Black Hearts: A Dark Captive Romance (Heartbreaker Book 3)

by Stella Hart

  The explosion cast a bright glow into the night, and the acrid, choking smell of it dominated each and every breath I took. The flames roared louder than I thought they would, burning with colors I never expected, changing from orange to red to purple and back to orange again. Pillars of smoke drifted upwards, twisting and writhing and crackling.

  It was beautiful.

  The maids and kids were slowly creeping up to us to watch the Circle’s demise from our closer vantage point. I only knew because I could hear their crunching footsteps over the snow, and when I finally turned, Alex and I were surrounded with them.

  “Can I go home now?” one of the kids asked timidly, her eyes wide as saucers as she took in the blazing flames beyond us.

  One of the maids tightened the little girl’s coat and wrapped her in a hug. “Yes,” she murmured. “We can go home soon.” She looked over at me and nodded, a silent gesture which conveyed her gratitude.

  I smiled at her, then turned back to watch the inferno. The temperature outside had dropped sharply in the last hour or so, and snow was drifting down in slow, lazy flakes. If I squinted, it almost looked like a Christmas card; a winter wonderland surrounding a crackling yule log fire.

  Alex grabbed my hand and let out a heavy sigh. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it out,” he murmured, tenderly stroking my skin. There was a flash of vulnerability in his eyes.

  “Me too,” I whispered.

  He pulled me closer and leaned down, lips brushing against my forehead. I closed my eyes and tilted my face up so that he would kiss my lips too. He’d never tasted so sweet.

  When I was in that ballroom, part of me genuinely thought I wouldn’t make it out alive; not after Bill figured out who I was. But with Alex’s voice there to guide me, I’d made it through the worst few moments of my life, and I was finally safe and warm in his arms again.

  I knew now that I had all that strength deep inside me, and I had it all along, but without him, I wasn’t sure I would’ve ever discovered how much was there. I wouldn’t have known I could make it. Wouldn’t have known just how quick-witted and powerful I could be when danger was snapping at my heels.

  I needed him in my life, now and forever. I needed him to help me, show me, teach me, and love me. He needed me too; needed me to understand him and love him back.

  And my god, I did. I loved him so much it made me ache.

  “Do you think we got them all?” I asked quietly, turning my face back to the fire. The last remnants of the mansion were crumbling now.

  Alex’s lips tightened. “I fucking hope so.”

  There was a small chance someone hadn’t shown up for the party tonight, even though the entire Circle had been ordered to come.

  “We can find out.” Emily had just sidled up to us, and we turned to look at her with interest.

  “How?” I asked.

  She held up a black book. “I sneaked this out of William’s office when we were getting the kids out. It’s a ledger. Has all the names of the Circle members and staff. I’m going to give it to the police when they show up, and they’ll eventually be able to tell if anyone didn’t show up tonight, based on whether or not they’re still alive.” She raised her eyebrows and twisted her lips, as if she couldn’t quite tell if she was allowed to find amusement or satisfaction in the deaths of her captors. “But I think you got them all.”

  I nodded slowly. “We couldn’t have done it without you,” I said.

  Tears suddenly filled her eyes, and she drew in a deep, shaky breath. “I really didn’t believe you at first, but I’m so glad I did.” She paused and shook her head slightly. “I just don’t know what to do now. This place is all I’ve known for so long.”

  “It’ll be okay. We’ll help you and all the others as much as we can,” Alex said firmly. “I know it’ll be an adjustment. But we’ll get there.”

  She smiled through her tears. “I don’t even know what to do to thank you,” she whispered.

  He patted her shoulder gently. “Just keep surviving.”

  Emily nodded and wiped her cheeks. “There is one thing we can all do, actually,” she said. “While we were all standing back there waiting for you two to….” She trailed off and gestured at the fire. “We all agreed that we’d tell the police whatever you want when they arrive. We know how much trouble you’ll get in if you hang around and admit what you did. No matter how evil these guys were, they’ll still treat it as a mass murder and charge you accordingly. So if you need to leave now, we’re all happy to stick to a certain story when they ask us what happened. Even the youngest kids understand.”

  I looked at Alex. Neither of us had been sure that our plan to destroy the mansion would even work, so we hadn’t discussed what would happen afterwards to a great extent. We had a general idea, at least—we were going to run and hide, wait for things to blow over. Then I’d return to my old life, perhaps claim that I’d hit my head and suffered from amnesia for a few months before finally remembering who I was and heading home. Alex would still be in my life, of course. I’d eventually introduce him to my friends and say we’d been secretly seeing each other for a while before I disappeared, after meeting at the hospital when he treated my mother. It would be hard to pull off, but doable.

  Now we had a chance to frame things differently.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  Alex squeezed my hand. “I think it’s up to you.”

  I immediately realized what he was doing. He was placing his life in my hands to show me how much he trusted me now.

  If I wanted to, I could stay here and tell the police everything when they arrived. The whole truth. In the end, I probably wouldn’t be in much trouble, even after helping with all the carnage and killing tonight, because people would tend to think I was coerced.

  But of course, I wouldn’t do that to Alex. Not now. Not ever. He knew that. He knew for sure that I wouldn’t betray him, and he was certain he could trust me to make the best decision for both of us.

  I chewed my bottom lip as I thought things through. There was one narrative I could spin which would not only serve us both well, but would also serve to honor the memory of one of the brave innocents in our story who didn’t make it.

  I whispered my idea in Alex’s left ear, and he nodded. “I think that’s perfect,” he said gruffly.

  Emily looked at me anxiously, and we outlined the new plan to her. She agreed that it would work, and then she gathered all the other maids and kids around to tell them as well. Every single one of them promised to tell the same story.

  Five minutes later, we were back to watching the fire in silence. Faint sirens were echoing in the distance now.

  I looked over at Alex again. “What’s going to happen when this is all over?” I asked softly.

  There was a ghost of a smile on his face, and he squeezed my hand. “Whatever you want to happen.”

  “I want you.” I squeezed back even tighter. “I’m staying with you.”

  His smile widened, and he pulled me closer. “I know.”

  18

  Celeste

  Yawning, I shielded my eyes from the fluorescent lights above my hospital bed. I’d just woken up after a fourteen hour sleep, and I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so well-rested.

  Alex was in a chair at my bedside, and he leaned forward. “How are you feeling?”

  I smiled. “Good. I feel good.”

  After the police and fire department workers showed up at the rural property where the Circle mansion once stood, I’d been taken to the hospital with all the kids and maids. I wasn’t injured—not like the others, anyway. All I had were a few fading scratches and bruises from when Dwyer held me captive a couple of weeks ago—but rescue workers insisted I be kept for a while to monitor my physical and mental health after my ordeal.

  The police had questioned me, and I’d told them the same story the others would when they were asked: The Circle kidnapped me a few months ago, after discovering that I was beginning t
o remember things about my father’s involvement with them. They’d kept me as a captive in the mansion with the intent of torturing me and killing me one day. I hadn’t interacted much with the kids or maids, as I’d been imprisoned in a small room alone for most of my time there (this would explain why I didn’t know most of their names, if anyone asked).

  On the night of the inferno, I’d been sitting at my window when I saw an unfamiliar man arrive on the mansion grounds. He’d rescued me and all the other innocents and sent us outside before detonating an enormous bomb, blowing up the mansion. The explosion killed him with all the Circle members, and it was only because of his sacrifice that the rest of us were alive. None of us knew who this man was—we described him as blond and slightly overweight with a big nose; the complete opposite of Alex—but he told us he was the Heartbreaker, and he’d come to save us all.

  There wouldn’t be any discrepancies in terms of the number of bodies found, despite our fictional addition. I knew that when massive explosions occurred, bodies were often fragmented to the point that authorities couldn’t be sure how many people died in the blast. So as far as the investigators would ever know, the Heartbreaker died in the explosion, and his bones were shattered into a million tiny pieces like the others. His remains would never be found, but they’d know he was there based on our stories.

  Alex hadn’t been around for any of the questioning, as he hadn’t been on the scene when the police showed up the other night. In order for the story to work, we’d sent him away, and he’d hiked back to his car on the other side of the nature reserve and simply driven home. Now he was here at the hospital playing the role of my concerned boyfriend, and the police were none the wiser.

  “Celeste?”

  I glanced over at the door, and my heart lifted when I saw who was standing there. “Samara!” I squealed.

  She hurried over and wrapped her arms around me in a bear hug. Warmth radiated through me as she squeezed me tight. “I can’t believe it. You’re really here,” she murmured huskily through her tears of joy.

  We stayed like that for several minutes, just hugging and touching each other’s faces, so happy to finally be reunited. Then Samara pulled back and gave me a questioning glance, her head tilted toward Alex.

  My stomach lurched. I hated lying to my best friend, especially when she’d never given up on finding me, but I knew lies were occasionally necessary to keep things smoothed over. I wasn’t ashamed of Alex or my love for him, but I couldn’t imagine any of my friends truly understanding my feelings, considering how we’d started (along with the fact that he was a serial killer). And so I held back the truth and told Samara the same thing I planned on telling everyone else.

  “This is Alex,” I said. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about him before now. We were seeing each other for a few months before I was taken, and I wanted to keep it quiet until I knew exactly how we felt. See, he was my mother’s doctor when she was sick, and we were worried what people might think with the age difference and him dating an ex-patient’s daughter and all. But still, I should’ve told you.”

  She waved her hand. “I’ll be mad about that later. I’m just so glad you’re back.” She burst into a fresh set of relieved tears. “It’s really nice to meet you, Alex,” she added a moment later, wiping her cheeks as she glanced over at him again. “I promise I’m not usually this emotional.”

  He smiled gently. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Samara. It’s great to finally meet you too.”

  I grabbed her hand. “I know you never gave up on me. Not even for a second,” I said softly. I swallowed hard, and then I told her the other half of the story I’d told the police—the part I’d concocted to honor Jason West’s memory. He never gave up the search for me after Samara begged him to find me, and he’d paid for that integrity with his life. I blamed myself for his death. “Agent West told me.”

  Samara’s brows knitted. “What do you mean?”

  “He found me at the mansion a few weeks ago. He figured out the Circle existed and tracked me down, and he said he’d been looking for me because of you. But… the Circle caught him before he could save me and the others. I saw Dwyer—he was one of them—shoot him in the head, and then he stuffed him into a car so he could dump his body far away from the mansion.”

  Samara’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my god. Agent West actually found you?”

  “Yes. He was a total hero, Samara.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “He’ll be so happy to know what he did.”

  I tilted my head. “You mean his family will be happy to know?”

  She frowned, and then her eyes widened. “Oh. Of course… you wouldn’t know this yet. He’s alive!”

  A chill shot down my spine, and I felt incredibly dizzy all of a sudden. As amazing as it was to hear that West had somehow survived his horrific injury, my entire story hinged on my belief that he was dead. I’d wanted to make him look like a hero in some way (seeing as I believed he was) without implicating Alex in anything. But if West was alive, then everyone would know the story was a lie. He never went to the mansion, he knew Alex was the Heartbreaker, and he also knew that Alex had me the whole time, not the Circle.

  I glanced over at Alex. Unlike me, he didn’t seem scared at all. His expression was completely tranquil, as if he’d already accepted that he might eventually go down for the things he’d done.

  I swallowed hard and looked back at my best friend. “He survived?”

  Samara nodded fervently. “It’s unbelievable, right? Like you said, he was shot in the head at point blank range. No one survives that!” She wrinkled her brows. “Usually, I mean. But apparently five percent of people who get shot in the head actually do survive.”

  “And he was one of those lucky ones,” I whispered. My hands were shaking. Why hadn’t the police said anything when I told them my story about West? They hadn’t given any sort of impression that they thought I might be making things up.

  I guess lies didn’t always smooth everything over, no matter the intention.

  Samara nodded. “Uh-huh. Some farmer found him on the edge of a road way out of the city. He thought he was dead, but then he realized he had a pulse. Long story short, he was in a coma for a couple of weeks, and he woke up a few days ago. The doctors are saying it’s an absolute miracle. He’s going to be fine, apart from the scar and the memory loss.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Memory loss?”

  Her lips tightened. “That’s what I meant when I said he’d be happy to learn what he did for you. He has no idea. It’s so sad. Apparently the hippo-something was damaged when he was shot.”

  “Hippocampus?” Alex interjected.

  Samara nodded again. “Yes, that. It’s horrible. I mean, he’s lucky to be alive, of course, but apparently he lost all his memories from the last two or three years. I went to visit him, because I heard what happened when I tried calling him to see how he was going in the search for you. Anyway, he had no idea who I was. His wife explained what happened. He’ll be able to make new memories for the most part, but the last few years are a blank slate.”

  “I see,” I murmured. “At least he’s going to be okay, though.”

  “I know, right? As horrible as it sounds, I’m so glad you saw what happened. Now everyone will know he actually found you, and what a hero he was for trying to get you all out of that awful place.”

  That’s the plan, I thought, my pulse steadying as I took several deep, calming breaths.

  “I still can’t believe you’re really home,” Samara said breathily a moment later, shaking her head as she looked down at me. “You’re going to be okay, right?”

  I smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I’m gonna be okay.”

  Samara wasn’t my only visitor that day. Cora Rossi came to see me as well, with a bag of homemade choc-chip cookies. A couple of hours after she left, I had yet another guest in my room; this one decidedly less welcome than my friend and neighbor.

  There was a shar
p rap on the door, and I looked up to see SAC Leonard Foley standing on the threshold. I swallowed hard and nodded for him to come in. As usual, he was wearing a grouchy, sour expression. He stood by my bed, coolly assessing me. One foot kept jiggling on the floor, and I realized he was somewhat nervous.

  “Good to see you, Celeste,” he finally said.

  “You too, sir,” I replied politely, still unsure why he was here.

  He rubbed his chin. “I wanted to say a few things to you. Firstly, I….” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to apologize.”

  “For what?” I raised my eyebrows. An apology from Foley was rarer than hen’s teeth.

  “I didn’t treat you well when you worked at the field office. I knew your father when he was alive, and to be frank, I couldn’t stand the man. Now I know I was right not to like him, considering what he was involved with, but I shouldn’t have let my feelings toward him affect the way I treated you. I was unfair. I thought the office wasn’t the right place for you, but you did a great job. There’s a reason you were the first pick, as much as I didn’t want to admit it before now.”

  I shook my head slowly. “Dwyer said Bryce was the first pick. He said I was only chosen for the internship because he wanted to keep more of an eye on me.”

  Foley’s nose wrinkled. “I suspect he only told you that to wear you down, the damn snake. You were the first pick for the internship. Bryce was the runner-up.”

  “Oh.”

  “I know you probably don’t want to come back after everything that’s happened, but if you ever do, there’s always a place for you.”

  “Thank you,” I murmured.

  He was silent for a moment. Then he cleared his throat and spoke up again. “I understand you told the police that Jason West found you a few weeks ago, and that’s why he was shot.”

  I gulped. “Yes.”