Blood Rose

by P. T. Michelle

  Calder meets my gaze, lines of concern around his mouth. “Tell us which exit he came through, Talia. We’ll head there now. Contact the guys and let them know to drive to that side of the building. Elijah, while Talia watches that exit for any sign of Celeste, can you check the earlier footage to see which car he paid more attention to? Whatever Matthews’s agenda is, it can’t be good. We need to get to Celeste before he figures out that she’s been spooked and then doubles back for her.”

  By the time Calder and I reach the entrance, we haven’t seen any sign of Celeste. We walk outside and the parking lot is quiet. He immediately calls Talia. “Any sign of her?”

  “Nothing yet, Calder. She hasn’t left the building.”

  “Matthews focused on a dark-blue sedan,” Elijah says. “I’m moving over to the DMV now to get the plate number.”

  A few seconds pass, then Elijah comes back on the phone. “Got the plate. It’s JLM2—”

  “Never mind,” Calder mutters. The sound of squealing tires draws our attention and we turn to see a dark-blue sedan speed out of the farthest exit. “She just drove out of the lot.”

  Glancing his way, I sigh my frustration. “She must’ve come out another part of the building. Hopefully Elijah can—”

  The click of a gun cocking behind us cuts my comment off.

  “Face me slowly,” a deep voice says.

  As we turn, Calder steps sideways, putting himself between the gun and me. A man with buzzed dark hair stands in the exit’s open doorway, his silencer-tipped handgun trained on Calder. His cold gaze flicks to Celeste’s taillights, then back to us.

  Calder pulls me farther behind him. “What do you want with her?”

  The guy exhales in a low chuckle. “My employer will be vindicated once he learns the truth. Seeing her—” he nods to indicate me “—while the other Cass is speeding away, pretty much seals the deal. Now that I have proof, I can do my job.”

  “Which is?” Calder asks in an even tone.

  Even though my heart is thumping so hard I can hear it, I poke my head around Calder’s shoulder in time to see the man subconsciously glance at his gun, then shrug nonchalantly. Matthews is supposed to take Celeste out?

  I tug lightly on Calder’s shirt when he tries to push me behind him once more. “But you didn’t actually see her driving that car, did you? We couldn’t. So how can you know for certain?”

  The man’s gaze snaps between Calder and me, irritation evident that I created doubt in his mind. He tightens his grip on his gun, his expression resolute. “I really can’t have you two following me or interfering with my plans—”

  Matthews suddenly crumples to the ground, his gun dropping to the pavement as he’s knocked out. Ben stands behind him, the butt of his handgun still held out. Quickly tucking his gun behind his back, he flashes a satisfied smile. “I never thought I’d have an excuse to coldcock someone who deserved it. That felt fucking great! You two okay?”

  Snorting, Calder shakes his head and retrieves his phone from his pocket. “Elijah, cut the cameras on this side of the building temporarily and erase our presence completely.”

  “Okay, done. I’ll turn them back on once you leave.”

  After Calder hangs up, he grabs the guy’s shirt and Ben helps him haul the unconscious man behind the bushes near the building. Picking up the guy’s gun, Calder empties the bullets and pockets them, then looks at Ben. “Text Talia and ask her to call hospital security and leave a tip about a suspicious looking man hanging around the entrance in this parking lot.” He kick’s the man’s booted foot, then puts the guy’s empty gun back in his hand just as Sebastian and Den pull up in the cars.

  “Where is Celeste? Did she get away?” Sebastian asks through his open window.

  I grimace and hope that Elijah checked on the DMV. “Please tell me that Elijah hacked into her GPS too?”

  “He did. Call Elijah once you’re in the car and he’ll give us directions to her location.” Sebastian nods to Ben. “We don’t have time to get your car, Ben. Ride with Cass and Calder. Den will ride with me for now.”

  We follow Celeste’s GPS back toward Beacon, except she keeps going, heading for the town of Fishkill.

  “She appears to have stopped on the outskirts of Fishkill in what looks like a forest not far from a creek,” Elijah says. “Bash is going to take another road and park his car where that road you’re on exits. That should stop her from leaving in the opposite direction.”

  “Got it,” Calder says. “Is there a way for you to block Celeste’s GPS signal, Elijah? I don’t want Matthews following her if the hospital security can’t secure him.”

  “If I block her signal, then we’ll be flying blind too if she somehow gets past you or Bash.”

  “Hopefully we’ll get to her before she moves again. Block it now. We can’t take a risk that Matthews will follow her here.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Calder

  I follow the road deep into the woods until I see Celeste’s car. Pulling up alongside the empty sedan, I put my car in Park and cut the engine. I retrieve my gun from the glove compartment and load a bullet in the chamber.

  “You’re not going to shoot her, are you?” Cass asks. “I can’t imagine she can get far. She’s sick and probably not physically able to outrun you. Between the three of us—”

  “You’re going to stay here with Ben,” I cut her off, my tone clipped.” Cass bristles, but before she can argue, I touch her jaw. “She almost killed you. I won’t give her the opportunity to hurt you again.”

  Her gaze searches mine, and she must see my unyielding determination, because she folds her arms and sighs. “You have no idea what you’ll be walking into. She’s familiar with these woods and you’re going in blind. Wait for Sebastian and Den to meet us. Then go with them.”

  The slightly worn path between mine and Celeste’s cars leads somewhere. Checking the safety on my gun, I shake my head. “I can’t wait. We don’t know if she has another way out of these woods. Tell Sebastian and Den to follow the path I took. They’re only a few minutes behind.”

  Cass grabs my forearm as I open the door. “Take Ben with you.”

  I eye her death grip on my arm, then shift my gaze to Ben, who’s looking at Cass with concern in his gaze. “Stay here with her. Understood?”

  Ben’s jaw flexes. “The safest place for Cass is with us while I back you up.” I start to argue with his stubborn hide, but he shakes his head. “Have you considered that cutting off Celeste’s GPS didn’t matter? If this Matthews guy is as good as he seems to be, why wouldn’t he have downloaded her entire GPS history? That would tell him where she’s been before, right? He might already know where we are.”

  The idea that Matthews could attack Cass and Ben while I’m looking for Celeste is chilling. I don’t ever want to take a life, but if it means protecting the ones I love at all costs, there’s no contest. I’m not sure if Ben has it in him to do the same. “Contradicting my orders doesn’t win you any points, Hemming,” I say on a low growl of annoyance.

  “You just hate that I might be right.” He shrugs and lowers his dark head to check his own gun. “The longer we sit here debating, Celeste is getting farther away.”

  “Or she could’ve already set herself up in a position to pick us off like ducks in a carnival game,” I grumble, then look at Cass. “Stay directly behind me at all times. Ben will shadow you. No peeking your head around until I tell you it’s clear. Got it?”

  When she quickly nods, I feel like I’ve been duped, but I can’t see another way to protect her while looking for Celeste. “Close your doors as quietly as possible, then come around and walk behind me.”

  Stepping onto the path, I hold my gun aloft and scan the trees’ thick green foliage while I wait for Cass and Ben to join me.

  Once they move into place behind me, I wait for Ben to pull his gun, then step forward, saying quietly, “Watch for roots and rocks. No talking. Tap my shoulder to get my attention.”


  I hate that we’re so out in the open, that Cass is even here at all, and that we don’t have back up, but Ben’s right…Celeste has a head start and we need to close that gap quickly. It makes no sense why she’d come out here, but she’s obviously not in her right mind since she tried to blow up the one person she could turn to for help. Has her illness made her delusional? Even as I trace the recently trampled underbrush and follow Celeste’s path, my internal tension grows the deeper into the woods we walk.

  Are we being led into a trap? Is this another one of Celeste’s twisted mind ploys?

  We turn a bend on the path, and I’m just about ready to tell Cass and Ben that we’re going back, when I see a clearing up ahead.

  I slow my steps and Cass and Ben match my movements. Glancing over my shoulder, I point to the clearing and indicate we’re going to approach slowly.

  I peer through the woods at the old brick building. We’ve apparently approached it from the backside, because the only door is small and there’s no driveway or road that I can see leading up to it.

  A couple of broken seesaws and a merry-go-round indicate a playground. Other than a busted window on the top floor that a bird just flew into, the abandoned building seems strangely protected against the encroaching nature around it. Underbrush has grown all the way up to the sidewalks, but the cement has kept the vines and weeds from completely overtaking the building.

  Cass tugs on my shirt, then whispers, “Why in the world did Celeste come to an abandoned school?”

  I shake my head. “No clue. Stay here with Ben. I’m going inside to find her.”

  When I start to walk forward, she doesn’t release her grip on my shirt. “Be careful!”

  With a silent nod to Ben to keep an eye out, I slowly walk toward the building out of sight from the windows, then peer into the closest one at an angle. I don’t see anyone about in the room, just a bunch of school desks. I duck past the bank of windows along the back of the building until I reach the door. Opening it as quietly as I can, I slip inside.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cass

  My whole body tenses the moment Calder disappears inside. After several minutes of silence, I turn and look at Ben. “You should go in there and back him up.”

  “He said to wait here.” Keeping his gaze trained on the door, he snorts, then winces in pain. “He’ll do more than break my nose if I let something happen to you.”

  “He’s in there alone.” I frown and gesture to the building. “Who knows what Celeste is doing in there.”

  The muscle in Ben’s jaw flexes. “I can’t—”

  A loud crash inside cuts him off and I jerk my gaze to him. “Go back him up.”

  Ben’s body tenses, but he shakes his head. “He said—”

  I grip his arm and hiss, “I’m going to kill you if something happens to him. Go help him—”

  Calder suddenly yells, “Go around front!”

  “Stay out of sight,” Ben tells me before bolting toward the front of the building.

  I move into the shadow of the trees, my gaze swinging between the front corner of the building that Ben disappeared around and the back door Calder walked into.

  Sudden movement out of the right side of the building draws my attention. Just then Celeste jumps down from a window and starts running toward the footpath. She looks tired, her hair pulled back in a messy, thin ponytail.

  “Stop.” I quickly move into place, intending to block her exit, but Celeste dodges around me with an agility that takes me completely by surprise.

  “Ugh!” I take off after her. “Stop running, Celeste.”

  Celeste doesn’t even look back; she tries to run faster. I take a deep breath and dive forward, grabbing her around the waist on my way down.

  We both hit the ground hard. I wheeze and try to recapture my breath while dirt and dry leaves float all around. With a strength I didn’t expect, Celeste growls, “Get out of my way, Cass. I have to leave!” and shoves me onto my side. Before she can scramble to her feet, I quickly roll back and knock her over.

  Crawling to my knees, I straddle her hips and grab her wrists to keep her from smacking me in the face. “Let me go!” she hisses and tries to buck me off, but she’s already lost so much energy, she looks so pale and her efforts barely move me at all.

  “Get off me. I have to go!”

  “You’re not going anywhere. You have a lot to answer for,” I snap back just as Calder and Ben come running into the entrance of the woods.

  Reaching down, Calder lifts me off Celeste, his tone low and strangely calm. “Step back for a minute and let Celeste breathe, Cass.”

  When Calder sets me down, I realize that Celeste sounded really out of breath. As Ben hauls her to her feet, I see just how emaciated and sickly she looks. She struggles against Ben’s hold and an edge of dark ink shows up just below her shirtsleeve.

  I step forward and shove her sleeve the rest of the way up, revealing my exact same raven tattoo, even down to the world Never along her left forearm. I quickly grab her other arm and look at that wrist. Same tattoo as mine.

  Cutting a freaked out look Calder’s away, I let my fury fly. “What the hell, Celeste. Is this why you tried to kill me? What did you think would happen? That you could fucking replace me?”

  Celeste tries to claw Ben’s hold off her arm. “He knows I’m alive now, and he’ll be coming for me.” She glances Ben’s way, her gaze suddenly pitiful and imploring. “Please let me go, Ben. I have to leave. I have to get—”

  “Explain yourself.” Calder steps around me and clamps a tight hold on Celeste’s shoulder. “Is Cass right?” His gaze narrows to angry slits. “You know you could never fool me, so what fucking purpose did trying to kill Cass serve, other than to feed your psycho-craziness?”

  Celeste struggles under both Ben and Calder’s hold, then sags in exhaustion. “I’m not crazy. I was sick and needed money. I used an old account that I forgot Phillip knew about. When I realized my mistake, I knew I had to fix it, so I borrowed Cass’s credit card info.”

  “You mean you stole from her,” Calder snaps and releases her to fold his arms.

  “How did stealing Cass’s credit fix my father thinking that you might be alive?” Ben demands, shaking Celeste slightly.

  “Ow, you’re hurting me.”

  Genuine pain fills her gaze and I say to him, “Release her, Ben. She’s not in any condition to go anywhere.”

  “Answer the question, Celeste.” Ben drops his hand, but doesn’t step away. “We’re waiting.”

  Pushing the loose strands that had fallen from her ponytail away from her face, Celeste takes a deep breath. “I needed to establish credit elsewhere that tied back to Cass. I knew Phillip would send someone to try to find me, so I had to make sure the path only led him to Cass.”

  Calder frowns. “Then you could’ve stopped with Cass’s credit. Why try to kill her?”

  She shakes her head slowly, her eyes slightly glazed over. “I knew Phillip would hire the best and that the person would keep digging, so I asked Cass to bring me the money. Having her come to Beacon solidified Cass’s connection to an address far from the city, which is why I made sure that anyone snooping through Cass’s credit would find that address as well.”

  “We knew you ordering that water delivery service seemed like a rookie move,” Calder mutters, his jaw muscle clenching.

  Celeste shifts her gaze to his, her back stiffening. “I never do anything without reason.” Her focus quickly slides to me, her eyebrows hiking. “Did you put the money in the lockbox and close it like I asked?”

  A sudden realization hits me and rage swiftly rebuilds all over again. “That’s why you instructed me to put the money in that box and close it. You knew it was fire retardant. Holy shit! You’ve truly fucking lost it, Celeste.”

  “I didn’t do it for me,” she snaps, her sudden teary gaze pinging between the three of us. “What would you do to save your child? How far would you go to keep her safe? My little gi
rl isn’t like Phillip or me. She’s sweet and innocent and should never have to see the horrible things I’ve seen or endured at her father’s hands. He would use her, abuse her, and never let her go. I knew he would keep hunting us, so I created a credit path to prove you were the one with the separate life in another town, which is what he would report to Phillip. The only thing left was to make sure the only person who knew the truth about me could never be forced to reveal it.”

  I had to die…to protect a non-existent child? Celeste’s delusions are far, far worse than we thought. Which is probably why we were led out here in the middle of godforsaken nowhere. I dart my gaze between Calder and Ben, completely shocked by her diabolical mind. If it hadn’t been for Ben, she would’ve succeeded.

  “You don’t have a child. There was nothing in your house. No toys. No highchair or baby seat. No sippy cups. Nothing. Did you lose your baby due to your illness? Maybe the stress you’re under being on your own or the chemo medicine you’re taking has confused you.”

  “No, you’re wrong!” Curling her hands into tight fists, Celeste’s eyes widen, an unhinged look of desperation in her gaze as she glances around us. Shifting from one foot to the other, she mutters, “I have to go.”

  Short of knocking her unconscious to get her back to the car, we need to calm her down. Calder tenses as I take a step closer and say in a much calmer tone than I feel, “Let us take you to the hospital where you can be evaluated, Celeste—”

  “Stop calling me that. I’m Cassandra Boswell,” she insists as she quickly steps forward and shoves me with all her might.

  I stumble back and lose my footing. Calder and Ben each grab a flailing arm and keep me from tumbling to the ground. The moment they pull me forward onto steady legs, Calder grits out, “Son of a bitch, she bolted.”