesn’t have the old info?” Marco had told me Roberto didn’t want his father to guard him anymore, so why did Marco think he would have the updated information? They could’ve upped the security to make sure no one got to Aaron because of what he’d done.

  Surely those guards he’d killed had families who might want revenge, despite the risk of having the Viteris go after them. Actually, Roberto’s men might even help hide who’d done it and protect each other if they decided to turn against their boss. The only question was how loyal or afraid they were of Roberto. If they thought they could get away with killing his son, maybe they’d take the risk, or maybe not, out of respect for their boss. Maybe Roberto had found a way to explain it all to them.

  “He’s still the head of security, but he works more from his office and doesn’t go with Roberto. I don’t think Roberto found any faults with my father. He just doesn’t want me to tag along, I guess.” The grass rustled as Marco shifted his foot.

  “Okay, then. You said they don’t have body heat detectors. Do you think they got them on their way here? Just in case? Aaron might be a target now, and if Roberto doesn’t want him dead...” I observed the top of a huge four-story house that was peeking from behind the high wire fence. The guards were like shadows in the garden, constantly going up and down with their weapons ready.

  “No. They only have to defend Aaron, and they have various alarm systems around, so it’s not necessary. Besides, there are at least fourteen of them here, according to my dad’s last report, and each one of them has a heart rate tracker, so if someone kills them or their heart rate jumps unnaturally, the alarm will be triggered and the guards will lock themselves and Aaron inside.”

  “In the house’s special panic room, I presume.” I’d seen the room on the blueprint Marco had shown me, but he hadn’t told me exactly what every room was for. The design kind of reminded me of the one my family had at our home, so I assumed they had one here.

  “Yep.” Marco pulled out his gun, checking it, then holstered it.

  “Do you think that’ll be necessary?” I nodded toward the gun. My own gun was in the large pocket of my coat, but I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it. “If we shoot someone, the alarms will go off.”

  “I know. Believe me, I don’t want to shoot any of these guys.” His eyes met mine, and I knew he also meant he didn’t want to shoot Aaron either. I couldn’t believe we were actually considering that possibility, but we were. Wonderful.

  “I don’t see that hole you mentioned.” No matter how much I stared at the wire fence, I didn’t notice any holes in it. Marco had explained that would be our way in, and then all we had to do was avoid the guards, get to the entrance where Marco would temporarily disable the alarms with the codes he’d stolen from his father, and then find Aaron. It sounded so simple and yet difficult at the same time.

  “It’s not visible from here. It’s just a part that isn’t attached to the ground, so we’ll have to slip under it. Oh, and ignore the electricity warning. The electricity was turned off because animals kept causing power disruptions.”

  “What animals?” My eyes widened as I looked at Marco.

  “Rabbits, mostly.” The corners of Marco’s lips quirked up.

  I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good. At least it’s not... snakes.”

  Marco flinched. “Of course not. No snakes. Too cold here for them now, right?” His dark eyes were huge.

  “No snakes.” I grinned, and he shook his head at me. “Although, some snakes are cute and not dangerous at all.”

  “Cute?” Marco gaped at me. “You’re telling me those slippery creatures with sharp fangs and a hissing tongue are cute? You’re out of your mind, woman.”

  “Well, we’re here, aren’t we? Of course I’m out of my mind.” A fraction of the tension had slipped out of my shoulders.

  Marco glanced down at his phone. “The guard watching this side of the fence should be gone in two minutes. Be ready.”

  “Okay.” I rubbed my hands together, then leaned my palm against the rough bark of a tree. “How are you so sure they won’t change the schedule?”

  “Believe me. He’s been freezing his ass off for hours and staring at nothing. He won’t want to waste another second here. Nobody likes to work overtime.” He tucked the phone into his black jacket. “When I say now, you run like hell toward that rose bush.”

  As I braced myself for his signal, I observed the dark windows and wondered in which of the numerous rooms we’d find Aaron. Marco was sure he’d be on the first floor, far enough from the guards, but still close so they could come and take him to the panic room if necessary, since that room was in the basement.

  “Now!” Marco said at the same time his phone vibrated in his pocket. We raced across the clearing and toward the fence. Panting, I crouched right across from the rose bush Marco had indicated and realized the whole bush and the red flowers were plastic. I supposed taking care of real flowers would’ve been too much work. Marco squatted next to me and placed his hand right under the edge of the fence, lifting it up.

  When he nodded at me, I lowered myself to the ground and crawled through the hole. Marco pushed through next and pointed his finger at the thickest tree in the whole garden. We ran to it and just as I pressed my back against its trunk and Marco crouched next to my legs, someone whistled. I tried to s
tay as still as possible, and Marco held his hand over the pocket of his pants. A few moments later, he got to his feet and signaled with his finger.

  We peered around the tree, and when the guard had his back turned to us, we dashed toward the back entrance of the house. Luckily, the door was hidden from the guard’s view by one of the walls. Marco immediately focused on the keypad at the door and punched in the code. The footsteps of the guard were coming closer at what sounded like a quick pace, and I assumed he’d either heard us or sensed someone might be around here. We had to get inside before he saw us.

  The door clicked open and Marco grabbed my arm, pulling me inside with him. Just as the door closed behind us, he tugged me toward one of the walls and we pressed our backs against it. Marco had told me there weren’t any cameras in the house because its main purpose was to be an entertainment place for Roberto’s associates, and they didn’t want any evidence of their sex parties. Adding the cameras later would’ve been too complicated, especially on such short notice.

  I still checked all the walls I could see but didn’t spot anything unusual. Unless you counted colorful frescos of naked people in various sexual positions as unusual. We didn’t dare move in case the guard was calling for help, but maybe he’d just think it was the wind. If he had actually seen us, he would’ve run after us. No one tried the door or came running, so we stepped away from the wall and peered around the corner.

  The hallway with yellow walls and a green carpet was completely empty. Marco dashed across the room and knelt down, reaching under a small table toward a small white box. He opened it, his gloved fingers punching in a few codes. We couldn’t completely disable the alarms that were in the hallway because someone would notice that, so Marco had to use the right code to switch them off for a few minutes, just as they’d switch off for one of the guards who was passing through and who had to use his phone to remotely access the alarm system.

  When Marco was done, he glanced at his phone and shook his head. That meant a guard was supposed to be right at the end of the hallway. I could see a part of the black stairway through the open door, and Marco tugged me back just as I glimpsed a silhouette of a person. We hid behind the wall again.

  Marco tapped his phone and tucked it into his pocket. The guards didn’t change at the same time, but one by one. This guard was supposed to walk away in... Marco raised a finger. In one minute, it seemed. My heart thudded loudly in my chest as we waited for Marco’s phone to vibrate. When it did, we dashed down the hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible. Luckily for us, the floor didn’t have any creaky boards, and the rich carpet Roberto seemed to prefer in all of his houses masked the sounds of our footsteps.

  We emerged into a big living room with a few couches and a big TV, but I didn’t have time to take a closer look because we had to climb upstairs. As we rushed up, I couldn’t help but wonder if another guard would be waiting for us where we didn’t expect him to be or if there’d be another security measure we didn’t know about. Hopefully once we reached Aaron he wouldn’t let anything happen to us. I didn’t believe there was a way for him to switch his emotions off. Blocking most of them and having a poker face, yes, but to actually stop caring about Marco and me... I didn’t believe that for a second.

  There were at least six identical doors in a hallway that was similar to the one we’d been in but much, much longer and wider.

  “Where do you think he is?” If we had to check every single door and room, we risked getting caught sooner than finding Aaron.

  “Don’t know.” Marco turned the knob of the door closest to us and took a peek inside. “Nope,” he whispered. We inched forward, listening for anything that could give us a clue. A shadow at the end of the hallway caught my eye, and I was glad the obscure glass at the door at the end of the hallway didn’t give the person behind it a direct view of us.

  Marco had seen it too, so he opened one of the doors and pulled me inside with him. The strong light in the room made me squint, and I felt Marco’s body going rigid next to me. Before I could turn my head to check what he was looking at, he shoved me to the ground. A glass whizzed above me and crashed against the wall. I looked up toward the person who’d attacked us and froze.

  Aaron was standing in front of a king size bed, his eyes narrowed at us, his fists clenched.

  “Aaron!” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “What the fuck was that? It’s just us.”

  “No, it’s not.” Aaron’s voice was low and he reached toward the nightstand. Marco was on his feet in a second and dove toward Aaron. He managed to knock Aaron down before Aaron could reach the gun on the nightstand.

  “Why do you keep bringing her to me? I don’t want to see her!” Aaron said through his teeth as Marco had his arms pinned to the floor.

  “She’ll leave, okay? Just tell us what’s wrong. Why don’t you want to see her? You love her.” Marco’s grip on Aaron loosened, and instead of answering, Aaron used the opportunity to flip Marco over and drive his fist into his jaw. Marco yelped, pushing at Aaron, but Aaron was stronger. He punched Marco again and again.

  “Please...” Marco said, but Aaron didn’t stop. Fuck. I snatched a vase from a silver dressing table, and before Aaron could lay his fist once more on Marco, I smashed the vase over his head. He let out a soft groan and then fell down. Marco twisted out from under him, and Aaron rolled onto his back.

  “Aaron,” I said crouching next to him and placing my hand on his cheek.

  “It’s not really you,” he choked out before his eyelids fluttered shut.

  Chapter 12

  I thought it was odd none of the guards had heard the ruckus, but as I looked around the room, I spotted various broken bottles all over the floor, right in front of the door to the balcony. Aaron must’ve been smashing them a lot, so the guards might’ve assumed he’d done that again. Some guards they were, but then again, he’d killed a few of them apparently for no reason, so maybe they were hoping he’d get hurt. Or maybe the rooms were actually soundproof. Yeah, that was probably it. If they didn’t want any video evidence, then Roberto and his associates wouldn’t want anyone to hear them either.

  Marco found a napkin and dabbed at his face, wiping off blood and wincing.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I’ll live.” His brow wrinkled as his gaze fell on Aaron who was still lying on the floor. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “I think he’s taken some kind of a drug.” What else would be an explanation for his weird behavior? I wasn’t wearing a wig or colored contacts precisely because I didn’t want Aaron to shoot me if he didn’t realize who I was. I’d been hoping he’d been drunk at the club or hadn’t recognized me for some reason, but now he seemed to think I was a hallucination of some sort. Why he’d want to hurt a hallucination of me was an entirely different question, but I had a feeling he’d been having those a lot.

  “He’d never do that.” Marco gaped at me.

  “Then someone gave it to him.”

  Marco closed his eyes for a moment. “Shit.” He crouched next to Aaron and pulled a zip tie out of his pocket. “It’s safer if we tie him up. If he goes crazy on us again...”

  “Okay, do it.” I spotted Aaron’s phone on the bed and grabbed it. As I scrolled through the calls and messages, I noticed an app that Aaron used to contact the guards. He’d told them to stay away from this hallway. Huh. “Do you think the guards would come to check on Aaron if I sent them a message from his phone to stay away from the first floor?” We obviously needed more time, and Aaron wasn’t going to be the one to tell the guards to back off anytime soon.

  “No, send that. We need this floor for ourselves, and the guards just want proof that they were only following orders.” Marco finished tying Aaron’s wrists and Aaron moaned slightly.

  “Is he okay? Did I hit him too hard?” I asked as I typed a message for the guards, making sure it looked like something he’d send.

  “Nah, he’ll be fine.” Marco got to his feet.<
br />
  “All done.” I hit the send button and tossed the phone on the bed. There wasn’t anything interesting on Aaron’s phone since all the other messages seemed to have been deleted. “Who would’ve drugged him and why?”

  Marco’s eyes met mine. “It would be easier to make a list of those who wouldn’t want to do it.”

  “Any clue as to what drug it could be?” There were plenty of drugs that could cause hallucinations and mood swings, impair emotions, and make people susceptible to suggestion.

  “I’d need to see it first or get a blood sample tested, but since we don’t have a lab here, and I don’t see any drugs...” Marco opened the drawer of the nightstand, wrinkled his nose, and closed it.

  “Are you sure he wouldn’t take it of his own free will? If he needed something to relax or, I don’t know... Maybe he didn’t think he’d get hooked on it.” I glanced at Aaron, who was still lying on the floor, unmoving, then I went over to him and knelt down. I placed my hand on his bare arm. His white t-shirt was straining against his strong chest as he inhaled, and I lifted his arm a little. He had a few bruises and cuts, but it wasn’t anything serious.

  “No way. He’d never knowingly take a drug. Trust me.”

  “Maybe someone slipped something into his drink. One of the guards or someone.” If it had been the one he killed... Maybe there was a reason for what he’d done, but he hadn’t been able to explain it to anyone or didn’t think he needed to because the drug had already started working and messed with his mind.

  “I don’t know. He started acting strange before he even went out with the guards.” Marco frowned. “Maybe your family...” His eyes met mine.

  “Ah, no!” I shook my finger at him. “You’re not blaming my family for this.”

  “Your brothers were around him all the time. They could’ve administered drugs to him and pretended it was medicine,” Marco said. “That could’ve made Aaron act out of control, and it would be hard to pin it on them.”