Page 28 of Darkness Falls

Perry looks over at me and narrows his eyes. "Who's the new guy?"

"This is my cousin. He's shadowing me to learn some IT stuff. A backup in case something happens. Gabriel wanted me to make sure the house is secure."

Perry nods. "I'm going to take a quick break then since you'll be inside. I'll be back in a bit."

Ilet out a breath, wondering how these people are actually so stupid. The guy just left willingly, without even asking Soren for proof. Soren takes a step forward toward the door but stops to look back at me.

"There is a good chance you may not like what you see in here. I need you to keep it together and focus on the goal. We need to do this as quickly as possible."

“Yeah, hurry up,” Barrett says through the earpiece, and I roll my eyes.

"Let's go," I tell Soren.

The front door creaks open, and we step into the entryway. It looks like a normal house with nothing out of place. We stand there for a moment, closing the door behind us and waiting to see if any other guards are positioned inside. When nobody approaches us, Soren leads me up the stairs and stops in front of a bedroom door. He pulls out a key and slides it into the lock.

“Ready?” he asks, and I nod.

My heart slams in my chest. I can't believe how close we are to getting her out of here. When the lock clicks free, he pushes the door open, and I have to resist the urge to punch a fucking wall when I take in the scene in front of me. Callie is lying on her side in the bed with her wrist chained to the bed. As if I didn't need more ammunition to kill the rotten bastards.

Her head turns, and when her eyes meet mine, she lets out a strangled sigh of relief.

"Sebastian?" she whispers.

"Hey, trouble. Are you ready to get out of here?"

She nods. "It's about time. Take me home."

Soren walks over to her and uses a second key to free the lock on her wrist. She pulls it to her chest and rubs at the red, irritated skin for a few moments before jumping off the bed and running over to me. Immediately, her arms are stretched around my waist, and her head is tucked into my chest.

I wrap my arms around her with conflicted emotions. As much as I want to pull her off of me and keep the distance between us, I can't. Seeing her locked up like this makes me wonder exactly what she had to endure growing up. It's no wonder she did everything she could to get away from this place.

I realize I've been way too hard on her. I thought she was exaggerating about some of the things she told us about her life here. Clearly, I was wrong, and I feel like even more of an asshole for ever doubting her.

I know we need to get out of here quickly, but I give her these few moments and continue to hold her. It's been two months. She needs to feel safe, and it feels pretty fucking good to have her in my arms.

"After you didn't show up last night, I thought I’d have to figure this out on my own. I was really doubting whether or not you were going to come for me."

She pulls back and looks up at me with tear-filled eyes, and a piece of me breaks. I think I fucked up. We should have tried harder to get her out of here sooner.

"Come on, trouble. Let's get you home. Kyler's been moping around like a baby every day."

Her eyes light up whenshe hears his name. I reach down and interlock her fingers with mine to guide her, not even thinking about it. She glances down at where our bodies meet for a moment and doesn’t oppose my hold, but she stops in her tracks. I turn to look at her with a furrowed brow.

"I'm not leaving without my mom." She pulls her hand from mine and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Your mom? I thought you told us she was dead?"

"I thought she was, but when I got back here, I found out the truth. She survived, and I'm not leaving without her this time," she persists.

"Callie, we can't risk it."

"I left her with him for six years. You don't understand what my father's capable of. When he finds out I'm gone, he might actually kill her this time instead of just torturing her. She's ready. I told her you were coming for us."

I look over at Soren, and he eyes me wearily but nods.

"I'll grab your mom and meet the two of you at the SUV. I have a key for her door on my keyring, too," Soren tells us.

Callie looks at me, questioning whether he can be trusted, and I reassure her. "We can trust him. He stuck his neck on the line for us."

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