Page 47 of His Hell Girl (Morally Ambiguous Duet #2)

"Vlad…" She shakes her head, raising her gaze to meet mine and I'm baffled by how much emotion I find in those gorgeous eyes of hers. "I'm here now," she whispers softly, lifting herself up on her tip-toes to lay a chaste kiss on my cheek. “With you."

"You are." I close my eyes, reveling in her nearness.

"And that's why I'm never letting you go.

There's something wrong with me, Sisi," I admit.

“Because I can't not be with you. There's a sickness in here.

" I take her hand and point it to my head, before lowering it to my heart, "And here.

It's making me go insane just thinking of a minute without you.

It's so extreme sometimes I can barely sleep, needing to make sure you're next to me.

" I take a deep breath, opening my eyes to see her watching me closely.

"If you're sick then so am I, Vlad." Her melodious voice is the only thing that can soothe the voice inside of me, and as she speaks, her hand caressing my cheek, her eyes full of love, I can't help it as I give myself completely to her. "Because I can't be without you either."

"Fuck, Sisi," I mutter, hugging her, "I'm glad you're not mad at my collection," I say, trying to add a little levity to the heavy conversation.

"Mad? I'm only mad that I didn't know, because now I want my own of you." She smiles against my chest.

I kiss the top of her head, taking the phone and opening the received folder that she hadn't looked at.

"Here," I say as I pull up the photo, frowning a little.

The picture has a grayish tinge to it, making the background of the orphanage seem even more haunted and forlorn. There is an old manor in the back, a few columns at the entrance. On the porch, a woman with two boys is posing for the camera.

The woman is sitting stiffly between the boys while they smile jovially, holding tightly to a small present wrapped in colored paper.

"That…" Sisi trails off, squinting to get a better view of the picture. "That's Mother Superior. I'm sure of it. But how?" She shakes her head. "She's not wearing her habit," she notes and I nod.

I've seen enough fucked up shit in this world that nothing phases me anymore. The fact that Mother Superior might have been some type of scout certainly wasn't something I'd anticipated, but I'm not surprised. More than anything, I'm pissed that I'm only finding out now.

"It is Mother Superior," I agree grimly. "And that complicates things."

Because if Mother Superior is in any way involved, then this shit has been going on right under my nose.

"But if she's involved." Sisi looks up at me, her brows furrowed as she's working out all the implications.

"If she's involved, then Sacre Coeur is involved. And if Sacre Coeur is involved," my lips stretch in a thin line, "then the five families are involved."

"We know Miles approached my father, but the others? Did you ever suspect?"

"I did. And I looked through everyone's accounts. The Russians were guilty from the get go and I got the confirmation of their involvement already. But the Italians?" I shake my head, moving to our seats and taking out my laptop.

"I looked through all the accounts I could find, and none had sent any payments to any off-shore I could link with Miles. I've certainly tracked all their other transactions. But Miles?" I shake my head.

"What does that mean, then?" Sisi bites her lip worriedly.

"It means it's much bigger than we thought. And much bigger than just those experiments." I purse my lips, endless possibilities stretching before me. "We need to talk to your brother," I add grimly.

"Damn," Sisi mutters.

"Sacre Coeur sponsors another five orphanages." I pull up a document, and Sisi leans in, scrunching up her nose as she reads through the contents.

"So they've been feeding children into Miles' program," she notes before suddenly going still, her eyes widening. "Vlad." Her hand reaches out to grab onto my shirt.

"What? What is it?"

"I just remembered something. And I think you're right. This is much bigger than we anticipated," she says, her lips trembling slightly.

"What is it?"

"It's a very vague memory, but I couldn’t have been more than three, maybe four-years-old.

But I remember being taken to the hospital for some tests.

I wasn't the only one. All the kids in my class were taken too.

" She recounts and I have a hard time controlling myself thinking about anyone laying even a finger on my Sisi.

"Fuck," I mutter, incensed that something of this magnitude could have escaped me.

"But there's more. I never understood what happened, but kids went missing all the time at Sacre Coeur.

I remember just wondering why no one cared about them.

After they disappeared, no one even spoke their names again.

It was like they didn't even exist," she says, telling me about some who she'd known personally.

Without even thinking, I bring her to my chest, my arms tight around her as I realize how close she'd been to danger.

Fuck!

Sacre Coeur won't get away with this. Especially since I'd already vowed to see the people who hurt my Sisi punished.

"We'll figure it out, hell girl," I speak against her hair.

One glance at my watch and I realize we must be nearing the airport soon, so I tell Sisi to get ready for landing.

But just as I'm about to put my stuff away, the plane suddenly dips, a small explosion sounding from the west wing.

What?

I barely have time to regain my equilibrium as I grab Sisi's hand, making sure she's always by my side.

The plane keeps on teetering, loud noises coming from the engine. Using the intercom, I contact the pilot.

"I think something hit the left engine, Sir," the pilot mumbles.

My hand still wrapped around Sisi, I tug her after me as I look out the window toward the left engine.

"Vlad… that's…" Sisi's eyes widen as she looks at the flames coming from the engine.

"I think we got hit," I say grimly, cursing out. "I didn't realize they'd be in such a hurry to get rid of me," I add drily.

"We're going down, aren't we?" she asks, and I turn to her, impressed that she's not freaking out, yelling, or worse, fainting on me.

No, she's just watching the fire coming from the broken engine, her face serene.

"We are," I reply.

Without wasting another minute, I pull open the compartment housing parachutes, quickly making sure everything is in order before putting the vest and everything on me.

"Come here, hell girl," I beckon her, strapping her tightly to my front. "We're going down alright, but we're not dying today," I tell her confidently.

Once the parachute is secure around my back, and Sisi's safely strapped to me, I push the safety door aside, air whooshing in from the high altitude.

The plane is wobbly trying to regain balance, but even so the decrease in altitude is visible, and I know it won't make it without the second engine for too long.

"Ready?" I ask her, and she simply nods, her eyes full of trust.

With no other preliminaries, we just jump.