Where We Ended (Where We Began Duet Book 2)

by Nora Flite

  Time speeds up again. She hits the ground with a heavy thud, her body a foot away from my feet. Vahn drops the gun, completely shocked by the fact that he's shot his own sister.

  Laiken shoves around me, falling to her knees next to my mom. I hear her scream through the gag. It's gotten somewhat loose from all her chewing. She reaches up, ripping it free with her fingernails. “No! No, Annie, no!” she sobs, putting her bound hands on my mother's shoulder.

  “Fuck this!” Miles says, backing away. “This isn't what I signed up for.” I don't know that he's entered the helicopter until seconds later, when the engine whines, the blades spinning above us. The helicopter sends debris swirling into my vision. It mutes Laiken's cries as it takes off into the air. Then it's gone, and I still can't hear anything.

  My body isn't working right. I drop to the grass, cradling my mother's head. “No. No, this—this can't happen.”

  Vahn swings his head side to side like a pendulum. “I didn't mean to,” he mumbles. “I didn't think . . . why would she jump in front? Why . . . why would she help you? Why . . . why . . .”

  Laiken has managed to chew the knots off her wrists. “Save her,” she commands me, snatching the front of my shirt, giving me a shake. “Call an ambulance! There's still time!”

  I'm unable to believe that what I'm seeing is real. Annie clutches at where the blood is staining. She winces, eyes pinched shut from pain. “You can't die,” I say to her.

  “Dominic!” Laiken begs. I'm unable to tear my attention away from my mother. A hand digs into my pocket. Laiken yanks out my phone, standing and talking into it as she does.

  Distantly, I know I should be doing more than sitting in the grass, but I can't let go of my mom. I can't release her from my arms. I'm afraid that the second I do, she'll vanish forever. “You're going to be okay,” I say to her. I can hear Laiken talking insistently on the phone behind me. I'm grateful for how she's taken charge. “Laiken is calling for help right now. Just hang on.”

  In the distance, more voices swell. The guards probably heard the gunshots and are rushing our way. Annie opens her eyes and sees me. Her irises are normally pitch black and cold. I can't remember a time that she ever looked at me with regret. It makes her appear tormented. It stirs the deepest recesses of my heart.

  “Dominic,” she whispers.

  “Shh,” I say quickly. “Don't talk, save your strength, Mom.”

  “Mom,” she repeats me. She chuckles and winces from the motion. “I don't deserve to be called that.”

  “Stop, please.”

  Her eyes drifted aside. I follow them, realizing she's looking at Laiken in the distance. “She told me that she loved you in a way I never had. That she pitied me.” My mom inhales sharply, like talking takes all her effort, but she keeps talking. “I was so miserable after Laiken said that. I didn't want to believe that I'd wasted all these years of my life waiting around for a man that never loved me, when I could have been spending those moments loving my own child.”

  She reaches up and touches my jaw. Her fingers come away wet with my own tears. “You don't have to regret anything,” I whisper thickly.

  “I do.” Her smile is sad and tender at once. “But if the last thing I did with my life was save yours, Dominic, maybe it'll make up for some of my sins.”

  “Don't talk like you won't have time to fix things later.”

  “I told you, I wasted too much time waiting for later.” Her eyes shut, her lashes touching her cheeks. “I love you, son.”

  I choke on my own words. “I love you too, Mom.”

  Her smile remains, but the rest of her is gone.

  There are sirens all around me. I can barely hear them over my own shouts. I grasp my mother, holding her to my chest, and when multiple people try to pry me away, I fight them off. I don't want to let go of her. She's my mother, dammit! She's not supposed to die! Not now.

  I don't stop fighting until a new set of hands grabs my face.

  Laiken.

  She's crying too, and when I see that, I ease up enough so that the paramedics can take my mother away on a stretcher. Laiken gives a great sob, collapsing against me. We fall on the grass, neither of us able to stand anymore.

  I want to be strong for her.

  I want to make everything right.

  I've lost so much that I can't be anything more than a broken man in the arms of the woman he loves.

  - Chapter 26 -

  Laiken

  I'm incredibly exhausted, but I can't keep still in the tiny room the police have put me in. They talked to me for several minutes after I arrived. I kept repeating the same things to them; asking them where Dominic was, telling them about my sister tied up in the cabin.

  They gave me food, water, and a blanket. I clasp it around myself now as I walk from one end of the room to the next. I wonder if they're watching me through some camera. I glanced around at the corners, spotting the obvious camera high in one of them. “Let me out of here!” I shout. “I didn't do anything wrong! I'm the fucking victim!”

  I want Dominic,

  my sister, some sort of friendly face.

  I sway in place and drop into the metal folding chair. I can't stay on my feet any longer. I haven't slept since Vahn kidnapped me—unless you count being unconscious from head trauma. The cops had a nurse help me with my injuries, which were luckily very minor. The swelling around my eye where he hit me with the gun seemed worse than it was.

  Reaching up, I flinch as I touch the tender spot. But I don't have the right to feel badly for myself. Other people have suffered more than I have today.

  Oh, Dominic. I drop my head into my hands. I keep reliving the scene of Annie leaping in front of her son, saving him from the bullet. She rescued both of us. It kills me that the paramedics couldn't save her, too.

  I saw her on a stretcher before the police put me in the back of one of their cruisers. The estate was a mess of flashing red and blue lights. Security guards and staff were being interviewed. I can only imagine what everyone had to say.

  The door opens loudly. I jump up, ready to yell at the police officer, expecting round three of interviews. The urge to fight melts when I see Dominic standing in the doorway. The officer behind him gives me a look. I'm not sure what it means and I don't even care.

  “Dominic!” I cry, rushing forward. I barely make it two steps before he crashes into me. He's always been incredibly fast when he wants to be.

  He crushes me against him, hugging me so hard that all the air leaves my body. “Laiken!” He grabs my face, checking me over. He strokes my skin near my injury then traces the fringe of my short hair. There's rage in his eyes; he wants to kill someone and I know who. “Vahn did this, didn't he?”

  “Not this,” I respond, grazing my dark hair. “This is all me.”

  Dominic wrinkles his brow then he shakes his head and hugs me again. We lean against each other, our bodies, our existence, the only thing strong enough to support us after what we've endured.

  “I was so worried when I saw you in the back of the helicopter,” he says, gripping me tighter, kissing my cheek then my mouth. He doesn't care that the officer is watching us. “Then Vahn pulled out his gun and I just . . . I don't know what I would have done if he'd . . .”

  “Dominic, I love you. I'm so glad you're okay.” I stop myself, my tongue freezing against the back of my teeth. “Your mother. I'm so sorry.”

  His forehead presses on mine. “It's because of her that we're alive,” he whispers.

  My sister once asked me a question: if Annie had helped me after what she'd tried to do to me with Franklin, would I forgive her?

  I know the answer now.

  For all the bad things that Annie has ever done, she's been cleansed with her sacrifice.

  “What happens next?” I ask him.

  He glances at the police officer who is pointedly staring down the hall. “They arrested Vahn at the scene, and they went after Miles. I'm pretty sure they're going to catch him, a heli
copter won't be hard to track.”

  I nod as my hope begins to grow. “I told them that Vahn attacked me and Kara. I also told them that your parents kidnapped my family, kept us hostage all these years.” I remember the look of disbelief on one of the police officer's face when they heard that. “Dominic, everyone who put us in danger is going to end up behind bars.” My heart does a tiny dance. I wait for him to smile, to show some joy. “Are you hearing me? The things keeping us apart are gone.”

  He clasps my shoulders. His black eyes are intensely serious. “It's not that simple.”

  “Yes it is. We're free now. We can both—”

  “No. Listen, the police are going to investigate my family and our company. There's a very real chance that once they start digging, I'm going to be painted with the same corrupted brush as them.”

  “What are you saying? That they'll charge you with something? Dominic, you didn't do anything wrong!”

  “Didn't I?” He looks into my eyes, his mouth a hard line. “Laiken, I took part in keeping you captive. I was a willing participant. The reality is I've been involved in too many awful things to get away clean. A man like me doesn't deserve a happily ever after.”

  “Quit saying things like that! I'm not going to stand trial against you,” I scoff. “Neither is Kara.”

  “Sure she will. She hates me.”

  “She doesn't! Not since I told her . . .” I trail off and look away. “Dominic, I'm sorry. I told her the truth about you and Bernard. I know it wasn't my place, but I couldn't stand hearing her tear you down over and over.”

  His eyebrows inch upwards. “Even if she forgives me, I'll still face the illegal things our banks did that I was a party to. There's too much to hang me with. Federal crimes are no joke.”

  I try to pull away. His hands keep me where I am. “This is unfair,” I whisper. “After everything, how can it end this way?” I wrap my arms around his neck, standing on my toes to kiss him. I don't know if I'll get another chance. This could be it. We’re out of time.

  The officer clears his throat. “Got someone here to talk to you both.”

  Burying my face in Dominic's shirt, I hold him more firmly. “I don't want to talk to anyone else. I'm done talking.” I'm just exhausted.

  Dominic's fingers shift onto mine. Gently, he guides me away from him, letting me see his hard profile. His eyebrows are cutting low over his eyes, like he's pissed about something. Following his line of sight, I look at who's in the doorway.

  The person who stands in there with flickering lights bouncing off of his short brunette hair is someone I never expected to see again. “Dad?” I whisper.

  His smile doesn't reach his eyes. “Hi, Lolly.”

  I release Dominic, taking one step, then another, towards my father. I stop just before I can touch him—I remind myself about the things he's allowed to happen to me. It's too easy to forget when I'm staring at his kind eyes. “Why are you here?” I ask warily.

  He moves his lips, then freezes. “Your hair...” He walks towards me, but I retreat. I see the pain flash through his eyes. “You're angry with me. I don't blame you. You must think so many terrible things about me.”

  “Angry? Like there was a miscommunication or something? You abandoned me!”

  “I never meant to,” he says, shaking his head. “I wasn't supposed to leave you behind, that wasn't my plan.”

  I flip my hands palm-side up, laughing humorlessly. “I had to find your damn message under a bridge to get a hint of your damn excuse for a plan.”

  He winces like I elbowed him in the guts. “Let me explain that. I didn't put the message there myself, there were people searching the cabin for me the second I left the Complex.”

  “Then who wrote it?”

  “I sent my knife to your mother's old midwife. I was sure Silas would send you looking for me. I needed a way to tell you to stay on the estate. Then I'd know where you were so I could try and rescue you again and... and I know it sounds insane when I say it now. I should have told you more when I had the chance. I was doing my best to keep you from slipping things to the wrong ears.”

  I reel back in shock. “I'm your daughter! I wouldn't tell anyone anything!”

  “Not by choice,” he says, placing a hand to his forehead. “I was worried they'd force it out of you. It would be worse for you if you knew too much.”

  I hesitate, considering his words, eyeing Dominic briefly. Maybe my dad had the right idea. I was interrogated, after all.

  “But you should know everything now,” he says earnestly. “The night I escaped, I was supposed to go to the estate. One of the guards was going to slip you out to meet me. No one would look twice at another black town car leaving the property. But the warning went up faster than I expected, everyone knew I'd gotten out of the Complex. Things didn't line up so I had to abandon your rescue to keep your mother and Dean safe.”

  “Which guard?” I ask curiously. I'd thought there were spies on the estate, but not ones working for my father.

  “A young man named Theo.”

  Of course! Theo was watching me that evening in the sunroom. I think back to how he seemed so surprised when the code orange came over the walkie-talkie. It wasn't because he didn't know what it meant, but because he'd been preparing to slip me away in the night. He was baffled the plan had fallen apart.

  My insides knot up as I remember something else—how he was forced to drive me to Franklin's. Had he hated himself for that? Wished he'd driven me away sooner? Wanted to step in and stop that fucked up situation, but was too afraid of revealing himself as my ally?

  His little salute to me as I left the estate makes sense, now.

  “I still don't understand what you're doing here,” I say, some of the fight leaving my muscles.

  He studies the gray walls between his fingers that are still spread across his brow. “Two days ago, I turned myself in to the FBI. I came clean about everything.”

  “What?” Dominic cuts in. “Why would you do that?”

  Letting his hand drop lifelessly to his hip, my father's eyes swirl with shame. “I ran out of ideas on how to fix this. How could I continue to leave my daughters to suffer, choosing some half-life with endless money over their freedom? I struck a deal, told the FBI everything I'd done with Bradley Banks. All the international and foreign transactions, all the hacking, everything that Silas and his shareholders were involved in. In exchange, I'll serve a light six years instead of fifty.”

  “You gave the FBI info on everyone?” Dominic asks carefully.

  Dad glances at the bigger man. “Only the people who were truly responsible.”

  His eyes widen. I cover my mouth, holding my breath, because this is too good to be true. My father kept Dominic out of his talks with the FBI. Then then that means. . .

  “Joseph,” he whispers, his head lowering. “Thank you. You didn't have to go that far for me.”

  “But I did. Dominic, I'm sorry I used your goodwill against you. The Faith project was a masterpiece, really well crafted. You're a talented young man.” His lips turn down at the edges. “It's a shame your parents never recognized that.” He looks back to me. “I was put under surveillance while the Feds corroborated my info. They were going to move in on Silas's company, and the estate, tomorrow, but then this all happened first, apparently.”

  “Apparently?” A foul mood swirls through me. “Apparently,” I say again, chewing the word, letting it fill my mouth and linger. “You're talking like our lives were just another data point you thought you could manipulate for your convenience.”

  “Lolly—”

  “No. You don't get to call me that.” I think about the message under the bridge and cringe. Heat grows behind my eyeballs. “You don't get to walk in here and pretend you had everything under control. You didn't! You don't know all the things that happened to me. . . and to Kara.”

  There wasn't much happiness in his face before. Only a cautious, hopeful energy, but that fades away as he listens to
me speak. “You're right. I'm so sorry for letting this happen. All of this terribleness was my fault from the beginning.”

  “You could have told me so many things, and you just didn't. Like your history with Annie. Or Kara being taken away, made to go live with Dominic's uncle. I had no idea she wasn't with you.” A thought slams into me. “Did you even visit her while she was living there?”

  The grooves around his mouth and temples grow. I marvel at how he's aging in front of me, it calls back the memory of him falling apart in the rain. “Of course I did. I saw you both as much as I was allowed. I worked until my fingers cramped, desperate to please Annie and Silas enough that they'd reward me with a glimpse of my own daughters.” There's anger crackling below his surface. “I know I messed up. I know I made poor decisions. But the brief moments I spent with you and Kara were Heaven to me.”

  My voice comes out hoarse. “I thought. . . I was sure you'd left us in the past, moving onto a whole new life without us in it.”

  He comes forward, and I don't retreat that time. “I'd never do that. But I should have given myself up sooner. My biggest sin is letting money lure me so deep that I was tempted to do monstrous things. I should have accepted my mistakes and faced my judgment years ago. Instead I ran and ran, so sure I could have it all. Money. . . power. . . family. I wanted everything.”

  His hands hover by his sides. He's itching to touch me. He's afraid to breach the space between us. “You want me to accept your apology so you can stop feeling guilty,” I whisper. My mind races with memory upon memory of my fond childhood. Shadowing the edges, creeping in, is the moment I felt the black grief of believing my own father had abandoned me.

  All children think their parents are perfect.

  This man wasn't even close.

  I try to scan my father's face for proof he genuinely feels ashamed, but instead. . . my attention rests on Dominic. They're so similar, I realize with a start. Both men devoted their time to doing what they thought was for the best. Both are flawed. Both of them love me.