Page 41 of Wounded Hearts

Chapter 20

Drew steppedover the takeaway menus and leaflets that crowded behind the door of his old home. The house had that sad empty feeling of a home locked down, forgotten and unloved. Furniture was covered in drop clothes, with the curtains closed to the outside light and damage from the sun. Yet not an ounce of dust covered the surfaces. It was strange that Marcus had left this house as if in stasis.

If he removed all the covers, he could imagine his home the last time he’d been in it, living here with his mother. The side table in the hall where he’d checked the answer phone so many times, seeing that blinking red light which he’d hated, was gone and Drew felt an ache in his heart. Had he known then what he knew now—that his time with his mother would be so short—he would’ve behaved differently. But he hadn’t and that among many other things was something he had to live with.

“Fuck this place is creepy,” Jace said with a grimace then lifted a hand in apology. “No offence.”

“None taken and I agree. It’s weird how he left all this stuff here and had the cleaning service come in once a week to dust. I just carried on paying for it after he died and didn’t give it a lot of thought.”

Now though, the reason behind his father leaving the house as it was raised questions in his mind that he wasn’t sure he was ready to ask. Yet he knew he had to ask, because he had the sneaky feeling that those answers might give him more than he needed.

“Any idea where the safe might be?”

Drew shook his head. “Not really. I guess mum’s bedroom would be the best place to start.”

“Lead the way.”

Jace stepped back as Drew climbed the stairs, hating the fact that this house no longer felt like home. It was as if he were seeing a familiar place he’d visited rather than his home. For so many years he’d lived here, growing from a boy to a teen but he’d had his mother, and despite her many imperfections, he’d loved her. Now he realised she’d loved him in her own way. She was the one that had made this feel like home. He’d come to realise home was people, not places.

Pushing open his old bedroom door as if on autopilot, he looked at the walls still covered in posters he’d got from Nutz magazine. Skimpily clad women, fast cars, and his heroes—Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis. Drew scanned the room, his gaze landing on his bed that was still made as if he’d be sleeping in it that night.

“Had a thing for brunettes even back then?” Jace said with a smirk as he lifted his chin to the women on the walls.

He looked to the images and noticed his friend was correct. Drew smirked and lifted a brow.

Backing out of the room, Drew closed the door on his childhood and moved down the hallway to his mother’s bedroom. Here he hesitated, knowing it would be so much harder to be in her space now he’d read the letter. Knowing the internal battle she’d fought made the guilt eat at him. He wished Mara was here with him, like she’d been the other night, and then blew the thought from his mind. He needed to get this over with, to find the safe and the diaries and whatever they may reveal.

He was about to enter when Jace’s phone rang.

Jace took it out and looked at it. “It’s Luce, I need to take it.”

His hand still resting on the doorknob, Drew nodded, glad of the last-minute reprieve.

“Hey, babe.” Drew watched as Jace’s face went from happy to concerned, to downright terrified in a split second as he stared at Drew in horror. “Is the ambulance on its way?”

Drew felt his heart drop at the words, the stillness in the room deafening.

“I’m on my way.” Jace hung up and looked wrecked as he began to move. “I have to go, Lucy fainted, she’s bleeding. They think she may be losing the baby.”

“Give me the keys, you can’t drive like this.” Drew took the keys and he quickly locked up his old home with little thought to the past or what secrets it held. The only thing that mattered was getting his friend to his wife. “Where is she?”

Jace sat in the passenger seat his leg bouncing, his hands clasped tight with worry. “County.”

Drew floored the accelerator towards the hospital. The thought of Lucy hurting broke his heart. She was like a sister and then he got an idea. He turned to Jace. “Call Lauren.”

Jace’s eyes grew large as understanding dawned and he took out his phone and dialled, putting it on speaker for Drew.

“Hello.”

“Lauren, you need to get to the hospital, now.”

“What, why?”

Drew heard the terror in her voice and regretted his wording and delivery. “It’s Lucy, she’s bleeding. They think she might lose the baby. Can you help her?”

The split second she took to answer must have felt like a lifetime to Jace. “I can try. I’m on my way.”

“Lauren, make sure you have someone bring you. I don’t want you vulnerable with the threat we have at the moment.”