by Evie Harper
Two big hands grab my arms, and pull me forward. My heart violently beats against my chest as I watch Marco fall to the ground with a thump.
"Lily," I hear, but all I can do is keep screaming and looking at Marco's half blown-off head.
I'm turned around and forced to look up at Jake.
"Lily," he says louder this time. I stop screaming and try to swallow past my now sore throat.
I swing my head around to the broken window and see a man in the same gear as Jake with a sniper rifle, and he's grinning. Grinning!
I wiggle out of Jake's hands and sink to my knees, gagging. "Get me a bucket," Jake shouts to someone. I have blood and brains in my hair! Oh, God, I'm going to go all girly and faint.
"Lil, baby, please listen to what I'm saying." I'm blowing out big breathes, desperately trying to keep the vomit down.
"I need you to calm down so I can see why you're bleeding."
More deep breaths and I manage to quickly say, "Glass. Cuts."
Jake picks me up and lays me down on the couch my back to the seat cushions with my legs straight up in the air laying on the back of the couch.
I start feeling better almost straight away, Jake lifts my shirt, "Fuck," he hisses.
I pop my head up to see what he's cursing at and see my stomach covered in blood with small glass pieces stuck inside me.
"We need to get you to the hospital."
He checks my hands and hisses again, “Shit. Fucker is lucky he’s already dead," Jake growls.
Laying upside down, I see Emily run up behind Jake. She looks shocked and pale.
"Jake," her voice is small and anxious.
Jake spins around rapidly and looks up at Emily. He stays frozen for only a second before he stands, grabs her, and picks her up, hugging her tightly.
She wraps her arms around his neck sobbing.
"Em," I hear Jake softly say, "I didn't think this moment would ever come." His voice is thick and strangled.
He places her down on her feet, and they just stare at each other for a moment.
A man, Redwolf, I think, steps forward, drops his gear to the ground, and stares at her with utter shock on his face.
"Emily," he breathes out.
Emily searches for the voice. Finding the dark blond-haired man, her lips tremble, and she starts falling to the ground. The man catches her and they grip each other tightly. The agony and torment from their sobs echoes around the room. Picking Emily up, the man carries her out of the room.
Jake watches the man walk away with his sister, and then with purposeful strides gets to me, picks me up and carries me through the house.
"I feel like I just watched Romeo and Juliet reunite," I comment.
Jake laughs and says, "Yeah, well that's pretty damn close."
We exit the house and a black SUV speeds up the driveway. It brakes suddenly and clouds of dirt floats into the air.
"Come on, Lil. Time to get you to the hospital. Your cuts have stopped bleeding and most don’t look too deep. But there is one I’m worried about, and I don't want to pull the glass out without you having something for the pain," Jake explains.
“What about the other women? We need to help them.” I insist. They need to go home too.
Jake swoops down and kisses my lips long and hard. “They are safe now Lil, my men will take care of them.” I nod, feeling warm and safe in his arms.
The man, who first entered the lounge area when Marco had me, walks over to us and looks to Jake. “Orders?” he asks.
"I’m taking Lil to the hospital. Kanye and Em will come with us. First take Em to find the girls and explain to them that you and Dom will get them out of here safely. Then bag up Marco and burn the building to the ground. Then meet up with Joseph and his team at the manor and finish the mission. Report to me when completed. We’ll meet up at the hospital in civilian gear," Jake instructs. The man nods and walks away.
Joseph and his team?
The car door opens and Jake takes a seat in the back of the SUV with me still in his arms. He holds me carefully, trying not to touch my stomach or hands.
Jake checks my injuries again.
“I’m okay, Jake,” I assure him.
“I know, baby. I’m just making sure I didn’t miss anything.”
I smile, loving the way he’s taking care of me.
After about ten minutes, I hear car doors open and close, and then the car starts driving and Jake demands, "Drive fast."
I tuck my body further into his, and with Jake's lips kissing my temple where the gun was pointed and his powerful body and warm hands around me, I don't even feel the pain at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I forgive you.
I hear a window being opened and a chair squeaking. Slowly opening my eyes, a handsome man with short, dark blond-hair looks down at me with a large cheeky grin.
I rasp out, "Redwolf?"
He laughs and says, "You can call me Kanye, sweet cheeks."
I remember arriving at the hospital, Jake carrying me inside and demanding a doctor. I started whimpering as a stinging sensation ran around my tummy. With the adrenalin wearing off, I was beginning to feel all the glass that had pierced my skin. I felt a prick in my arm and I must have drifted off to sleep.
The soft material on my body tells me I’m dressed in a hospital gown. I try to sit up, but struggle, realising there are bandages around my hands. Kanye helps me, and I clench my teeth at the stinging sensation on my stomach.
"Yeah, careful there. You got some stitches."
I look down through my hospital gown to find my body completely naked, and one bandage stuck to the left side of my stomach. I can see other cuts but nothing serious.
"Jake's gone out to call his parents with Em. He'll be back soon." He says her name so adoringly. I remember him with Emily. It’s hard to explain what I watched as he embraced her, but I know they both must love each other very much.
Kanye walks to the side table and starts pouring a cup of water. I take a quiet moment to look him over. He's wearing jeans and a grey thermal shirt. He’s the same height as Jake, and it’s obvious he's just as fit, but Kanye has a more handsome look about him than a powerful one like Jake. He hands me the water, and I drink the whole thing. He refills it for me without me even having to ask.
"So how long have you known Jake and Emily?'' His face lights up at their names. It's easy to see they mean a lot to him.
"Since Jake and I were in first grade, we both threw out our strawberry yogurt, been best friends ever since." He winks at me, and I giggle. This guy is adorable.
Still grinning at me, he says, "Jake is going to be pissed when he finds out you woke up to me and not him," he laughs. "I can't wait to tell him." Warmth floods me, and I smile at his playful manner with Jake.
Music starts playing from somewhere, and Kanye's face breaks out into an enormous grin. He pulls his phone from his back pocket. The song playing is ‘Bad Boys’.
Kanye shows me the phone and says, "This is Jake. He’ll be checking up on you. He only left ten minutes ago."
I can’t help but laugh at his ringtone for Jake. I also try to shake my head at the same time, trying to tell him not to tell Jake I'm awake. I want him to have his moment with Emily and his parents.
"Hey Jakey, Em good?" Kanye nods, then a frown appears. It disappears as he looks down at me and he grins massively. "Hmm...let me think. If she was still asleep, would I know she has gorgeous green eyes and a stunning smile?"
A boisterous laugh bursts from Kanye, and he pulls the phone from his ear. "He hung up on me. My guess is he's running through the hospital right now. You probably have about two minutes of peace left for the rest of your life."
A massive smile breaks out on my face thinking about Jake getting here any minute. Then I frown when I remember the blood and brains in my hair. My bandaged hands fly up to my hair. It's wet but it feels clean.
Kanye must see my confusion. "They washed your hair while you were getting y
our stitches.
"Thank God. That was the most disgusting thing that could ever happen to any living person."
Kanye chuckles but stops immediately when we both see the door to the room swing open.
Jake enters, his strides purposeful and his eyes trained on mine. "Out," he growls. Kanye laughs as he leaves the room.
Jake walks up to me, his breathing heavy, obviously from his run. He cups my cheeks and I lick my lips, dying to have him kiss me. He gently strokes my now wet lips with his thumb, and then his thumb is gone. His lips are on mine. A possessive, punishing kiss filled with so much love my heart almost explodes.
Jake releases me from the kiss and places his forehead to mine, my bandaged hands hanging onto his wrists.
Still breathing heavily, Jake says, "You scared me so fucking much, baby. When I saw that gun to your head, I thought my world was going to end right in front of me."
"It’s all okay now, Jake. You saved me and your sister. You did it."
Jake takes my mouth again, this time softly with gentle strokes of his tongue.
A memory flutters to the front of my mind and my blood starts to heat. I pull away from the kiss. "You grinned at me while a man had a gun to my head!" I almost shout.
Jake grins and his eyes soften. "I had to make a decision. I didn't want to shoot Marco from front on. There were too many ways that could fail and you would get hurt. Even if you didn't tilt your head, you would have been fine, but I knew Marco's head would fly forward into yours, and I didn't want you hurt at all. So I took a chance, and you did what I thought you would do. You tilted your head, confused and pissed at me."
"I got blood and brains in my hair, Jake. How was that not hurting me?" I whine. His laughter echoes through the room, and my whiny mood disappears at hearing it. I will never get tired of hearing that.
Jake lifts my whole body effortlessly and moves me over on the big hospital bed. He scoots in beside me and turns me on my side, wrapping his arm around my body, he hugs me close to him.
I lean up on my elbow to find out something from Jake, something I want to know right now. "Jake, what happened to Natalia, Cho, Megan, Beth, and the other slave girls?"
Jake's expression grows thoughtful. "They're free, Lil. Every single one of the girls are being taken home as we speak."
"What about the guards?" I need to know every single one of those bastards is locked up or dead.
"The guards at Marco's private house are dead. They were trained to fight to the death, and none of them were ever going to surrender. And the slave house, not many made it out alive. The ones who did have gone into custody. Although, being known as a guard for Marco, they won't last long. A lot of important people will want to keep their secrets, just that way, secret. They won't know just how secretive Marco was and that all of their secrets also died with Marco."
I nod, comfortable with knowing most of the evil men from the empire are dead or will be soon. “And did I hear you say Joseph and his team earlier?” I want to know if it’s the same Joseph.
"Yes, Marco’s son Joseph also helped take the mansion, and he burned it down, with Marco inside."
I gasp, "Joseph burned his dead father in the house."
He nodded. "It's fitting; he burned where so many others died at his orders."
"I didn't know Joseph was helping you?" I state, shocked Joseph would help Jake, but then I didn't know Joseph at all.
"Joseph has known I was undercover for just over a year now. He despised his father and I took a chance and told him who I was and what I was doing. Unfortunately, Joseph knew even less than me. Marco didn't even tell his own son where his private house was. If Joseph found out anything regarding locations, he would always pass the information to me and my team would look into it, but it always lead to dead ends. Marco was a smart man. He knew not to leave any trace he was there or where he was going.
"Unfortunately, Joseph helping me created a rift between him and Alexa. She wanted to leave a long time ago, but Joseph refused until we successfully found Em. Joseph tried to get Alexa to go without him. He had ways of hiding her from his father, but she refused to hide away and let Marco punish Joseph for her disloyalty." Jake looks down to the end of the bed and continues to talk, "I always felt sorry that she was trapped there because of me. I understood why she needed to go. She saw every new slave when they arrived, when they got beatings, and when they died.”
“Seeing all that and not being able to do anything must have been killing her," I add, feeling bad at remembering how I treated her.
Jake continues, "The day Joseph killed Mick, I knew his argument with Marco was serious, and this time he was going to flee. Joseph came to me later that day and told me he was disappearing with Alexa and his mother. I understood and wished him well. Unfortunately, when he went to collect Alexa to disappear, she was already gone. He has been looking for her ever since, only stopping to help take the mansion."
I stare up at Jake and ask, "Will he keep looking?"
Jake laughs a deep laugh. "Hell yes, the one reason Joseph didn't push her to hide away in a different country is because he couldn't bear to be away from her. Not knowing where she is now is taking its toll on him. The boys said he’s in bad shape. He even beat his dead father before leaving him to the fire. The boys had to pull him off Marco before he almost burned alive himself. He's on the edge, and I think the only thing that will pull him back is finding Alexa."
My mind torn, I feel for a man who is clearly in pain, but I still need to come to terms with the fact Joseph was one of the good guys.
Jake brings me out of my thoughts with a serious tone, "Lil, we need to talk."
My eyes find his and my body tenses when I see fear there. He finally finds his courage and begins speaking, "I want to move forward with you, Lil, with us. I want a life with you." He pauses before continuing, "But I understand if you can't do that. I lied and trapped you. I don't know how you can ever forgive me for not saving Sasha in time." His voice comes out strangled, and he coughs to clear his throat. "I know I hurt you, Lil, but I promise you, from now on, there is nothing left but the real me. I want to show you who that is. I want to give you everything you deserve.”
He's begging me to give him a chance. My body relaxes, and I sit up and stare into the eyes of the man I love.
"Jake, I want a life with you too, and I forgive you and so would Sasha. Nothing is more important than your family. I did the same. I risked other people's lives to get Sash out. I understand why you did what you did, all of it. And you succeeded: you saved your little sister." I pause to try to get my words out pass the lump in my throat, with tears threatening to spill. "But I didn't. I failed my sister, but I know Sash; she knew everything I did was for her. I can live knowing my baby sister died knowing I loved her more than life itself, and I can forgive myself because I know she would forgive me too."
Jake wraps me in his arms and lays us down together. I cry into his chest for what feels like hours. He strokes my hair and kisses my forehead. My crying slows to just hiccupping. Then my eyes drop and I sleepily ask, "What now, Jake?"
"Now we take you home to your sister," he replies.
***
Jake
Watching Lil sleeping deeply in my arms, my mind finally stops racing with what ifs or what could have been, my world finally feels at peace. My whole reason for living was to save my sister, but along the way, my life changed, and Lily became my purpose, my reason for breathing.
To watch her strong spirit and sassy attitude for the rest of my life would be an honour and a blessing. To have children, strong and beautiful, just like her, fuck, I would be in heaven.
And I'm going to make that happen. I just got out of hell and the only thing I'm focusing on now is making heaven with her.
CHAPTER THIRTY
You Loved Me At My Darkest
The next day, I manage to get myself signed out of the hospital early after some manipulating and fluttering of my eyelashes to convince Jake I w
as ready to leave. The only clothes I could get my hands on were the jeans I wore to Marco's house and a spare white shirt Jake had. My hands are now bandage free. They are healing nicely with only a small sting when I close my fist.
We went right to the airport. Jake's parents commissioned a private jet for us all to fly home in; they are desperate to get Emily home as soon as possible.
Jake’s up front, talking to the pilot when Emily walks onto the plane. I'm sitting in a four-seater and Emily takes the seat across from mine. We smile at each other.
Emily speaks first, "I'm glad you're okay, Lily."
"I'm glad you are too. Have you spoken to the girls since leaving the house?"
Emily shakes her head no. "Dom and Nick let me know when each of them reached their homes; I imagine they will be spending these first few days back in the real world with their families. I think, for now, we all just want to pretend it was a bad dream and forget it ever happened."
I wish I could take away all of Emily’s memories of the collection. "Dom and Nick? Were they the other two men with Jake and Kanye?"
Emily releases a soft laugh. "Yes, Dominic, Nick, and Kanye are part of Jake’s team. They have all been friends since they were little kids. I knew it was them as soon as I heard the code names. They used to run around my family's backyard with those names, storming castles to save the princess."
A huge smile appears on my face imagining Jake as a young boy saving princesses and killing dragons. "Well, that was good practice then, because this time, they really did save the princess. You’re very lucky to have them looking out for you."
Emily looks out the window. "Yes, I am very thankful. I'm just not sure who they think they saved though. I know what they want to see, the Emily from five years ago, but that’s not me anymore. The Emily I am today is lost and dirty, inside and out," she ends on a whisper.
My heart dies at hearing her words. "Emily," I say sternly, "you are not dirty. You have been through something most people will never know or even read about, and you survived it. I saw you. When the guns starting going off, you went straight for Cho and Megan. You didn't think about yourself. You covered them with your own body. You're a fighter, Emily. No matter how much you think you aren’t that girl from five years ago, I saw flashes of a very different girl to the one you try to pass yourself off to be. You may feel lost now, but it won't always feel like that. Keep fighting and one day you will find yourself again," I say with conviction, hoping with every fibre of my being that this will come true for her.
