Let Me Out (For Me, #1)

by Nichole Severn

  He smiled as he made his way back to her, eager to finish their conversation.

  * * *

  Taigen walked through the front doors of Wren Industries and slipped between the metal detectors before taking the stairs. He walked up the two flights and into the elevator, pushing the button for level fourteen. The music around him lightened, seemed playful, and soon he couldn’t stand it. The ping of the floors passing by kept him sane, and with the arrival at the fourteenth, he exited.

  He walked directly into Christian’s office and closed the door. Keeping the lights off, Taigen threw the desk drawers open in hopes of finding the ledger. He shuffled through every piece of paper, disregarding receipts, payroll documents and other paperwork he wasn’t interested in.

  It isn’t here. He exhaled in frustration. His eyes darted across the entire office nervously. The ledger had to be in the office. Christian would never leave it unprotected. He could solve Adelaide’s problem. With Christian behind bars, she’d be free to live a life of her own. She’d get the help she needed.

  His gaze rested on the large mirror hanging on the opposite wall of the office.

  The safe.

  Taigen half ran to the far wall, removed the mirror from its post and smiled when relief fill his body. The code had been engraved into his mind for the past six years, and as his fingers moved swiftly over the keys, hopes of saving his sister flooded his mind.

  The light on the safe keypad glowed green and sounds of the locking mechanism’s release told him he’d succeeded. He yanked the door open, pulling everything into his arms. Throwing his find down onto the conference table, he started sifting through it. He pushed stacks of money aside as he searched for the leather book.

  Every business deal Wren Industries, Christian, Adelaide and even Taigen himself had made with the federal government over the past ten years was listed inside the book he held. Recorded by Christian for his own security, its contents would soon be used as evidence against him, releasing Adelaide from her life as a slave.

  He froze at the sound of the elevator chime.

  He wasn’t the only one here.

  * * *

  Christian’s promise rang in her ears, pushing her farther onto the penthouse floor of Wren Industries.

  Absolute freedom, Adie. A life on your own, he’d said. I will not hunt you down. I just ask you for one more favor before you go.

  Rustling filled the silence, bringing Adelaide’s attention to Christian’s office.

  The thief was still there.

  She couldn’t see his form through the cloudy glass but imagined he knew what awaited him. He should just give up now. He wouldn’t escape.

  Slowly, Adelaide made her way down the wall of fogged glass. She could wait all night if she had to, but sensed her freedom lingering within reach sooner.

  She passed the office twice before coming to a stop in front of the thick wood door and opened it silently. The intruder wasn’t visible as she pushed her way inside, but she felt him and his fear.

  I can smell him, the monster said, circling around the opposite side of the conference table as Adelaide moved farther into the office.

  Memories of the last time she’d been in the office flashed before her eyes, taking her breath away. It’d been the first time her monster controlled her entire body for longer than a few seconds and Adelaide shook her head to forget.

  She smelled him, too. The scent seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place where she’d experienced it before. Didn’t matter. Her job to take care of the intruder would grant her freedom.

  A small exhale made her stop halfway down the table and a smile crossed the monster’s face. Placing its hands flat on the hard wood, it stared at her from across the room. You know where he is. Its eyes lowered to the polished surface of the conference table.

  Adelaide’s eyes, however, remained glued to the mirror at the end of the office, studying the sharp offset lines of the frame.

  The thief had been good. He’d made it to the safe and possibly inside.

  Something moved inside the mirror and it took only a split second for Adelaide to realize what she’d seen.

  Her intruder was trying to escape.

  She turned quickly, catching only a glimpse of his shoe as he ran out the office door. Pulling her weapon, she followed his cloudy form through the glass, took aim and fired.

  She hit her target, the sound of gasping breath confirming her skill. Adelaide fired twice more into the man on the floor as she walked through the now-broken glass wall.

  Pressing a foot against his shoulder, she rolled him onto his back, ignoring the gleeful sounds her monster made from behind. She couldn’t see him clearly in the dark but aimed her gun over his heart.

  What are you waiting for? the monster asked, half running toward her. Do it!

  “Adie,” the man pled. “Please.”

  Adelaide froze, her finger pressed against the trigger of her 9mm.

  She recognized the voice.

  No, she told herself. No. No. No.

  “It’s okay,” Taigen whispered. “It’s okay.”

  Her breath left her body in a rush, bringing Adelaide to her knees. Collapsing onto the floor next to him, she reached for him, her hands hovering over the holes she’d put into his chest and back. She didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to stop the bleeding. She had to help him. She had to save him. Her heartbeat pounded behind her ears, her breathing shallow, sweat dripping off her brow.

  “It’s okay,” he repeated, closing his eyes.

  She shook her brother as hard as she could, willing him to open them again. She mouthed his name over and over, but in her mind she shouted as loud as she could.

  Her monster shrieked with rage, circling Taigen’s body two or three times before Adelaide realized they weren’t alone.

  A hand wrapped itself around her neck, pulling her head back into a wall of flesh. Something pinched her skin, and only after she struggled violently for a full five seconds did she realize someone had stabbed her with a syringe.

  Reaching behind her, she tried to claw out her attacker’s eyes, but his strength and skills kept her docile.

  “Did you really think I would let you go?” a voice asked.

  Adelaide’s vision blurred as it always did with her medication, but, unlike those other times, it slowly grew black as she fell to the floor.

  * * *

  Marcus wasn’t used to silence.

  “You lost her?” Daniel asked, his hands steepled in front of his mouth. He’d been pacing the entire bottom floor for the past hour.

  His plan had spiraled out of control quickly. Marcus rose from kneeling in front of Adelaide’s empty bag. “I told you. Christian took her from headquarters. He slipped out during the confusion from the blast. I couldn’t get to him. They wouldn’t have gone far. There are too many loose ends. But she wouldn’t go with him willingly, not after what he did to her.” A thought crossed his mind and he stared off into space, talking it out. “They’d need more medication. I searched the house but couldn’t find anything.” His eyes found the Englishman, who’d stopped pacing.

  “What are you thinking?” Daniel exhaled in frustration. “Where else would they keep it?”

  Marcus moved toward the door, grabbing his weapon and jacket from the table beside the door. Only one place for certain. “The question isn’t where. It’s who kept it.”

  “Taigen.”

  “We’ve got to find him. Wren knows which side I’m on. Who knows what else he’s figured out,” he said, working through the situation aloud. “Or who he’s talked to.” He closed the door behind them. The warm night air clung to his skin and he pulled as much of it in as his lungs could take as he made his way toward the car. Puddles from an earlier rain splashed around them as they half ran across his driveway.

  “We’ll start with the office,” Marcus called over his shoulder, praying he wouldn’t find Adelaide or Taigen dead.

  Thirty seconds later, Marcus angle
d the car toward Wren Industries.

  He dialed the number again, nervous when Taigen didn’t answer. The line rang four times before going to voice mail. He hung up, not leaving a message as he took the car around another turn. Pushed against the driver’s-side door, he straightened as the car shot forward. “Still no answer.”

  Daniel hadn’t said a word since getting into the car, but his expression told Marcus everything he needed to know.

  “They’ll be fine, Daniel,” he said, keeping his gaze forward. Marcus had never been good at being the sentimental type. “They can take care of themselves.”

  Two more minutes and two turns later, Daniel answered, his voice just a whisper. “You seem awfully attached to her.”

  The conversation headed down a dangerous road. “Do you think this is an appropriate time to talk about my love life?” The question came out harsher than he’d meant, but he hadn’t planned on having to explain himself to a grown woman’s father.

  “Is that what it is?” Daniel asked. “Love?”

  He didn’t answer for a space of a few heartbeats, thinking over his next words carefully. “I think at first it was lust, but I saw myself making it into more than it really was.”

  The car screeched to a halt as Marcus slammed on the breaks in Wren Industries’ parking lot. Turning toward Marcus, Daniel exhaled loudly. “What is that supposed to mean? You promised to get her out of this mess. You promised my son you would watch over her. How can you keep your promise if you don’t even care about your charge?”

  Marcus didn’t really know how to respond except defensively. “She cut a man into pieces without batting an eye, Daniel.” He shook his head. “You should have seen the look in her eyes. I can’t even begin to explain it, except that in that moment, when her eyes searched the darkness for me, she was a completely different person. I didn’t recognize her. I can’t let a monster like that go free.”

  Daniel didn’t respond as he stared out the windshield. His hands relaxed against the dash, but the silence grew uncomfortable.

  Marcus kept his eyes down, staring at the phone in his hands.

  “Try him again,” Daniel said. He waited as Marcus scrolled down his contacts list and brought the phone to his ear.

  “You know what to do at the beep,” came Taigen’s voice on the other end, but Marcus didn’t wait to leave a message.

  “Nothing.”

  Rain pounded against the car, nearly making Daniel’s words inaudible.

  “You can’t give up on her, Marcus.” Electric blue eyes stared straight at him, searching his expression for any kind of argument. “She’s not a monster and she needs your help.” Daniel pushed himself from the car, stepping out into the moist air.

  Only after a moment of consideration did Marcus follow. Was Daniel right or had a father fallen so far into desperation there was no happy ending in sight except to have his daughter behind bars?

  Wren Industries resembled a ghost town. The duo moved quickly, vaulting through the metal detectors and up the two flights of stairs to the elevators.

  Marcus pressed the button that would hopefully lead them to Adelaide and the conclusion of his case. He imagined what his life would be like after tonight, with the biggest case of his career behind him, with bloody visions of Adelaide haunting his dreams. An involuntary shiver ran down his spine, but Daniel didn’t seem to notice.

  “This is the building they work in?” Daniel asked, his hands clasped in front of him.

  “I have a feeling they’ve been fired,” Marcus retorted with a chuckle.

  The joke didn’t seem to make an impact.

  “Were they happy here?”

  Marcus glanced over to the father who’d missed out on so much of his children’s lives and couldn’t imagine how it felt. If he ever had children, he’d do everything in his power to stay by their side, to be there for them whenever they needed him. What had really held Daniel down in that cell for so long? The question hung on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t dare to ask.

  Now wasn’t the time.

  “Did you know Taigen was a doctor?” he asked. “He was Wren’s second, but his skills definitely came in handy when I was training with them.”

  Daniel’s expression answered his question. “A doctor?”

  Marcus laughed, remembering Taigen’s services all too well. “Yeah, and a damn good one.”

  “The Navy,” Daniel answered, his eyes distant. “I heard he’d joined.”

  “Weren’t you and Taigen close?”

  “The last place I saw him before all this was in Mexico City,” he answered. “Right before I went in to get Adelaide from that prison.”

  The soft chime of the elevator doors interrupted them, but before either of them had a chance to step off, Daniel held Marcus back.

  “When this is finished,” Daniel said, licking his dry lips, “will you tell me more?”

  Giving the Englishman a closed-lipped smile, he nodded in compliance. There wasn’t any reason to disagree. If all went well, Taigen would be telling his father about his life himself. “Let’s find your kids.”

  They stepped onto the silent floor.

  The offices were dark, but it wasn’t long before Marcus spotted the body. He withdrew his weapon, scanning the area for movement. The air in the office circulated slowly. He heard the sound of the air conditioner in the background, but his heartbeat pounded behind his ears above all else. Keeping his eyes on the body, he inched closer until he identified the man on his back, staring at the ceiling.

  Taigen.

  Daniel half ran toward his son, his legs collapsing beneath him next to the body.

  Marcus watched as he wrapped his hands around Taigen’s leather vest and pulled his son into his lap.

  “Not possible,” Daniel repeated over and over, but the words weren’t meant for anyone else. “Taigen,” he called, shaking the man in his arms. “Can you hear me?” He placed his index and middle finger against his son’s neck and gasped.

  Signs of a struggle littered the entire office as Marcus made his way farther across the penthouse floor. The broken glass, the shell casings from a 9mm and even the slightly off-centered mirror hiding the safe all gave him the evidence he needed. Doubt crossed his mind as to who’d shot Taigen.

  Adelaide wouldn’t have done it willingly and Christian would never get his hands dirty.

  “Marcus!” Daniel called to him, interrupting his thoughts. “He has a pulse!”

  Marcus stared at the mirror in Christian’s office, the one hanging slightly askew on the wall. He’d heard Daniel’s cries but couldn’t respond.

  Not yet.

  He had no idea what the Post-it note on the mirror meant. Written in a woman’s handwriting, six numbers had been scrawled in black pen, but without an explanation. Removing the note, Marcus smiled to himself and gripped the edges of the mirror.

  He typed the numbers into the slightly lit keypad, expecting an alarm to announce his betrayal, but the keypad only glowed green as the locking mechanism was released. Gripping the safe handle, he pulled on the steel door and let his mouth drop open in surprise. It was empty.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The rope cut into her wrists, but Adelaide reveled in the feeling.

  She’d been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Blood slithered down her skin and she’d never felt so alive. Her feet dangled a few inches above the cement, but she didn’t care.

  She was thinking clearly for the first time in years.

  The monster lay across the floor, staring up at the ceiling as another cut of the blade spilled Adelaide’s blood. A smile crossed its face, its eyes dreamlike. Yes, it whispered. Yes.

  “How could you do this to me?” a voice asked. “After everything we’ve been through. You thought you could just leave?” Christian sneered the last word, motioning toward the door and somewhere out into the world where freedom resided.

  Adelaide rolled her head back between her arms and stared at the ceiling. Ti
ed to the pipe above, she’d been left hanging by her own body weight, but a smile crossed her face as she closed her eyes. She wasn’t tired. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she looked forward to the rest of the night. She enjoyed the loss of every drop of blood Christian took from her.

  His monster had made its own appearance, bending down over her own delusion. Hands covered in blood, the hallucination looked similar to him with one distinct difference: Christian’s monster wasn’t real. At least, not to Adelaide.

  “Strip her,” he demanded, crossing to the back of the room. He faced against the wall, not willing to meet her eyes, and Adelaide despised him more for it.

  Coward.

  Two men angled themselves into her vision, each with their eyes cast down. They cut her clothes off quickly, keeping their hands to themselves but leaving her bare for all to see.

  The air around her turned cold. Goose pimples rose on her arms, but they didn’t bother her. She tilted her head upward to study the tiny bumps across her skin, counting them one by one.

  “I loved you, Adelaide,” Christian whispered, finally brave enough to face her.

  He doesn’t know how to love, her monster said from the floor, rising to all fours. He only knows how to control. Just like him.

  A flash of Harlow Vicente crossed her mind.

  Her monster spoke the truth.

  Adelaide saw the man who’d saved her life once, her savior, but at the same time he’d become another master to obey.

  “But I don’t know any other way to make you see that.” Christian removed his jacket, setting it on a stool close to the door. Rolling his sleeves up around his forearms, he gave his new assistants a dismissive gesture.

  They left without a word, closing the door behind them.

  Silence enveloped her, but she couldn’t enjoy it as he stepped forward.

  “Adie,” he said, trying to get her attention.

  Can you feel that? her monster asked. Can you feel his desperation to make us obey, to keep us for himself?

  Adelaide closed her eyes as Christian stepped even closer. She’d prepared for this moment, prepared for the pain.