Determined & Derailed (Storm Corp Book 1)

by Gracie Wilson

  I opened my eyes and saw Blake’s dead body lying across the room, causing my stomach to roll. Maxwell’s men started pulling the room apart and breaking furniture. They pulled out all the papers and started piling them in the corner of the room. I saw no sense to their madness until I saw them break apart some of the wooden easels I had some of my mother’s art displayed on. Then I felt the terror coming from the pit of my stomach, but my face remained stoic. I would not give him this, he could burn this place to the ground with me in it, but he would never get fear from me. “You are a very brave girl, but very stupid. Just like your parents and brother.”

  My heart stopped when he said my parents and I knew he saw my change in expression. “Yes, child, your father pissed off some people even higher than me and he had to pay for that. Clearly the Storm family isn’t as indestructible as you seem to think.” I was seeing red. This man may not have been the murderer of my parents, but he had ties, making him just as guilty. I needed no answers to my parents’ deaths, as I remembered the details. Their plane had some malfunction and my parents’ lawyers sued the aircraft makers, winning a large settlement. Not that it did anything but remain in the bank, but it made everyone feel at the time like they were doing something helpful for the children left behind. They were all gone now and no amount of anger I showed him would change their fate or the one waiting for me.

  “What did you do to Nolan?” I needed him to be okay and survive this. I had signed all the paperwork that in the event of my death, he’d inherit half the company and my assets with the other half going to Tory. The only thing neither of them would be getting was Cadenza. That was going to Paula. She didn’t realize it, but I made her partner with the paperwork she signed.

  “Nolan, well, that is a good question. I haven’t done anything to him, child.” Nolan was safe, thank God. Tory and Clark were safe. Jax was, however, still stuck in this building with Cohen and they would ultimately suffer the same fate as me.

  “Last chance, my child.” I looked at him and narrowed my eyes at him, hopefully conveying a look of total hate. I hated that my decision was going to have Jax and Cohen killed too, but I knew Jax would understand. He’d not give them anything either now that they killed his brother and mine. He’d only do it to save me and as much as I wanted to save him, I knew if I were in that closet I’d want him to not give Maxwell anything.

  “Burn in hell, asshole.” He looked disappointed.

  “That is your fate by choice, not mine, Alexis.” I laughed at him.

  “You may have gotten away with this today, but your day will come, Maxwell. I’ll save your seat in hell. My question is…can you weather the Storm? I can.” He looked stricken and I saw weakness. “You will never get what you want now and that means I won. There is no one else to give you what you want.” He tried to remain unaffected, but I saw him waver. “I’m hoping there are others who have gotten what I needed from you.” With that he went to grab a lighter and start the fire.

  “Baby, let me do it.” I cringed at her voice and looked at her. How did I think this woman was my friend? How did I not see through her?

  “Well, do it so we can go, I’ve spent enough time on this.” He looked annoyed and I knew then I’d won. He expected me to give in to his demands and the only way to win with a man like him was to not let him get what he wanted most. Something he couldn’t even buy, that would burn at him long past any physical tortures I could have come up with.

  “No, go, Maxwell baby. I have a bone to pick with her, so you can go. I’m going to watch this bitch burn.” I saw the lighter in her hand and I wanted to beat the fuck out of her. Once Maxwell had left, Lissa, if that was even her name, laughed and it came off more as a blood chilling cackle.

  “You’re not as smart as everyone thought you were. I had you fooled and your brother. I was sent in to be able to take you down if your brother didn’t do what we wanted. When that plan went to shit cause he up and died, I knew if I stuck around long enough I’d get another chance.” She spewed.

  “Just do it, bitch, I’ve lived a life loved…you kept going after my leftovers.” With that I saw her flick the lighter and tossed it toward some of the art and papers that had been tossed out here by Maxwell’s men. Flames erupted, causing smoke to fill the room and the fear was overwhelming.

  She leaned down and whispered in my ear, “You are one stupid bitch. Bonus was that I got to have my way with your man since mine was so focused on you. Payback’s a—” I brought my head all the way back and with full force propelled it forward, head butting her. She was caught off guard and she went backward, tripping over some of the debris. The mess that had accumulated from the men when they’d pulled apart the room to trash it earlier. I saw her head come to a crash against the desk and she went down without a sound. I didn’t know if she was dead or not and I didn’t care. I was tied up in a chair, the smoke was billowing out from the doorway and I knew I didn’t have much time. I remembered my cell phone was in my back pocket. I couldn’t see the screen. Luckily, I used this so often, I didn’t need to see it to use my speed dial.

  It continued to ring on speaker and I panicked at the constant ring. “You’ve reached Nolan Nathans. I can’t answer the phone right now, please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible... Beep” Oh God, Nolan, why weren’t you picking up? What was so important that you’ve been gone for several hours?

  “Nolan, help me, please. I’m trapped at my parents’ building at Oasis Towers and I’m tied up, please come. Maxwell and his men set the place on fire. Nolan, please hurry.”

  A crash caused me to drop the phone during my panic. I looked to see Cohen and Jax crashing through the door they were locked behind. When they saw the smoke and my situation, they both ran over and started undoing my arms and legs. Once I was free, I looked around the room.

  “Where’s Blake, Lexi?” I began to cry and told him what became of his brother at the hand of Maxwell and his men.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head and pulled me toward him in an embrace. “Don’t be sorry, Lexi, my brother made a choice when he decided to work for Maxwell.”

  “We have got to get out of here.” Cohen was looking at me like he wasn’t sure if I wanted to even hear him. Both he and Jax started pulling me together through the wreckage. When we came to the show room, they stopped.

  “I’m going to check those doors, stay here.” I nodded and watched as he made his way toward the door, but a loud crash caused the building to shake. The beam had come down in between Jax and us. My heart sunk and I felt the world go into slow motion. I started screaming and there was no doubt that I was coming apart at every seam. The screams coming from me were enough to know that I’d just lost someone I loved.

  “Jax…Jackson.”

  The silence was full of heartbreak and I began to crumple to the floor.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I heard coughing and I looked up from the puddle I had become on the floor. There were crashing sounds coming from every direction. The ceiling tiles were coming down and I heard Jax yelling. “Cohen, take her out the back. I will go get help. Just get her out of here now.” I felt like I’d taken my first breath. Jax was alive and he was getting out. I didn’t have time to think much more before Cohen was dragging me up to him and pulling me through the wreckage. I started to fight back, having a sudden need to get to Jax.

  “No, Cohen, I can’t leave Jax. We have to go back for him, there has to be another way to get to him.” There were tears finally finding their escape from behind my eyes.

  “Lexi, he’s going to get help and I’m going to get you out of here.” He continued to drag me behind him as the smoke and flames were coming out from every angle. My oasis, my safe place was crumbling around me. It wasn’t weathering the storm.

  He opened a door and pulled me inside with him, closing the door behind us, stopping the smoke from getting in. We were standing in one of my mom’s old art rooms that I hadn’t touc
hed or changed. There was no way out but a small window and the door we just came through. The flames had overtaken the building and there was no way out for us. We couldn’t go back out the door and I looked to Cohen, who was just staring at me.

  “Cohen, we’re trapped.” I looked around frantically, hoping I’d missed something, but I knew I hadn’t. At least Jax got out and I knew Nolan was safe. Tory and Clark too. Those bits of knowledge helped my panic raising within me stop briefly. I knew it would come to this, and Cohen, well, he signed on for this in his own way too.

  “Look at me, Lexi.” I tried to pull away from Cohen, but he brought my eyes to his with his hand on my face.

  “I know I lied to you. When I came here it was to make sure they didn’t do what they did to your brother, to anyone else. I thought I could get the code without you and get out. You were too smart for your own good. I came here to protect whoever was the next victim. I wanted out and you gave me the courage to do that. When you fooled Maxwell and took his money. I knew I had to protect you…because…because I loved you from the very first time I saw you, Lexi. You just walked in and crashed down all these fucking walls I’ve put up over my years. I never wanted to love you because I knew you were hurting and I wanted to make your world a better place. All I wanted was to keep you safe, but you just made it so damn hard for me, my stupid Lexi. You just had to be this force that couldn’t and wouldn’t be taken down.”

  I knew in this moment that on some level and at some point I began to love this man. Why had I been so blind? Even after finding out that he was working for Maxwell my body and heart still clung to him. How I could love three men, I had no idea, but I had no doubt that I did. I could have run to Jax and made him take me, but I still had trust for Cohen. I knew he did this to protect me, on some level. I believed him wholeheartedly when he told me this started out as a job and turned into something more, something overpowering. He fell in love with me and I with him. “I love you too, Cohen.”

  His eyes stared at mine with such sadness at the words coming from my lips that I was confused by his sullen expression. “Lexi, I know you do, just not in all the ways I need you to be. Thanks for saying it, though.” I was shattered at the words coming from him. How can he say it is not the way he needs? I pressed myself against him and smashing his lips with mine, showing him all those feelings I had for him. The love I did have, and hoping he would listen to this more than to my words. Our kiss was broken off then by the loud crashing that was coming from the door behind us. I knew the building was falling apart and the room had begun to fill with smoke. I began to panic, knowing we weren’t getting out of this alive.

  “Lexi, listen to me. Everything is going to be fine.” His hands were pressed on either side of my face and I felt the panic draining from me with his words, but my response was only a slight nod. He brought me over to the small window. He tried opening it, but it wouldn’t budge. He looked around the room and told me to turn around. When I did, I heard a smash and I turned to see he had broken the window with something from the room. He wrapped his hand in his sweater and cleared away all the glass that hand been left behind.

  He looked out the window and then looked back at me. “There’s a ledge on the side. I’m going to help you climb out, then I’ll hold you and you can drop down. It’s grassy down there, but it’s still going to be a rough jump.” I was hesitant.

  “I will be right behind you.” I saw something in his face that I couldn’t understand, but I let it go.

  “You go first, Cohen, then I’ll jump to you.”

  He was already shaking his head before I finished and I knew he was not going to agree. The room was completely filled with smoke and the door was burning. I gave him a hug and pushed myself up to the window. It was very small, but with Cohen’s help I found myself on the outside, holding for dear life to the ledge and his hands. He told me to start to hang down so he could drop me down on my feet. I saw that he barely was fitting out the window. My heart sunk and I knew that he’d lied to me. He wasn’t coming behind me. He wouldn’t fit through this window and I began to wail at the thoughts of what this all meant.

  “Cohen, no—” But he interrupted me and just stared into my eyes with tears in his.

  “You crawled right into my soul and took away all that darkness that I had boiling up in there. You saw through my damn darkness and right into my heart. You wormed your boney ass right in there and just took over. I wanted forever with you. You gave me my little forever with you. An eternity would never have been enough with you, but we got our little forever. You set me free, Lexi. You saved me.” He kissed me with such force I was lost in all the sensations, but had this overwhelming feeling of goodbye. My eyes sprung open and I saw by his expression that I was right. “I love you, Alexis Storm. Always.” Before I had the chance to say anything, I felt his hands let go of mine. The loss of him was instant and I was falling from the second story window to the ground below.

  I landed with a thump and I knew I’d probably broken my wrist from the impact. I got to my feet frantically and looked up to see Cohen just looking down at me with tears coming down his face, through the tiny window I’d just been pushed through. I’d never thought that Cohen’s body frame would be too large to get through and I should have because I barely made it through it.

  “Cohen!” I screamed and the pain in his eyes at my painful screams was devastating.

  “There was never anyone for me but you, Lexi,” he yelled. I heard a crash and I saw him fall from inside the window. The floor had collapsed and I was lost. Another loud noise and the first floor windows blew out, causing me to be thrown back into the building wall behind me. I felt my body give out and slowly the world around me went dark.

  * * *

  I began to stir and heard the sirens. “We have something over here.” I heard a man yell and I felt like I weighed a thousand pounds. I could barely keep my eyes open. “Cohen.” I cried.

  “Don’t let anyone back here until I assess the scene.” I heard screaming and vaguely remembered my name being called, but it wasn’t enough to make me move.

  “Lexi.” My brain began to kick in and I knew it was Jax.

  “Alexis. Stop, let me through. Get your hands off of me, she’s my daughter. I need to see her. Alexis.” My eyes broke open and I was groggy, but one word passed through.

  “Tory?” There was a man checking me over to make sure I was okay and he smiled down at me.

  “Just hang in there, sweetie, we are going to get you to a hospital.” I could still hear screaming and scuffling.

  “I want my dad. Tory…”

  He nodded his head. “You need to relax and conserve your energy.” He stood up and waved over some people. “Let her dad through, name’s Tory.”

  I heard footsteps running and in an instant I felt hands brush against my head. “Alexis” I opened my eyes and saw Tory looking down at me with tears in his eyes. “Thank God you’re okay. But where’s Cohen, Lexi?” I felt my heart drop and I didn’t know what to say.

  “Tory, I’m sorry… I couldn’t…I tried…” I was in shambles and the wails that came from me spoke of my heartbreak.

  “Shhh, sweetheart. I’m going to take care of everything, just relax.” I was now being picked up and put onto a stretcher when I heard another man talking.

  “We have three dead, two men and a woman.” I looked to Tory and he now understood about Cohen. I felt like the darkness was coming back to take me under. Something didn’t feel right. “Tory, you’ve been the best dad anyone could ask for, I love…you.” I began to fade into the darkness and the last thing I heard was the EMT yelling.

  “We’re losing her.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Beep…beep…beep…beep

  My eyes felt heavy and I had to force them apart. I glanced around and I saw that I was in a hospital room. I looked and saw that Tory was here asleep with his hand over mine, leaning on the bed next to me. His clothing was all wrinkled and he clearly hadn’
t shaved. I heard a door open and saw Clark come in. He gasped and ran over to the other side of the bed. The door shutting caused Tory to jump up and his eyes instantly glistened when he saw my eyes were open. He was speechless and just continued to stare at me. I tried to sit up, but Clark pushed me back down, shaking his head.

  “Lexi, no, stay put, you’ve had a few surgeries and you have to take it easy.” I was trying to soak in what Clark has just said.

  “Surgeries? What happened?”

  With my words, Tory seemed to snap out of his own head. “We almost lost you, Alexis, the fire and then you had internal bleeding and you were rushed into surgery. You stabilized, but something happened and you had to be brought back in. You almost died, Alexis, and you…you can’t ever do that to me again.” I saw there were tears streaming down Tory’s face and I looked to Clark and saw he also had tears.

  “The fire…Cohen…” It all came flooding back and I too had tears running down my cheeks as well.

  “He didn’t make it, Lexi, I’m so sorry.” I turned to Clark and nodded. I knew that as soon as I saw the floor collapse, but hearing it again didn’t make it any easier.