Shouldn’t Have Gone

by Mara Lynne

  “Oh, before I forget, Stag,” Will adds. “In those two days, something terrible has happened. You lost your baby!” Will pulls out a folded newspaper from his jacket and pitches it on the ground where Hunter’s dead eyes are directed at now. “Candice jumped off the building last night. Depression. Now, your child is gone, Stag! Pretty shocking news, eh?”

  The pages of the newspaper fall neatly on the ground, and a picture of a corpse covered in a white blanket is in the headlines. His eyes instantly search for clues that Will could be just lying again. The man loves to torment him with his lies.

  But then again, there it is, Candice’s name in the first paragraph of the article and a picture of her in her pre-pregnancy state just to prove her identity. Indeed, she is dead.

  Jumped off the building at two forty-five am, Wednesday.

  His son is dead.

  ***

  Will shuts the lights off the empty room where he keeps Hunter and climbs down the steel staircase of the fire exit when his phone rings.

  “Wasn’t expecting your call,” he says over the receiver while lighting his cigar. “How are you coping with things?”

  Will nods, slightly agreeing with the person on the other line.

  “I have kept my promise. I told you I’d help you. What are friends for?” Will says as he moves down the staircase down to the third floor. “He’s alive although he’s slightly injured. Don’t worry too much. I’ll keep him safe for you. Now, why don’t you take him away now? I have a life too, you know. Say, tonight, nine pm. Right! I’ll see you.”

  “No need to thank me. There’s no reason for that, Fawn.”

  Chapter 37 – A Dead Man’s Body

  “Who was it?”

  “Will,” Damien tells Victoria.

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea, Damien,” she says with her hands held together. “We’re not even sure if he’s got my son.”

  “He just confirmed it. He’s got him. We can only cross our fingers that he stays true to his words. As for now, he’s assuring Hunter’s complete safety.”

  “Oh, God! So it’s him! He did kidnap my son!”

  “That’s the only plausible thing, Victoria.”

  A ball of air escapes Victoria’s throat. She has been missing sleep for two days, and only tons of coffee kept her veins pumping. Now that Damien has assured her of Hunter’s whereabouts, Victoria thinks she could finally sleep tonight. But unless Hunter is out of Will’s hands, she cannot be too sure.

  “When are you going?”

  Damien tucks in his phone to his pocket and starts walking towards the door.

  “I need to contact the police. They must know about the plan. We’ll need back up. We don’t know how massive Will’s connections are now. He could be keeping more than a dozen men in his den,” he replies. “Will you spare me a room where my men and I could plan?”

  “Oh, yes! That is not a problem. Thank you so much for doing this, Damien.” She means it. “Now, I understand Hunter all the more. You two are inseparable, and…”

  Damien gives her a faint smile.

  “You be careful,” she says finally, choosing to keep for herself what she ought to say.

  “I will,” he said, turning on his heels, but one person suddenly occupies his thoughts. “How is Angel doing?”

  “Not very well. She barely eats anything. I had to call her parents in Colombia. They’re flying here first thing in the morning. I’m very worried for her. And to think that she is with a child! I don’t know what to do with her. Maybe you could talk some sense to her, Damien.”

  Maybe he should, he thought. Angel is not doing herself a favor. She’s not only endangering her health, but also her child.

  Her child. Her and Hunter’s.

  Yes. That’s right, Damien. Be happy. There’s no reason to sulk. You’ll be an uncle, he tells himself.

  “She’ll be alright,” he tells her instead. Damien has no courage to face her yet. Not now that she’s pregnant with his brother’s child. He might not say the right things or he might not talk at all. It’s better this way. “I leave her to you, Victoria.”

  When Damien has left to the parking space where his hired men are waiting for him, Victoria brings a tray of food into Angel’s room. The poor soul lay curled up on the bed, holding the covers around her. Her face was pressed against the pillow as the soft linen absorbs her tears of unease and fear.

  “Sweet Jesus, Angel,” Victoria starts. “You must eat something, at least a piece of bread.” She sits at the edge of the bed where Angel is facing.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Honey, you’re not alone now. You have a child in you.”

  Angel starts to cry again.

  Victoria wraps her arms around her and envelops her with the warmth and love she badly needs now.

  “Hush now, sweetie. Hunter will be back in no time. Damien promised to bring him back. As a matter of fact, he’s got a plan now. It’s a brilliant one but—”

  “What plan?”

  Victoria, quite taken aback by Angel’s sudden interest, replies in a hurry, “Damien was right about his hunch. Will’s got Hunter. I don’t know what on earth he needs from my son; Damien wouldn’t tell me. I presume it has something to do with… their past. Yesterday, he told me about his plan.”

  “Will?” That man! If it’s indeed Will, then it has to be about money. She remembers well what Hunter told her. Will wants his protection and influence. He will do anything to have the two brothers’ around him. What did Hunter do for Will to resort to kidnapping him? But kidnap without even asking for ransom? What does the man really want from Hunter?

  Victoria goes on. “It’s risky, but I believe he has planned it well; he even had Will believe him.”

  “What did he do?”

  “Damien tricked Will. He sought for his help, letting Will believe that he’s totally unaware of Will’s activities. That is how he confirmed where Hunter is. He has to do it to get into Will’s inner circle. He’s going there tonight to rescue his brother.”

  “Where is Damien now?” Angel jolts out of bed. Her abrupt movement surprises Victoria. The surge of energy that Angel just exhibited was beyond her imagination.

  Having left her bed and the comfort of the thick covers, Angel is beginning to feel a chill on her shoulders. But she shrugs off the cold and heads straight to the window.

  “Did he leave already?” she asks, sounding rather alarmed than worried.

  “Not yet. He is still in the house, talking to his men.”

  With a feverish haste, Angel picks up the satin robe that is hanging by the steel rack and heads out of her room barefooted.

  “Where are you going?” Victoria follows suit.

  “I’m going to talk to Damien. Which room is he in?”

  “But Angel!”

  Rushing down the stairs, Victoria can’t keep up with the young lady’s speed and has to pause to catch her breath. She’s not very young anymore.

  “He’s in the study room!” she mutters, breathing out and leaning her back against the railings of the grand staircase.

  Angel wastes no time. She dashes to the corridor to her left and turns right, stopping at the first door she finds. From the outside of the closed room, she hears muffled voices probably discussing the plan Victoria was talking about. Without thinking, she twists the door knob and opens the door wide open, diverting everyone’s attention to her.

  It took Damien less than a second to recognize her and asks everyone in the room to leave at once. As soon as they left, Angel enters.

  Damien rolls the piece of paper on the table inside a plastic canister and hangs its string over his shoulder.

  “I want to help,” she says as her eyes shifted from the canister to Damien’s surprised glare. “If there’s anything I can do, Damien, please let me.”

  Sighing, he answers, “What you can do, Angel, is to stay safe.”

  “I can’t stay here doing nothing!”

  “I will bring
Hunter back to you. I promise.” He cuts her off. Then his hooded gaze turns a bit regretful.

  Is he regretting his promise to keep Hunter safe? Something at the back of his head is telling him he should not have said it. That voice pierces his heart with words of jealousy and envy, but his conscience and his moral obligation compels him to shrug it off. He should not covet his brother’s love, let alone in these hard times. He should not use Angel’s moment of weakness to rake his claws around her neck. He should not for he loves her still and he loves her too much to see her suffer.

  “Damien, if I stay here without doing anything, I’d go crazy,” Her voice breaks, and her tears start flowing once more.

  “If anything happens to you, I won’t forgive myself.” He realizes what a dupe he was to say it. He has to put it right. “Hunter will not forgive me too. And I am positive if he were me, he would not let you do anything stupid. He would not want to see you there… you’re pregnant.” His gaze wanders elsewhere.

  Angel finally decides to give in.

  Damien is right. She has another life to protect now. A living thing is dwelling inside her, a piece of Hunter’s blood, body, soul, and love. And if something is to happen to this child, she will never forgive herself, the same way Hunter will not too. After all, she will always be accountable for her baby.

  The long silence between her and Damien makes her realize that indeed, she’s not alone now. He’s thinking of her welfare and the child, as always—this she has come to understand.

  “Your word, Damien,” she says, seeking his eyes. When she finds them, they feel cold and desolate.

  Is he afraid?

  He might be afraid of what Will could do to him. Or worse, he is afraid of not knowing what is bound to happen. It’s all too new for Angel to see Damien in fear. She has never seen him so afraid before.

  But Damien isn’t. He’s not afraid of Will or what could happen to him—he has just not moved on. He thought he could. He thought it won’t hurt anymore. It’s not that rescuing Hunter was a burden. Not at all. But why does Angel have to appear in front of him? Her mere presence makes him vulnerable. Her voice and her plea, crushes his very core.

  What he wants now is to leave the room and be free from her gaze.

  “Promise me you’ll get him back here. Promise me, Damien,” she says.

  “I promise,” he replies, walking past her.

  “Alive.”

  His legs freeze just a few inches from her, hearing her heave a deep breath. Something tells him that Angel is aware of another possibility.

  “I’ll do anything I can to keep him alive,” Damien tells her.

  “And you too.” Angel turns around and walks a few steps forward to face him. “Promise me you’ll come back safe.”

  His throat constricts and suddenly feels itchy as though thorns are pressed in there. His surprise keeps him speechless. With Angel looking up at him, those large doe eyes he once had the pleasure of staring into without restrictions are once again his.

  Even for a while, even just for now.

  ***

  He’s got one hour before the clock strikes nine. Discreetly driving into a narrow alleyway, in between two abandoned brick building, Damien parks his car. His men have patrolled two blocks away and are expected to surround the vicinity fifteen minutes before Damien walks into Will’s building and follow him inside if he and Hunter have not exited the forsaken building in ten minutes. The plan is perfectly designed. The police have been alerted and will be coming for back-up when things take different turn.

  From his car, the building looks peaceful as though no one is there. From where he is, he cannot even make out if Hunter is inside or if Will has tricked him again.

  No.

  Will could have not cheated on him this time. Cause if he did, all these—all the effort in devising the plan—will all go to waste. He just has to know that Hunter is inside the building. And if luck is on his side, he could take him away without bloodshed.

  Damien mounts off his car, sticking a gun under his belt. His men are probably keeping an eye in the area, but they couldn’t be too keen to watch any development, could they?

  As cautious as he could be, Damien saunters down the road to the fire exit stairs that travel all the way up to the fifth floor. In each floor, he checks whether Will is foolish enough to leave one open. He does not find one until he reaches the uppermost floor. As expected, Will’s haven is deprived of color and light and stinks of dust and broken pipes.

  There was silence, a long, deafening silence,

  If his hunch is right, Will is not in the building. Damien is yet to find out who his cronies are.

  With so little light coming through the fire exit, Damien finds his way to the air chamber that runs down to the ground floor where they could be keeping Hunter. Staircases only reach the fourth floor, so there’s no other way for Damien to get down.

  Clouds of dust erupt as he lands on the hard ground. The sound is loud, and so he hurries to pick up his gun in case someone catches him lurking. When he finds everything under control and the place empty, he slowly starts trudging away along the wooden crates, following the only source of light in the area.

  There, he sees a man all beaten up with his muscled torso dripping in blood and sweat. His arms are held up, nailed into a block of wood. He appears to be a dead man, but Damien refuses to believe what his eyes are seeing.

  “H-hunter…” He could not even pronounce his brother’s name. “Good Lord, what did he do to you?”

  His brother looks like he’s just an inch away from death. Tears threaten to burst out of his eyes as he watches the image of a fallen man.

  A pool of blood stains the cement floor and his pants. Hunter’s skin is almost ripped out of his body with those deep, huge cuts. They’re everywhere; Damien couldn’t see one unharmed patch.

  His tears erupt.

  Unforgivable.

  Will will get what he deserves. Damien will do everything to avenge his brother. He will even do worse than this.

  “Hunter, wake up…” Damien’s voice cracks. Only his willpower is pushing him to speak loudly. “Wake up. I’m here now.”

  Briskly tapping Hunter’s cheeks for a couple of seconds, he gets no response from him, and his worry grows.

  Hunter looks dead, but he can’t be.

  Chapter 38 – Love Stoned

  As a ball of air frees itself from the frozen body in his arms, Damien cautiously wrenches with his bare hands the large bronze nail pierced through Hunter. But the nail remains unmoved, and Hunter continues to daze in a state of unconsciousness. Not even the movement on Hunter’s chest that indicates a miraculous escape from death could lessen the worry stifling Damien’s ray of hope.

  Now, if only he could free his brother from this horror. Not until he’s got the nail out of him and is keeping him safe inside his car could he breathe.

  As his eyes scan the place for potential danger, he, by chance, catches a glimpse of a crowbar hidden safely behind the stack of crates. Quickly, he dashes to where it is and rushes back to his brother without even minding the noise he’s making with his feet.

  Hunter’s face makes some movement, as Damien pulls the nail out with the bar’s head. It takes him a few seconds and an ounce of strength to yank it out, and his brother collapses to the ground in a millisecond.

  “Hunter, we have to leave now,” Damien whispers.

  He helps him up to his back. While searching for the way out, Damien suddenly remembers the way he entered into the building. He can’t carry Hunter all the way up to the fifth floor. The main entrance would be jam-packed with Will’s men by now as it is only a couple of minutes before the clock hits nine. If they are to find him and Hunter, they’ll be dead meat in just a second.

  The main entrance starts to slide up, and he instantly looks for a safe place to hide. To his right, he finds a dark corner filled with dirty wooden crates and scurries there with a half-awake Hunter on his back.

  He hea
rs faint voices talking—too faint, he could hardly make something out. Damien could only imagine the surprise on Will’s face when he finds out about Hunter escaping. Damien just closes his eyes and listens to Will’s men talk and his brother’s heavy breathing. He puts Hunter down in a sitting position, resting his back against the wall. Now, he only needs to find out how he’ll keep himself and his brother alive after nine o’clock. Once Will realizes that he’s not showing up, only God knows what the vile man could do.

  Blood covers Hunter’s trunk and face, sticking his eyes closed. Damien knows Hunter will be useless in his current state. With the man’s crushed leg, he won’t be able to stand, much less run away.

  “Damien…”

  His face suddenly feels hot as he hears Hunter’s voice. “Hunter?”

  His brother moves to face him, using the muscles on his face to force his eyes open.

  “Keep your voice down,” he whispers to him as he hears the noise of the steel door closing.

  “Leave…” Hunter says. “Just leave…”

  “You are coming with me,” he responds steadfastly, reaching for Hunter’s hands.

  Hunter shakes his head.

  “We leave together, Hunter.”

  Hunter successfully opens his eyes, and Damien almost falls on his back, seeing the fresh blood running slowly his ducts and the outer edges. The blood around his eyes did not come from the outside wounds but definitely leaked from the inside. Hunter could very well be blind now.

  “Jesus… what did they do to you...?” Damien wonders how Hunter could stay calm and collected. The man could be screaming inside after realizing his eyes are dead, but he shows nothing but apathy towards his condition.

  “Damien…” His clasp tightens. “Please…” His voice breaks, and tears with streaks of blood start to pour out of his eyes. “Angel… for me… Angel…”