Page 89 of Dismantle & Prevail

Sitting up, I point at the screen. “Rewind that please, Hellhound.”

Her brows furrow, but she does as I ask and rewinds the video.

I blink a few times and pinch my arm because surely this is a dream. There is no way I’m seeing what I’m seeing. But after the third rewind, I’m sure of it.

My heart stops. My world collapses. The earth stops spinning and suddenly I forget how to breathe.

Clear as day walking inside the station are my daughter and her vile mother.

Tears well in my eyes, but I push them back.

She’s alive. Rayne is alive.

Suddenly, all the air is sucked out of the room, and my lungs burn. My vision turns hazy and for a moment I feel as if I were to blink, the world would disappear right in front of my eyes.

My baby girl is alive.

“Aries! Are you okay?”

Taylor’s worried voice cuts through my spiraling mind, and my vision comes back into focus.

Sitting in front of me, pain evident on her face, Taylor searches my eyes for a hint of what’s wrong.

Her arm lifts to brush my hair off my face. “Ace. You’re sweating profusely and your hands are bleeding. Tell me what’s wrong, baby. So I can fix it.”

Glancing down at my hands, I see crescent shaped marks in my palm, blood slowly trickling from the wounds.

Taylor winces once more and instinctively, I gently ease her back into the spot she once was.

Words fail me and the concern only grows on Taylor’s face as I point at the computer. Taylor leans forward, accidentally brushing her shoulder against me and eliciting a painful groan from deep in her chest.

Cognizant of the amount of pain she is in, yet still unable to find the words I’m for certain might not be true, I grab the computer and rewind the footage.

The moment her face comes into view, I pause the video.

Staring awestruck at the screen, it finally hits me that this may be real.

If it wasn’t for that adorable button nose with a freckle at the tip, I might not have recognized her.

Pressing play, I watch the feed for what feels like a millionth time until I’m certain who I’m seeing isn’t a ghost.

Tana. I’d recognize her in a dark room. Her presence alone is vile and would cause a damn murderer to wince.

My mind races a mile a minute.

If Tana and Rayne are alive, that must mean…

As if the devil conjured him himself, Clay saunters into the station.

White hot rage boils inside me so fiercely I feel as if steam is going to come out of my ears.

My entire body feels as if it is on fire and if I wasn’t sitting next to the woman who keeps my entire world grounded and spinning, I would be out of here so fast, I’d leave smoke in my wake.

“Baby. Please talk to me. You’re scaring me,” Taylor pleads, her fingers brushing against my face.

I’m coming, Raynie. And when I get to you, I promise I will never let that evil woman come close to you ever again.

I’m going to get my daughter and bring her home where she belongs.