Page 105 of Chained By the Alpha
My chest warms at his words, and I quickly apologize. “It’s okay. I’m making dinner—as a truce?”
“Truce accepted,” he says, a soft chuckle vibrating through the line. “I’m on my way home. Vance is driving me. Apparently, he doesn’t want me driving since I had a few drinks.”
“You’re drunk?” I ask him while feeling for the light on the wall.
“No, but he insisted. Just… don’t set the place on fire while you’re at it.”
I laugh despite my culinary mishap moments ago. “No promises,” I reply, playful yet sincere. “But I’ll try for your sake.”
“Good,” he murmurs, and I can hear the smile in his voice, those silver eyes surely glinting with mirth. “I’ll be home soon; we are just pulling up at the gates now.”
As I find the light switch, I step onto the cool concrete steps of the basement, and I focus on the task at hand.
“So, what are you cooking?” Zayn asks.
“I have no idea yet,” I laugh.
The chill of the basement wraps around me like a cold embrace as I make my way to the old freezer tucked in the corner. The scent of damp earth mingles with the anticipation of Zayn’s return, igniting a fire within me that contrasts sharply with the frigid air.
Boxes are stacked on top of the freezer, and I quickly remove them, setting them down. “Hang on a second; I need to set the phone down,” I murmur to Zayn, a smile playing on my lips. My fingers wrap around the freezer’s handle, and I pull it open with a decisive tug. “Just put me on speaker; at least then I will hear the fire alarm go off.” I laugh softly into the emptiness, thinking of Zayn’s playful warning.
The icy breath from the freezer hits my face as I peer inside, searching for something to salvage this dinner disaster. But the laughter dies in my throat, a gasp escaping me instead. My eyes widen, and my heart hammers against my rib cage—a primal drum of shock and fear. There, beneath a bag of frozen peas I just moved, lies a body—pale, stiff, unmistakably human.
“Cleo? Are you there?” Zayn asks, and I snatch up the phone.
“Zayn, yeah, I am—” My voice cracks, and he cuts me off. At the same time, I can’t take my eyes off the horror in front of me.
“Hey, I just pulled up. You better not be burning down the kitchen again,” he teases through the phone.
I drop the phone; it clatters on the concrete floor, the sound echoing in the hollow space. My gaze is locked onto the body, onto the familiar features now frosted over. It’s Deacon.My Deacon, who disappeared without a trace, is now found in the most horrific place imaginable.
Why is he here, in Zayn’s basement, frozen and lifeless, hidden in the depths of this chilling chamber? His once vibrant eyes are now glazed over, his skin a ghostly pallor, besides the blood and bruising that paints his skin. The frozen stiffness of his limbs tells a haunting tale of his final moments, which seemed brutal because of the amount of blood covering his body like frozen icicles.
Why is he here?
The realization slams into me, leaving no room for doubt. When I remember Zayn’s callous words over the last couple of months. How he seemed unfazed by Deacon’s disappearance, sure he didn’t like Deacon, thinking back he did almost seem mocking of it. This was Zayn’s doing. A dark, twisted betrayal disguised by the man who claimed to want to be my mate. He knew all along where he was. He knew and even helped me put up missing posters when his body was here all this time. Zayn’s actions were not only callous, but malicious and deceptive - a deliberate attempt to manipulate me into believing Deacon had run away, despite knowing the truth all along.
My knees buckle, and I collapse beside the phone, my mind racing and my heart splintering. The world tilts and the shadows of the basement seem to close in around me, suffocating, as the truth claws its way through my shattered illusions. When I hear the car outside pulling up, I know I need to get out of here.
The weight of betrayal, the gut-wrenching realization I have been deceived by the one person I thought I could trust, threatens to consume me.
Forcing myself to my feet, tears stream down my face as the full weight of my foolishness and the magnitude of Zayn’s betrayal hits me. I feel like a puppet, manipulated and usedby someone I loved and trusted. My mind swirls with a mix of anger, grief, and disgust. How could I have been so blind? Lydia was right all along, and I foolishly ignored her warnings. Now those same warnings echo in my mind, haunting me with the truth I had refused to see. The realization that Zayn used me, manipulated me, hits me like a tidal wave, leaving me questioning everything he has ever said or done.
The depth of his deception is beyond comprehension, and I wonder what else he has lied about.
My heart clenches with the realization that I may not have truly known him at all. The foundation of trust we built is shattered, and I’m left wondering what else he has lied about and what other secrets he’s hiding. All this time, while I’ve wondered where Deacon was, he was right under the very house I have been in and I have fooled around with his murderer all this time. Disgust washes over me.
The evidence was there, I just didn’t want to believe it. Now, I question everything Zayn has ever told me. The chill of the basement is nothing compared to the ice flooding my veins as I stare at Deacon’s lifeless form, his face pale and haunting beneath the frost as I slam the freezer door shut, looking for another exit frantically. Panicked, I realize the only way out is up the stairs right next to the front door.
“Cleo!?” I hear him call out upstairs before hearing the door shut. “Your phone must have cut out,” he yells out before everything falls silent.
As I stand frozen in the basement, my heart pounds like a relentless drumbeat. The air is heavy with betrayal and my mind races. Fear grips me as I realize I am trapped, caught in a web of lies and deceit. Every fiber of my being screams for escape, yet I am paralyzed by the weight of what I have discovered. The suffocating darkness of the basement mirrors the suffocatinggrip that Zayn had on my heart, and I wonder if I will ever truly be free from his manipulation.
“Cleo?” There is nervousness in his voice this time, when I hear the door to the basement creak, and I know I’ve been caught.
Chapter 19
• Zayn •
