by Mercy Cortez
I sat up and looked at Draco, my smile proud.
"I should have killed him, I didn't want that for you,” he said, taking my hands in his, “I didn’t want blood on these hands." I moved to him and put a finger to his mouth.
"Rupert? That's your name?" He just nodded.
"You think you love me?" He nodded again.
We sat for a minute in silence when Jethro rushed through the door.
Chapter Thirty-Three - Draco
"We have to go. Now!" He rushed us out of the building.
"What, Jethro?"
"He has a whole load of people coming and I need you two dead when they get here." Jethro made no sense as he moved the car to the front of the Shell.
"Dead? You aren't touching her, you fucking hear me!" I raged.
"Oh calm down will you, Jesus what is she the crown jewels? I'm not going to hurt either of you, they just need to think you're both dead." he aimed at the petrol tank of the car and fired once, rupturing the tank, then again, the bullet striking the car and causing a spark that ignited the trickling petrol. The car went up in flames, and exploded within a few minutes, the flames spreading to the Shell. Jethro watched the dancing flames.
"I have no idea why I’m not writing you up, why I’m not going to request your transfer and have her killed for knowing too much, but I need you to do as I say. While you were in there – apparently playing happy families – I made a few calls. You need to get out of here. They’ll think you're dead. I have my contact arranging a new identity for both of you. I’m going to say I killed Rahul after he killed you, and then set the place on fire to remove the evidence. They won’t be happy, and more women will be put in danger because of your actions, but it was either this, or I kill you both, so I chose this. Now, leave. Run, and don't come back. Oh, and Draco, take care of her. She lost everything for you."
"Jethro, I... Thank you. I will do everything I can to protect her."
"I know you will, Draco. If you don't, I'll find you. I know how, and you'll wish Rahul was the scariest guy you met." He shook my hand. Aimee pulled him into a hug and whispered something in his ear to which he laughed. Aimee seemed okay, she had killed a man but she looked... free.
We ran from Jethro. We had no idea what was next or where we would go.
Epilogue, Part 1- The Truth Will Set You Free
Over a year later -
Rupert watched the wind blow through her hair. She would always be Aimee to him. He loved her so much and he would protect her with his life. She had tears falling from her eyes and a small smile on her mouth. Nicole, Nicole Gregory was her name now. He walked up to her and held her close to him.
They had managed to secure a form of a life. Aimee was finally with her form of a family and Draco believed she was happy. It wasn’t perfect but they needed one another.
"Baby girl, I think we have to go. We can come back, see Erin again next year, but you know we can’t stay here." Only Draco knew where Erin was buried and he finally brought her to her sisters resting place. She turned around and pushed her lips to his. She smiled, and he ran his thumb over her lip. He took her hand and they walked to their car.
**
One year ago today, her sister had been murdered by Draco's hand. He had slit her throat in order to protect her, and every year, the couple was going to come back to be with the girl’s sister at her grave.
Aimee was waiting. She was waiting until she was strong enough to do what she had planned to do so long ago. Deception wasn’t always easy and in the end, it was messy, and parts of her heart had been shattered, but she made a promise one night to her sister when she had sang her a song by Lana Del Rey, and even before that point. She may have loved the man who was now stroking her back and had given her a life she never dreamed possible, but it was all lies. She knew where her loyalties lied and he was already thought of as a dead man. She was waiting to be able to make him pay. She had killed one of them and she had one to go. One day she would do it and that day would come soon. He would pay for his sins. She wouldn’t rest until he did. In her head she recited a line she had once read and never forgotten ‘…suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid’.
She would see him in hell.
As Bri Maya Tiwari once said, "There is a brokenness out of which comes the unbroken; a shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable; a sorrow beyond all grief which leads to joy, and a fragility out of whose depths emerges strength. There is a hollow space too vast for words through which we pass with each loss, out of whose darkness we are sanctioned into being."
More of Draco and Aimee to come in the third book in the series; read below for an excerpt from book two in the abduct series.
Epilogue/Prologue, Part 2 - Jethro’s Journey
"We all know that serial killers do not have enemies, they have potential victims. Serial killers lack empathy. They disassociate with feelings, control them intelligently. Psychopaths have no conscience; they have no realm of understanding of morals and ethics. Do you know who said that, Agent Jethro?"
"Yes, me."
"Do you stand by that?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I?"
"Your agency sent you to me because they think you killed one civilian, one agent and one known criminal. That would make you a serial killer."
"It would, if it were true."
"What is true, Agent Jethro?"
"I should have killed them."
Jethro’s Journey (Abduct #2) - Coming Soon…
Love is a circular emotion that surrounds you like a hug. Or a noose.
Acknowledgements
I would like to say thank you to my fantastic readers, I am new to writing stories and especially anything as dark as this. I had so much encouragement from readers wanting more information and spreading the excitement. You are all amazing and I am very grateful.
To William, you know where my paradise will always be.
To my beta/ARC readers, you are pretty damn awesome!!!
If you want to contact me search for me on Goodreads, I love hearing from you.
Other books by this author…
The Never Series –
Never Ever After (Never #1)
Never Ever After: Angel (Never #2)
The Abduct Series –
Messy and Shattered (Abduct #1)
Jethro’s Journey (Abduct #2) (TBR)
(Working Title - TBC) I Am Nothing (Abduct #3) (TBR)
