Page 13 of Fatal Fantasy

“Are you happy?”

“Yes, I’m happy.” Her words hit me like a ton of bricks, but I notice that what she’s saying doesn’t meet her eyes, and there’s a specific brand of sorrow stored behind them, while she tries her hardest to keep a brave face.

“Is he good to you?”

“Yes, he’s good to me.” She hesitates, like it’s taking everything in her to speak those four words aloud, and the truth is hidden underneath what she isn’t saying.

Whoever she’s marrying, it isn’t willingly, and I have an ominous feeling that this a marriage made on promises of power, an arrangement that only benefits the Families, certainly not the bride being forced into it.

My heart squeezes in my chest, so hard that I almost give in and let this pain take my life once and for all, but I push through, shoving it down so I can carry out the mission that I’m now convinced is the reason I’m still breathing fresh air.

Save her.

“Tell me to come back for you, Carter. Tell me to save you from whatever this is, and I fucking will. I’ll scorch this Earth until it burns if it means you’re safe, do you understand me?” I take her chin between my fingers, ensuring she looks into my eyes and completely absorbs what I’m saying.

The weight of the world relies on her answer, but she’s so brainwashed that I can tell she won’t say what I need to hear, or ask for the help she was previously convinced wasn’t coming.

“Yes, Tyson.”

“So say it! Fucking say it, Carter!” I yell, causing her to jump, but I shake my head, not letting her think for a second that she’s getting away from this.

She doesn’t break our gaze, but I use my ability to read through her, instantly noting that she’s almost pleading with me to understand what she’s trying to convey without words.

She rubs at her wrists again, slowly lifting the robe and pushing it to her elbows, revealing scars that look to be from restraints, and I only look for a second, returning my eyes to hers as we continue to share messages with only facial expressions.

“Please.” She mouths, a single tear falling as she finds the courage to ask for help, and I nod, swiping at her cheeks and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“You should go. If anyone finds out you were here, or that we spoke …” She starts, her voice breaking as she shakes her head, letting me know that what she wants, and what she’s saying, are two very different things.

“I’ll be back for you, babygirl. I promise,” I whisper into her ear, feeling her body relax with my close proximity, but I pull back, looking into her eyes one last time to ensure she got my message.

As much as it kills me, I know I have to go.

My time here was already borrowed, and even though I could snatch Carter and run away right now, I need to take this home to Massi.

We have to come to a consensus on how to extract her the right way, while he comes to terms with the fact that she’s being held against her will – versus the crazy conspiracy theories he has about her true identity – and we need to save her.

It’ll be a tough pill for his ego to swallow, but I can guarantee that new enemies for him to obsess over are on the horizon, and we can finally get our girl back.

So, I do the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, staring into the eyes of the person I love more than life itself, and I walk out the door, leaving her alone to face her demons head on, with nothing but a shred of hope that rescue is coming.

Hold on for me, because I promise, I’ll be back, soon, babygirl.

FIVE

JASPER

Dead end.

It’s a phrase I’ve heard a million times, but when it comes to my search for Carter, I’d explore every single one until I deem it as a lost cause.

It been six fucking months, and even with the information about California, I’m no closer to finding her.

There’s nothing I want more than to crash her fucking party, to show her that she didn’t get away with the mass-murder ordered on my family, and to exact my revenge on the girl who convinced me that love was real, only to snatch it away at the very last second, leaving me to pick up the shattered pieces of bone and rotted flesh she left in her wake.

My poster boards are finally coming together, lines that once ended in question marks beginning to link in places I never even thought to look, but I’m still miles off of where I want to be.

Between phone calls with Alivia, relentless, yet non-existent updates about our comatose father, and seriously incredible progress reports with Ty – mainly the fact that he’s walking again – it’s a harsh reminder that while I’ve been holed up in this motel on a mission dedicated to revenge, the world is still spinning around me.