Page 11

eleven

Holding onto hope

Dario

Slamming my fist into the bag, I take a step back and roundhousekick, putting all my weight into the move. This shit isn’t enough to tame my anger. I really need to go talk to Spade, but I wanted to work out before I met up with him.

I smash my fists against the bag with fast, quick jabs as I think about what Marsela did to me. This fucking cunt took advantage of me and now I’m going to fucking kill her. I don’t know how, but it needs to happen. I woke up with cum all over my lap, not knowing how many times she took what she needed. The drug she shoved into my neck caused extreme hallucinations, forcing me to think it was Jade.

As I closed my eyes, while she took what she wanted from me, all I could do was fucking pray it was my green-eyed beauty. Jade is who I need, and the shit Marsela spewed at me about her, is weighing heavily on my chest. I need fucking answers and I need them now .

I’m stuck in this fucking contract and I need out before I take my own fucking life. I don’t want to continue this charade with her. I need a fucking out, just a small loop hole, or pay someone to kill her that can never be tracked back to me, but the way this world works, I’ll be suspect number one.

Taking a step back from the swinging bag, I walk over to my duffel, take my phone out and shoot Spade a text.

Me: Yo, where you at?

Spade: Jades.

Me: Be there in 20.

Leaving the gym, I hop into one of Marselas cars and take off to Jade's house. We really need to get to the Academy and remove all of our shit from there and figure out what the fuck to do next. Why Spade is there, I have no clue. Hopefully, she is there too and I can tell her what happened. I want to be fucking honest and open, and maybe just maybe, she can help me come up with a plan on how to take Marsela down after I show her exactly what I signed. There has to be a fucking way out of this. Even if she wants to shoot me for all that has happened. I fucking miss her so goddamn much.

Hopefully he has an update on Jameson. Fuck. I was out for forty-eight hours and the first thing I did, like a fucking idiot, was hit the gym. They should’ve been my first concern, but I needed to let my rage out before I murdered everyone.

Pulling up to Jade's is fucking surreal. I see everything is cleaned up and there’s workers replacing the windows all around the bottom level. Getting out of the car, I walk up, about to hit the bell, when Spade swings open the door with a pissed off look on his face. Here we fucking go.

Stepping inside, he rears back, punching me in the face. I stumble into the wall as he grabs my collar. “This is the shit I’m talking about, Ri. Where the fuck have you been? That cunt of yours kept answering your phone. She’s lucky she's protected, because I was ready to storm her bullshit castle and fucking slice her throat wide the fuck open.” He spits as I push him off me.

“If I could’ve been here, I would’ve been! But that bitch had me taken and strung up to rape me not once, but fucking twice. That’s where I’ve fucking been. Literally tied up being raped. Is that a good enough answer for you?” I growl, getting in his face. His eyes widen at my admission, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Wait, she fucking raped you? How the fuck?” He says, walking into the living room and sitting down on the couch, lighting a joint. I follow, sitting across from him, and take a deep breath.

“Yeah, I was waiting at the hospital for you to come back when I got ambushed in the fucking waiting room and knocked out. I fucking woke up in a warehouse, naked, hanging from chains. Then she drugged me twice, raped me in bed and whatever drug was in my system, made me hallucinate seeing Jade.” I confess, not wanting to give him all the details.It’s fucking embarrassing that someone sodomized me and I couldn’t do shit about it. He takes a hit off the joint, passing it to me. I take a deep pull as he stands, pacing the room. Shit. That’s not fucking good.

“What is it, Reid?” I grit, but he won’t look at me, which means it’s really fucking bad.

“Spit it out, brother.” I demand, and he stops.

“Jay is still in a coma. The Aces want a deal with Cyprus and–,” he stops and our eyes connect as tears fall from his face. I stand because I hate when he cries, and he doesn’t show this much emotion if it’s not something that hits home for him. Walking over to him, I grab him, wrapping my arms around him as he sobs.

“Tell me Reid. What is haunting you? Where is Jade?” I whisper, and he cries harder. Fuck. I squeeze him tighter, not wanting to even think about what this could mean.

“She’s gone, Ri. Slim gave me a box of her ashes. She’s gone, she’s fucking dead!” He yells, pushing me away.

“No, that can’t be. She can’t be dead.” I whisper, falling to the ground on my ass. This can’t be happening. Not again.

“Did you see her body?” I ask, and he narrows his eyes down on me.

“No! He fucking handed me a box of her ashes, that’s it.” He growls.

“They can't just cremate her body like that. That's not how it fucking works. What the fuck? Something isn’t adding up.” I say, getting up from the floor. This was a setup. There’s no fucking way.

“What are you saying? You think I’m lying?” He says, getting in my face yet again.

“No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is it doesn’t make sense.” I yell and he throws his hands up,

“I don’t know what you want me to do. I’m only one person. Between her and Jay, my mind is all over the place. Oh, and Ryder is back. He came here a few days ago and helped me with everything.” He says.

“Oh, shit! Is he okay?” I ask, and he nods.

“He’s fine. I cleaned him up.” He says, but his eyes don’t reach mine. Interesting.

“Wait a second. Slim is the one who told you about Jade, right?” I question, and he rolls his eyes.

“Are you not fucking listening? Yes, that Irish prick dropped the bomb on me and handed over a box like it was a gift,” he growls, but I put my hand up, stopping his bullshit.

“That fucking cunt, Marsela, said she placed the call to the Russians, and she is the one who took ‘care of the problem’- that Jade was dead. I didn’t fucking believe a word she said because she’s a jealous cunt and will say anything to get what she wants. But Slim? Is the Irish working with the Albanians? What the fuck is happening?” I yell, and Spade shakes his head.

“I don’t fucking know. I’ve been trying to figure it out myself, not the Albanian part, but you telling me this makes me want to kill her even more now. There’s so much fucking going on right now and I’m not sure what to concentrate on first.” He says, sitting back down on the couch and I follow suit. I don’t believe any of this to be true. And I refuse too, until I see a fucking body.

After a few minutes of silence he speaks. “I got a meeting with Cyprus, you wanna roll with me?” he asks and I nod.

“Yes, brother, I’m with you. Let’s stop and see Jameson on our way back? Maybe we can do some recon and find out what happened with Jade.” His eyes light up at the idea of digging into what happened with our girl.

“I’ll fill you in on what our lovely fathers want me to do while we drive.” he says, getting back up from the couch and grabbing the envelope off the table.

“We need to get all of our cars and shit from the Academy, or pay someone to do it for us, but I want my shit in a safe place.” I say and he nods in agreement.

“We can figure that out tonight if you want. Are you in a rush to go back to the castle?” He asks with a look of disgust, and I shake my head.

“Na, I don’t want to go back there. So if I can stay here for the time being, until I can figure out what to do next, that would be great.” I say and he nods.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s roll.” He says, wrapping his arm over my shoulder, pulling me along towards the front door.

I really hope I’m right and Jade is alive somewhere. I need to hold on to that hope or else I might just take her favorite gun and put a bullet in my head.