Page 14 of Black Hearts

5

Alex

The ragethat had built inside me all day was now spilling out of me, my hands clenched into tight fists as I tore through the abandoned shack again and again, punching holes in the thin walls. My face was contorted in a deadly grimace, simultaneously hoping beyond reason that something would finally pop up out of the walls, and knowing for sure it wouldn’t.

Earlier, I’d been able to keep my feelings in check because I thought I had even a fraction of hope of finding Celeste in time. Now, my fear of losing her had overtaken everything, shut out all sense of rationality. It had turned me into a wild fucking animal.

I had to find her. Fucking had to. I couldn’t exist in a world without her, a world without the light, angelic presence that balanced out the darkness within me so well. There were so many things left unsaid between us.

So many things I should’ve told her.

I may have lost hope, but I hadn’t lost motivation. There was no giving up when it came to Celeste. No stopping. If it came down to it, I would strip this entire planet down to its bones, just to find her and hold her again. Talk to her again. Touch her again.

I would destroy anyone and anything that got in my way, and the punishment for those who had taken her would be brutal and furious. No mercy.

I drew in a deep, harsh breath and closed my eyes, trying to force myself to think clearly so that I could regain some sense of logic and come up with a new plan. Only seconds later, I had it. I knew exactly what I had to do now.

I’d spent the last day hiding from the Circle, thinking that was the best course of action. The way I saw it, if they found and killed me, I couldn’t save my girl. But now I realized I could go in another direction. I could drive right back to my property out of the city and fucking wait for them to show up again.

Bait.

If I played it right, I could let them lead me from there all the way to her.

Even as I thought it, I knew the plan had major risks. Putting myself out there in such a way could get me seriously injured or killed before I even had the chance to follow the Circle back to their headquarters. But I had to find a way to get to them, because that meant getting to Celeste, and right now, I didn’t seem to have any other options, unless you counted ‘driving around in all directions looking for a red brick mansion with a cracked fountain’ for days on end as an option.

Stepping out of the house, I grabbed my keys and strode toward my car. As I went, a man from the house directly across the street approached me.

“Hey, did I just see you come out of number fourteen?” he asked, his tone hesitant and wary.

Shit. Last thing I needed was anyone getting suspicious of me and calling the cops, especially when I was driving around with fake plates on my car.

I affected a friendly, relaxed demeanor and stopped in my tracks. “Hey, yeah, I was in there,” I called out. “You don’t happen to know George Eastman, do you?”

The guy shook his head. “Nope. Who’s that? And who are you?” His eyes were beady and narrowed.

I gave him a self-deprecating smile. “I’m Brett, and I’m kinda confused, to be honest. Drove all the way out here to catch up with George, and this is the address I’ve had written down for him for years. But there’s no one here. I called him and he said to let myself in, and that he’s down in the back, but his car’s not here, and I went all through the place and there’s no one around.” I waved a hand back at the rundown shack. “To be honest, this house isn’t even his style.”

The man’s shoulders relaxed. “Well, I don’t know your friend, and that place has been empty for years, but I’ve got a feeling I know what’s happened. You’re the latest victim of our dumbass naming system.”

I frowned. “Huh?”

He jerked a thumb toward the street sign. “Let me guess. The address he gave you ages ago was for Blandess Road. Not Drive.”

I wrinkled my forehead, thinking back to my conversation with Fitzgibbons. “Uh. Yeah. Couldn’t find a Blandess Road, though, so I thought it was this one.”

The man shook his head. “Naw. Wrong place. The road you’re looking for is a full goddamned hour north of here.”

My frown deepened. “What? I checked all the maps, and this is the only place with that name.”

He shook his head. “There used to be a Blandess Road, all the way north of the city in Dorseyville, up until about three years ago when they changed the name.” He gestured over the road at his house. “I’m 19 Blandess Drive, but at least three or four times a year for the last decade or so, I’ve gotten mail for Jon Lee of 19 Blandess Road, Dorseyville. Sometimes I order stuff online and it never arrives. Guess where it goes?”

“Dorseyville.”

“Yup. Even though it’s so far away, it’s still the same county, so I guess they get confused sometimes. Fucking postal workers, eh? But anyway, like I was saying, they renamed that other road a while back. Your friend really should’ve told you.”

“Yeah, he really should have,” I said, a spark of hope igniting in me again.

If there was a chance Fitzgibbons was actually telling the truth earlier about the house’s address, and I was simply in the wrong spot, then I wouldn’t have to lay myself bare to the Circle as bait, hoping they didn’t get the jump on me before I could get to Celeste. I could just continue with my original plan to save her.

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