Page 92 of Love Bleeds Red
“She’s resting. I told her it was a good idea.”
I exhale slowly. “Yeah, she needs that.”
She crosses to me and wraps me in a hug I didn’t realize I desperately needed. “Damon filled me in on what happened over there. I’m so sorry.”
“It was...” I trail off, unable to find words that could possibly capture it all. “But we found her. That’s what matters.”
The front door opens and Damon steps inside, taking in the scene. “Should we make this a group hug?”
Blake pulls back but keeps one hand resting on my arm. “You should get some sleep too. There’s nothing more we can do tonight.”
Damon adds, “I tried telling Jas and Falin the same thing, but they went out for energy drinks and snacks. Pretty sure Falin wants to find every bit of information about your fath?—”
I shoot him a sharp look and he clears his throat.
“About Alfred that she can dig up. She’s as pissed as I’ve ever seen her.”
I rub my tired eyes. “What about Jas? Is he alright?”
Damon shifts his weight and pulls Blake closer to his side. “He’s hurting, I think, but overall relieved to have her back. It’s just... a lot to process. None of us expected tonight to go the way it did.”
Silence settles over us for a few beats before Blake voices the question we’ve all been avoiding.
“So what do we do about all of this? Alfred, Orlov, The Brotherhood...” She pauses, letting her words hang in the air. “Once Bailey’s ready to talk, it might be too late. And like you said, what if we can’t trust the police?”
I roll my lip ring between my teeth, weighing her questions, running through every possible course of action and outcome.
“I don’t know.” It kills me to admit that. Rage and exhaustion war within my chest. I want to find Alfred… find them all… make them pay, but I’m so fucking tired and I have no idea what’s right or wrong. “What I want to do and what we should do aren’t the same.”
“And that is?” Blake asks, her expression full of concern.
“Burn that fucking estate to the ground. Find everyone who’s ever touched her and kill them slowly.”
She nods, eyes wide. “Uh… yeah, not sure that’s the answer tonight.”
My eyes meet Damon’s and I see that familiar gleam in them. He’s weighing our options too until Blake cups his chin and pulls his face to look at hers. “Not happening tonight, Freddy. I see that look in your eyes.”
Damon sighs and relaxes his shoulders. “You’re right, Angel. We need to be smart about this.”
“Smart,” I repeat, trying to hide my frustration from my tone. “I don’t know if I can just sit here while Bailey’s upstairs, barelyokay, and other girls like her are still out there suffering.” I squeeze both hands into fists. “How long do we wait? How many more people get hurt while we’re being smart?”
“Leon—” Blake starts.
“No, you don’t understand.” My voice cracks, and I look at the floor instead of their worried expressions. “She can barely look at me. The woman I love, who I’ve been searching for over a year, looks at me like I’m a stranger. And it’s because of him. Because of my father. How am I supposed to tell her? How can I live with what he’s done?”
Blake’s gentle voice draws my gaze. “The same way I’m living with what Brennan did. One day at a time, realizing what they did had nothing to do with us. Knowing that we’ll do everything we can to right their wrongs.”
Her words float through the air, not quite landing where I need them. Maybe it’s me and I’m not ready to hear her. Too much talking, not enough action. I exhale and glance at the door. “I knew something was off about him years ago. I felt it in my gut when he tried to bring me into his fucked up world, but I just ran. I transferred schools, moved to America, and pretended he didn’t exist. If I did something then…”
“You were protecting yourself,” Damon says. “You did the right thing.”
“I was a coward. And while I was hiding across the ocean, he was...” I can’t finish the sentence. Can’t say out loud what he was doing to Bailey, I still don’t know the extent of it, but when I do. My words spill out, what I’ve been holding in for all this time. “I was supposed to be there that night, you know. But I was in some stupid fucking study group, some subconscious part of me was still trying to be the academic Alfred wanted, still trying to make him proud. She texted me, and I didn’t see it. Not until?—”
The front door opens and Jasper and Falin walk inside, hands full of paper bags. My eyes meet Jasper’s and his widen. Iknow he’s going to ask what we’re talking about. I’m sure Falin will say all the right things—it wasn’t my fault, how could I have known. And Jas—he’ll just look at me with those wide eyes full of hurt.
“I need some air,” I mutter, barely looking at any of them. “Need to think.”
“Leon,” Blake’s voice is gentle but worried. “Where are you going?”
