Page 8 of Her Vengeance
“Flower, I am so sorry that you had to experience that,” I respond as she tries to avoid my eyes. Getting up, I find her water bottle and bring it to her, knowing that the lack of tears is probably due to a level of dehydration. She takes it with shaking hands before drinking some of it.
“After she died, I moved in with my dad, and he hid my very existence from the world. One of the few people that I got to be around was my tutor, Bella, who was brilliant and an early graduate that moved in with us to teach me. She wasn’t even eighteen yet, but her brain was brilliant. I fell hard for her as we spent more time together, and one day she whispered something in another language in my ear. Even without knowing what the words meant at the time, I could feel what was between us. Bella was my first lover and the first person to whom I gave myself wholly. We only lasted a few weeks together before my father came to look for me and found us kissing. He didn’t hesitate to paint the walls with her brain,” her shoulders fall as the last word leaves her mouth.
“Baby, your father’s decisions are not your responsibility,” I reassure her as I scoot closer so she can lean on me. Witheverything that she has gone through, I don’t think she has had many people to truly lean on in her life.
“It’s okay, he decided to join the list of my dead recently, making me an orphan,” she jests back, and I can feel that the light humor might be exactly what she needs.
“That means you are one step closer to being Batman,” I joke, hoping that she finds the light in the darkness. The soft chuckle that she exudes confirms my choice as the right one.
“You are nothing that I expected,” she responds, laying her head back on my shoulder, instantly missing the way she makes me smile.
“You are far from the file I compiled too, sweetheart,” I admit to her as we sit there and enjoy each others company.
“Do you want to keep going or would you like some breakfast?” I ask her, not wanting her to feel dismissed emotionally.
“Can we do breakfast? I don’t know if I can dive into the lost lover side of this without spinning out the rest of the way,” she admits to me. So I smile, stand up, and reach for her hand to walk out to the kitchen together.
We leave the room, fingers intertwined and food fresh on our minds, when the front door slamming open stops us in our tracks. I throw her behind me and quickly put the magazine in the gun. Loading a bullet in the chamber, I aim at the figure in the doorway only to pause. The scruff is new, but that blonde hair and those green eyes are ones I recognize from her file.
“Claire, you’re okay,” he says, standing there before us as she falls to her knees behind me.
11
Chapter 11
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“Hope is all we have in the darkness, and the idea of existing in a world where she doesn’t is not an option.”
The drive from my surveillance studio to Claire’s apartment takes what feels like an eternity. Seconds turn into minutes as I keep looking from the road to the camera outside her bedroom. Every moment that uncertainty hangs in the air, the more I spin out of control. The streets pass in a blur as I push the limits of what this car can do until I enter the garage.
Throwing my car in park, I fly out of the driver’s seat and head for the stairwell. My girl needs me, and I’ll be damned if I don’t come running. Taking the stairs two at a time, I rush to be with her no matter what. Finally, I find my way to her hallway, tuck my phone in my pocket, and pull out the spare key thatI had made. Unlocking the door, I throw it open, ready to face whatever it is.
I see her standing there without so much as a scratch, holding hands with the girl that I sent to protect her.
“Claire, you’re okay,” falls out of my mouth in both relief and shock as I watch her fall to her knees.
12
Chapter 12
Claire
“Miracles do happen, but very rarely should they be relied on.”
On my knees, I sit there in utter shock, unable to move. If this is another dream where he is alive, I won’t make it. Blinking slowly, I try to figure out if I have finally gone crazy. I cannot wake up and relive the grief of losing him over and over again.
“If you move, I will shoot you where you stand,” Eva’s voice snaps me out of it. She steps in front of me. I’m not the only one who sees him this time. This can’t be reality. He died. There is no way he would do this to me.
“Daffodil,” he mutters in disbelief, and I break. It feels like every atom of my body comes apart, and I am sitting here in it. I feel the world start to go black around me.
“Flower?” Eva’s voice breaks through the fog as I try to understand this version of reality. I blink slowly, but Rome is still standing in the entryway.
“I am going to take a step inside and shut the door behind me. We don’t need to catch the attention of any nosy neighbors,” he says matter-of-factly without breaking eye contact with me. Eva has a gun on him, and he couldn’t care less about it. He won’t even look away from me.
“Move slowly, or I will put more holes in you than Swiss cheese,” she threatens coldly as she watches any of his moves for malicious intent.
“Eva?” I ask for her directly and watch him flinch as the door shuts behind him. His eyes have always told me more than he has until that letter. The fucking letter with the ashes that clearly aren’t his.