Page 22 of Believe In Us

“Bass said it’s best if you wait for him here…”

“I don’t give a fuck what Bass said, take me to see my sister or I swear I’ll find a way to get there my goddamn self.” My blood is boiling at this point, my rage clouding my judgment as I yell at the undeserving, charismatic Beckett Masters. But unlucky for him Sebastian isn’t here, which means my volatile anger has to be directed at someone.

“Jade, come on we won’t be able to do anything there. They’re safe I promise you. Wesley, Lilith, and Macallan are dead,” he says, his posh accent making the news sound less dire than it is.

Dead.

The four-letter word that comes out of his mouth is the last thing I expected to hear. Lilith and Wesley are dead, the house exploded, and Scarlett and Ace are unconscious, yet they still want me not to worry. “I don’t give a fuck Beckett. Take me to my sister, I won’t ask you again.”

He shakes his head seemingly exasperated, his light brown longer than usual falling upon his thick brows, before nodding in agreement. “Fine, but when we get there you’re the one that has to explain to Bass how you convinced me to take you.”

“Fine, I’ll take the blame so your boy doesn’t spank you for disobeying,” I mock, realizing that’s not exactly the right thing to say when I’m trying to convince him to help me out, but saying the right thing has never been my forte.

“I swear you girls are going to be the fucking end of us. Must be some magical puss you’re giving him to have him so dead set on keeping you out of trouble,” he sneers, and although it’s quite insulting for some reason it doesn't feel like one coming from him.

I flick my ponytail over my shoulder, turning and flaunting my ass, which looks damn good by the way in my signature cut off jean shorts nearly baring my ass, as I look over my shoulder at him. His dark blue eyes give me a once over before shaking his head as a wide grin appears in place of his scowl. “You have no fucking idea.”

We arrived at the safehouse,just on the outskirts of Pleasant Hills in under an hour. It would have been thirty minutes if Beck hadn’t refused to let me drive his precious Rover. I’ve been here a few times over the last few weeks, once with Sebastian afterScarlett ran off to work at the Gallows with the creeper Wesley Servite and they dragged me there to explain everything that had happened between her and Servite. It’s when I found out that Maxwell Smoak, Alek’s uncle I’d never heard of, was in reality Scarlett’s biological father. I know, plot twist right? Well that isn’t even the best part. Turns out he only fathered her because Scar’s psycho bitch of a mother drugged him and took advantage of him all at Wesley Servite’s command. Long story short, Maxwell’s girlfriend Gianna, who Wesley was in love with and was apparently Lilith’s stepsister, killed herself after her broken heart couldn’t handle it anymore. Her demons won, and that’s why Gianna’s long lost brother Franco Marchesi, some mob boss or something that was hiding undercover as Servite Academy’s English Professor Evan Macallan, was here to enact revenge.

Some twisted shit really, and somehow my big sister got herself caught up in the demonic soap opera. The next few times I came here were to plot how in the world we were going to get her back. She was threatened by Marchesi with something big that convinced her to turn her back on all of us, but we weren’t sure what it was. We’d finally gotten her back, only to lose her once again. And if I lose her completely because of them, all hell is going to break loose.

Jumping out of the Rover before Beck even parks the car in the driveway of the small cabin like house, I run up to the front door, throwing it open utterly surprised by what I see. It’s much smaller than the houses I’ve been in recently, but still larger than the ones I grew up in. I find the living room completely trashed, a trail of blood scattered along the floor leading to the hallway toward the back of the house. I strut over slowly, my mind swirling with worse case scenarios and vivid images of the gruesome scene I’m about to come face to face with, but nothing compares to what I am about to see.

Because the scene before me is so much worse.

I hear hushed whispers that turn into loud yells, voices I recognize,Scarlett, Ace, the other two Horsemen. But there is one more who isn’t as loud as the others, but still sounds vaguely familiar. I figured enough was enough, I won't wait any longer, I won’t stand here and wait to be let in or contacted now that it is obvious my sister is conscious.

Just as I am about to enter, the familiar voice I can’t quite recognize is the next to speak.

“I can’t Scarlett, I can’t look my little sister in the eye and tell her what her big brother has become. A puppet, a criminal, a murderer, someone she’d be so ashamed of.”

My body stills at the sound of this not so stranger's voice, his words echoing through me sending a feeling of something inconceivable through my veins. Something cold, dark, and ominously melancholic.

“You’re her family Roman, her brother. She will forgive you for that, you know she will.”

Roman. Brother. My sister’s words haunt me, but not as much as what my brother says next.

“But I can’t Scar, how will I ever be able to come clean to her. How will I ever be able to admit it was me who shot and killed our father in cold blood.”

Roman killed our father.

This can’t be happening, what I’m hearing can’t be true. I barge in unannounced, pushing the door open as I come to stand under the doorway. A loud cry escapes from deep within me, my eyes going wide, glaring stunned at the sight before me.

My sister’s laid out on a small bed in the middle of the room, clearly covered in bloody gashes, scrapes, and bruises, Ace by her side looking just as bad if not worse with a bandage around his arm and torso, but what stuns me most, are the figures at her feet. Bass stands there blankly staring at me with a look of rage mixed with guilt spread across his perfectly rugged face, but it’s the figure beside him that has the blood running through my veins turning ice cold. It’s the face of a man I never thought I'd see again, yet theonly person I’ve wished every night for the past six years I’d once again come face to face with.

Now as he stares at me, with nothing but a look of disappointment. I can’t help but feel the anger rise in me like a mountain of regret washing over me, drowning me. Regret for wishing I'd see him again. Regret, for trusting anyone standing here in this room, when I’ve been the fool they’ve been laughing at this whole time.

I see fucking red.

So I do the only thing I’m good at. The only thing that at this very moment makes sense.

I run.

My blood is scalding hot,searing my alabaster skin, threatening to drain free from my body, and flowing endlessly on the marble floors beneath me. Like red paint scattering around the shiny limestone, a pool of my own remains. My heart is pumping erratically, my vision red and fading out, dark spots covering the sights before me as my mind goes in and out of darkness. I push past Beckett, swinging the front door open, stepping out into the cold night, being swallowed by the darkness of the sky above me. The woods before me looking ominously dangerous, seem like the perfect escape from the monsters lurking in the shadows threatening to consume me.

But he’s the ultimate monster I must escape.

Roman.

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