Page 22 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

I don’t know what time I fell asleep, but by the time I wake up there is sunlight streaming through the window. I check my watch, it’s 6.32am. Usually at this time, I would be waking up in Cassie's bed, or she would be diving onto my head to drag me from sleep. I would give anything to have another day like that. I will give everything to make sure that happens again.

Standing up, I stretch out my stiff limbs and force myself into a few yoga poses to loosen myself up. I need to remain as limber as possible, it will be one of my advantages. In the daylight, the cabin brings back even more memories. I smile when I see a few polaroid’s stuck on the wall from a few summers ago. There is one of Marcus and I on the top of a Ferris wheel from a carnival we went to on vacation. We look happy and carefree, which I guess we were. I think we are about thirteen in it and you can see by my face just how much I already loved him, even back then.

There's another of a younger Taylor and me, she hasn’t changed much, just has shorter hair and bigger boobs. We are posing by Hallows Waterfall with our arms around each other and tongues out. The falls are so close to where I was taken from and I can’t help but wonder how many other girls faced the same fate.

Then there is a third one of me, Marcus, and Ash from the last summer we all spent together. Marcus is sitting on the huge log we had in my backyard, I’m in his lap and Ash is by our feet. Marcus has his arms fully around my waist and all three of us are pulling a goofy face. We look like we are having the best day ever. Just kids enjoying their childhood. I still had my innocence; Marcus still had his dad and Asher still had his pure heart. Looking at this picture, you could have never predicted the nightmare we were all about to endure.

The photos show all the people who made my life so perfect back then. All they do now is remind me of how many more people I have in my life that need me. That I care about. If anything happened to any of them because of me, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

I cast my gaze further round the cabin and see a few textbooks in the corner that we were using to get us ready for Hallows Prep. There are some drawings on the wall, some board games on the shelf and even one of Marcus’ hoodies folded over the beanbag in the other corner. It’s like a time machine back to that summer, back to when we clearly thought we would come back again. I wonder if Marcus ever came back here after I left.

Thinking of Marcus being here reminds me of the secret spot we used to share. No one else ever came into the treehouse without us here and even then, Asher and Taylor only ever came up here a handful of times. Still, Marcus thought we should have a hiding place that no one else knew about.

I smile as I find the loose board and think about the amount of times Marcus and I hid stuff in here. I can't even remember when it started, but I do remember how often I would find things in here from him. From notes to chocolate and candy and even flowers he stole from the bushes at the side of the pool. We never spoke about what we left here or thanked each other. It was just one of those things we did, a thing I didn't realize how much I appreciated, missed even, until right in this moment.

I finally manage to pull the board back and my heart catches in my throat when I see a note wedged in there. It's covered in dust and a little mold. Fuck, how long ago did he put this here? I take a deep breath in as I reach in and pull it out, blowing the dust off so I can see it clearer. I unfold it and expect to find a dirty drawing or a silly poem like he used to leave for me. But that isn’t what I find at all....

Find Beth. She has the answers you need.

This isn't Marcus’s handwriting. In fact, it looks like Michael's, but I can't be sure. Did Michael leave this here before he was killed? Who did he want to find it? And more importantly, who the hell is Beth?

Chapter 13

MARCUS

It’s been a week. A fucking week since we lost Cassie, and Elle went rogue. Every day without them is like a fucking knife, right to my gut and I know everyone feels the same. We all wonder if Cassie is being kept safe and if Elle is ever going to come back to us. I’ve officially lost count of how many of Elliot's lackeys keep mysteriously disappearing before showing up dead. I know the blowback from Joseph Kavanagh’s murder means Elle has set her sight on lower targets for now, but that won’t last long. There are too many key players that she blames for everything that happened.

We have her list of targets and some of Max’s guys are tracking them. They are looking out for any unusual activity, but mostly just waiting for Elle to turn up and kill them. I can see Max regretting his choice to let Elle go every day. I know he was just doing what she wanted, what he was asked and paid to do, but deep down he cares about her as more than just a client. She is family to all of us and without her we are all a little lost.

I haven’t slept more than a handful of hours here and there and I’ve barely eaten. Every second I spend not doing everything I can to find them makes me feel like a failure, and I’m not the only one. Asher is so far gone he has no human emotion left in him, he barely had it before, but this is different. His whole persona is just void of anything. His self-control is shattered beyond repair and I fear for anyone who gets in the path of his destruction. It’s weird, because as far gone as he is, I have never felt closer to him. Like he was always meant to be here, part of us. Elle knew it from the moment she met him and now I am finally catching up.

Jace is barely sober, he has slipped back into his old ways very quickly. The first couple of days they were gone he was here, present. But every hour that ticked by without them coming home was another bit of control he lost. He’s the same Jace as the one I first met, lost, detached, and completely struggling with his emotions. I knew how to help him back then, but how can I help him now when I feel exactly the same? I could spiral just as easily as he has, but I have to keep my faith. Faith that we will find them and faith that Elle knows what she is doing.

Lincoln is more frustrated than I have ever seen him. I can see the guilt eating away at him, at what he thinks he should have prevented. He blames himself for not knowing the Donovan’s plans before they were executed and is punishing himself daily. He hasn’t taken more than a thirty-minute break all week. He hasn’t slept and only steps away from the laptop to shower, change and inhale a few protein bars before continuing whatever the fuck he’s doing on there. Lincoln has always been the most closed off of my brothers and I, but now it’s like I can see him bleeding from the inside out. He is my brother in every sense of the word and we are sharing this pain like we are connected as one.

Logan’s still here too, he refuses to leave, and I can’t say I blame him. Between Cassie being taken, Elle gone and Zack in a coma, how he is still coping is beyond me. Helen and Lily went to a safe house located near the medical facility that they are keeping Zack in, and along with Arthur, they move back and forth between the two every day. All of them are scared, on edge and desperate for Elle and Cassie to come home.

Max and his team are quiet, but they haven’t stopped either. From stakeouts to recon to even fucking flying drones over the Donovan mansion. Anything they can think of to try to get more information on how to get in and out without Cassie getting hurt. We still haven’t been able to come up with a solid plan, but if that doesn’t happen soon, I’ll fucking snap. Walk right in the front gates and blow the head off anyone who gets in my way. I need my girls back, for all our sakes.

We have all exhausted every little thing we can think of, and aside from doing what I wanna do and going straight in the front door, we haven’t really got anything. I can’t stand this feeling of fucking defeat. It’s the same feeling I had the night my father was killed. I knew something was off, it had been for weeks since Elle left town. Obviously, now I know why, but back then I was just a punk who thought I knew best. My dad was gone all hours of the night, and days at a time, never telling me where he went or when he was coming back. The night I walked into my home and it was dark, it wasn’t really anything new. I had become accustomed to finding the house empty, save for a few staff, what I didn’t anticipate was stumbling along his body and that of our old housekeeper, Margaret. Both of them bloodied and cold.

It’s a sight that will haunt me forever.

I did what any normal person would do, I called the police. It wasn’t long before the house was swarming with cops and paramedics, until eventually a coroner came. I was questioned a little, until Captain Baizen showed up and everyone started to filter out. He was the one who told me to pack up so I could go to emergency care. I didn’t think anything was weird about it at first. I mean of course, my dad was dead, I had no other family. My mom died giving birth to me and we had no extended family, so it was always just me and my dad. It wasn’t until I was sitting on the steps of my childhood home that Elliot Donovan pulled up. I’d never liked him; he was just a grown-up version of Asher to me. Quiet, weird and had the members of the King family under some kind of spell.

Every other person that night looked at me with pity in their eyes, but not him, the only thing lighting up his eyes was glee. I was too fucking out of it with grief to collect my thoughts, but I will never forget what he said to me.

“You can thank Elle King for the death of your father. She’s the reason I put a bullet in his skull.”

I was too stunned to even respond. Everyone I had ever loved, gone and everything I had ever known, shattered. My hatred for Elle had already begun to burn at that point. A small flame flickering inside of me, but with Donovan's words it turned into an uncontrollable inferno that didn’t burn out until I realized the truth. Now all of that hatred exists for Elliot and his fucking vermin son. Ironically, not the Donovan son I hated as a kid. Now Asher is my biggest ally. I know my brothers would do anything I asked of them, same as my crew, but I know Asher won’t let anything stop him from saving them both.

Thinking about them causes a tightness in my chest. I miss my dad every day. Thought I knew what living without someone was like. But every day without Elle by my side and Cassie in the hands of the Devil, is another day where I realize I won’t survive if we don’t get them back. Whenever you go to the doctors in pain, they ask you to rate your pain out of ten. I always thought seeing my dad's body was a ten, but it wasn’t. My ten would be seeing Elle’s and I can’t let that happen. No one will make it out of that wreckage.

I am still lost in my thoughts when Asher finds me. He looks rugged and run down, far from the Asher I knew and hated. I wouldn’t say we have magically become friends, but we have reached some sort of alliance in working together to get our girls back. I think of all the times I was ever jealous of him, even as kids. Every time he had Elle’s attention, I would be sick with envy, thinking he wanted her the same way I do. Now I know him, know the true face of his family, I understand their relationship much more. Even before that night, he just wanted some light in his life, and that light was Elle. I am glad he is still there for her and Cassie. We are all just one big fucked up, barely functioning family, but that's what makes us work well together.

“Hey man,” I tip my head at him in greeting.

“Hey.” He pats my shoulder as he sits down next to me with a sigh.

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