Page 22

B

The stolen Indian motorbike roared beneath me, but its growl couldn’t drown out the storm raging in my mind. The warehouse explosion I’d watched live on my iPad played on an endless loop behind my eyes as every move from the feed prior to detonation had seared into my memory.

Blade and Viper had dived into the black water beneath the warehouse floorboards just as the fireball erupted.

Did those bastards die? Were they crushed when the building collapsed? Or by being trapped underwater beneath the weight of ancient timber? And what about Maya, Aria, and Cobra? Did they survive?

Why didn’t I rig more cameras outside? Why?

At least Grant was gone. I’d made damn sure of that. The C4 wired to his chair had done exactly what I planned: blown that ungrateful prick to pieces.

I veered off the main highway, and the smooth asphalt gave way to a narrow, forgotten road with a warped surface pockmarked by potholes. The headlight swept across the rough bitumen as I slowed, weaving around the jagged craters that threatened to swallow my tires.

The road twisted and wound like a coiled snake, dragging me deeper into isolation.

On either side of the road, dense, six-foot-high grass hid the rusted barbed wire fences I knew were there.

Each turn tightened the knot of dread in my stomach, pulling me back to the place that had poisoned Alice’s life and mine . . . Angelsong Orphanage.

The place that had broken Alice so completely, she buried it in the darkest corners of her mind, and each year she retreated further and further until I couldn’t pull her back anymore.

In the end, her beautiful eyes, once sparkling with joy over the simplest things, turned dull, empty, and our endless conversations had been replaced by mumbled prayers.

As if God gave a damn about either of us.

After sixteen miles on the godforsaken stretch of road, I neared the unmarked entrance to the orphanage. I eased off the throttle, scanning the wild scrub lining the road, determined not to miss the driveway again, like I did the last two times.

A gap in the brush revealed itself at last, and I turned onto the driveway.

The rubber tires crunched and popped over loose gravel, and the sound was loud in the stillness of the night.

The black sky above was alive with stars, and the Milky Way hung like a torn veil across the heavens, its brilliance mocking the darkness below.

The half-moon cast just enough light to make the shadows deeper and sharper.

Around the bend, the orphanage emerged in the distance like a predator waiting to pounce. The main building stood out against the faint silver glow of the sky, and its crumbling walls and shattered windows seemed as haunting as the memories it unleashed.

A wave of dread slammed into me, thick and suffocating, threatening to drag me under like black water. My chest tightened and my mind urged me to turn around and get the fuck out of there.

But I couldn’t. I was here for Alice. Again.

The Edwardian facade loomed like a decaying carcass, it made my stomach churn at the sight of it. No amount of time or distance could ever erase the memories of this place.

Somehow, I’d survived this hellhole. A miracle, really, considering how many kids didn’t. When the system spat me out on my eighteenth birthday, I could have left. Should have left. But I didn’t. While every other kid ran like hell the second they could, I stayed.

But I’d traded one prison sentence for another .

. . from "child in care" to "underpaid housekeeper.

" The only difference was they threw me five dollars a week to scrub the same floors, serve the same slop, and endure the same misery I’d been forced to handle since I was a baby.

The day I turned eighteen changed nothing except the label they stuck on me.

I stayed because of Alice.

Sweet Alice.

She needed me, and I needed her. She’d been too fragile to fend for herself in a place like this.

And as she was two years younger than me, she couldn’t leave until she was eighteen.

So I cared for her, protected her, fought for her when no one else would.

We had our secret . . . our sweet, hidden secret.

Back then, love like ours was dangerous. Illegal. Lesbians didn’t get to exist. They were punished, outlawed, flogged . . . murdered.

No one could know about us.

And no one did .

Two cars were parked in front of the main building.

One was a cop car, and it pissed me off that Cooper had driven his cruiser here, like he was on actual police business.

The other car was a white Tesla, which I assumed belonged to one of the Foster triplets.

Those bastard brothers had abandoned Alice’s body to chase after that bitch pilot, Tory.

They were going to die for that.

I parked my bike next to the cruiser and its engine cut out with a guttural cough. The sudden silence pressed against my ears like I was underwater. I tapped the screen on my phone to check for any missed calls from Eddie Walsh. Nothing.

Does that mean he hasn’t found Tory and Jaxson yet? Or that he has, and he’s failed to kill them?

I’m surrounded by complete fucking idiots.

My jaw ached from clenching as I swung my leg over the bike, ripped off my helmet and jacket, and let them both drop to the cracked ground. I wouldn’t need them or the bike again.

The crumbling entrance of the building seemed to greet me like an old enemy.

In the silvery glow of the half-moon, the jagged edges of its stonework cast long shadows, and the shattered windows stared down at me like empty eye sockets.

Long-dead ivy clung to the walls like veins, creeping over the cracks as if nature had tried to eradicate this wretched place, but evil had won out again.

I slid my phone into my pocket and tucked the Glock into my waistband, making sure my shirt fell loose enough to hide the telltale bulge of steel. Every step toward the building felt like I was dragging myself through quicksand.

I forced myself up the stone steps to the entrance, where the doors had been ripped away, leaving only splintered frames. Above the doorway, the angel statue still clung to the archway, except its head was missing.

Alice and I laughed ourselves stupid after hacking that thing off.

A reckless act that could have earned us a flogging that would turn us black and blue, but we'd pulled it off anyway.

She'd balanced on my shoulders, sawing through stone with the gardener's dull hacksaw while I steadied her and watched for the guard.

Not that we needed to worry. He was always too busy screwing either the nurse or the deputy principal.

I never did figure out if those women knew about each other.

After we’d chopped off the head and buried it behind the dormitory, Alice had clung to me and both of us had shaken with laughter until tears streaked our faces.

For one perfect moment, we'd felt invincible.

Two kids raging quietly against a world that had stolen everything from us, except each other.

I stepped over the threshold with her laugh ringing faintly in my mind, a rare, precious sound in this wretched place. But the stench of dust and old stone smothered the memory.

My boots echoed through narrow halls lined with cracked tiles. The checkerboard floor that I used to scrub until it was pristine white and black had yellowed to jaundiced patches, and in some sections, entire rows were missing, showing the stained concrete beneath like rotted teeth.

At the back of the building, I entered the massive food hall. The long tables were still there, warped and splintered with time. A few were overturned, legs jutting upward like broken limbs.

Six o’clock every morning, we had to be dressed and seated at these tables. Boys on one side of the hall, girls on the other. Silent. Obedient. Forced to choke down whatever slop they dumped on our plates .

I could still see Alice trembling as she clutched a glass of milk in her tiny hands, trying to steady it. We didn’t know it back then, but she was allergic to dairy. I’d tried to drink those milks for her each morning, until the bastards caught on.

After that, they made her drink it. Forced her.

Her face would go ghostly pale, her tiny body convulsing as she tried to hold the milk in, terrified of the punishment that would come if she didn’t.

I pushed through the hall and out the rear door. The evening air hit me like a balm, cleansing my mind of the horrible images as I trudged through knee-high weeds toward the angel fountain Alice had loved so much.

Nearly every day, after we’d finished our schoolwork and chores, she would sit by that fountain, trailing her fingers through the water and giggling like she was feeling the liquid for the first time in her life.

It was one of the things I loved about Alice; the simple things brought her so much pleasure.

She used to say she wanted to be free like the angel. That she wanted wings.

I’ll set you free again, Alice. I swear it.

A sharp sucking sound snapped me out of my thoughts.

Cooper stood by the open grave, smoke curling from his nose and lips as he stared down at the body sprawled at his feet.

Alice. My beautiful Alice.

Rage ignited in my chest as I barged through the weeds. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Cooper raised his head slowly, exhaling smoke, as if he weren’t standing over her like she was trash.

“Finally, we meet, B.” Cooper’s voice sliced through the haze, smug and taunting, and all too knowing. The bastard finally knew what I looked like. But had he figured out who I really was?

I didn’t care anymore. He couldn’t hurt me. Not now. Not when I was already drowning in pain so deep that nothing he did could compare.

For twenty years I have led a double life . . . B, and the office manager everyone else knew. Two decades of secrets, careful manipulation, and a facade so tightly constructed it had become second nature. Now, with the truth teetering on the brink of exposure, I felt something unexpected: relief.

Let my real name carry the weight of everything I’d built. And everything I’d destroyed.

I had nothing left to give but my legacy.

He took another drag of his cigarette, yanking me from my thoughts.

“Put that out,” I snarled, my voice cracking like thunder. “Don’t smoke over her, you inconsiderate asshole.”

He shrugged, flicking the cigarette to the ground. “She’s not gonna mind, is she?”

The world tilted. Fury took over, and I charged at him, grabbed him by the shirt, and yanked his head down to me.

“Don’t. Ever. Disrespect her again,” I hissed, my face inches from his.

The smirk didn’t leave his lips, but his eyes betrayed him, showing a flicker of fear.

Good.

“All right, all right, calm down.” He raised his hands in mock surrender.

I shoved him back, and my heart clenched as I turned away, my vision blurring as I looked at Alice. She was still on the ground, next to the resting place I’d dug out with my own hands. The tarp I’d wrapped her in was intact, but the ropes I’d tied to keep her safe had been pulled free.

Around the grave, the ground was a mess: scuff marks, paw prints, and scattered trash. Plastic bags. Dirty swabs. Used tissues. Face wipes. Even an upturned table stolen from the hall. The desecration burned into me, raw and unrelenting as I squatted beside her.

She’s dead. She’s gone. But she’s still my Alice.

My throat constricted as I brushed dirt from the tarp with trembling fingers.

“Okay, now that you’re finally here, I’m out,” Cooper said, dusting his hands on his pants.

I straightened, fixing him with a glare sharp enough to draw blood. “No, you’re not, dickhead. You’re helping me get her into the car. ”

He froze, then spun back to plant an evil gaze on me. “What? Fuck no. That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“The deal is that you do whatever I say.” My voice cracked, and I hated myself for it. Weakness wasn’t an option. Not here, not now.

“Or what?” Cooper hitched his pants, and the smug grin crawled back onto his face like a cockroach.

“Or I no longer have a use for you.” I let the threat hang in the air, heavy and deliberate.

His smirk faltered .

“You paid me to wait here for you, and I did,” he said. “Now you want me to move a body? That’s going to cost you more.”

I stepped forward, closing the space between us until I could see the sweat beading along his temple.

“You think this is about money?” My voice dropped, cold and razor-edged. “You think I’d hesitate to make you disappear, just like I did Grant?”

His lips parted, but no sound came out. He blinked once. Twice. “Grant Hughes? The accountant? How the hell did you get to him? He was under guard. In the hospital.”

“I can get to anyone, anytime, any way I want.” I leaned in, my voice barely above a whisper. “You. Your wife, kids, that grandson of yours . . . everyone you’ve ever cared about. Keep up this bullshit, and you’ll see just how far I can go.”

His bravado crumbled. He swallowed hard, his hands twitching at his sides.

“Okay. Calm down.” His voice was barely steady now. “Fine. Let’s just . . . let’s get it over with.”

I moved to Alice’s head, brushing dirt from the edges of the tarp with trembling fingers. She deserved better than this, better than a coward like him being anywhere near her.

“Grab her feet,” I said, my voice cold and clipped. I didn’t bother looking at him.

He hesitated, and the silence dragged on long enough for me to seriously consider putting a bullet in his skull and tossing him into the grave instead. Then he shuffled into position, his shoes crunching against the loose soil.

Together, we lifted her carefully. My hands were steady, even as a storm raged inside me. The tarp rustled with every step we took, and her weight was heavier than I remembered—impossibly heavy, considering how waif-thin she’d been at the end.

Every movement felt like a betrayal. Like I was desecrating her wishes, dragging her farther from the peace she’d so desperately wanted. All she’d ever wanted was to be free, like that angel. But I couldn’t leave her here anymore. I had to find another place to give her the peace she deserved.

I glanced at the angel fountain one last time, its weathered wings stretched skyward as if pleading for mercy. The memory of Alice’s final words pressed down on me.

I can’t do this anymore, Triss. Please help me . . . I want to be free.

I made her a promise . . . to set her free . . . and I would absolutely keep it.

No matter who I had to kill, starting with Cooper. And then those fucking Foster brothers.