Page 116 of Chained

"Jax—" Adrian tries to talk me out of the trance I'm in, but it's hopeless.

"Where is she, Adrian? Where the fuck is she?" I circle around the room, pulling books from the drawer and launching them at the wall. The spine splits with force, and pages scatter on the floor as a growl tears through my throat, repeating the same question again.

"Where the fuck has he taken her?"

"I don't…" He looks around the room. "I don't know."

I force myself to stand despite my knees trying to buckle. A part of me, no, the part of me she sees, the human part. The part that feels something is trying so hard to break, to crumble, but I can't. Because that part isn't who will find her. That part isn't the one who will wrap their hands around beating hearts and crush them between their fingers just to find her.

Every part of me feels her inside this room. Every second I'd held her in my arms, my lips tingling with the way hers had felt against mine. Her voice, fuck, her voice filling my ears.

I don't see a monster, Jax. If that's the answer you're looking for, I don't see it. I don't see the executioner you and everyone else claims you are. Whenever you're close, I don't feel scared, I don't feel terrified. Your eyes don't make me feel like you're trying to claim every inch of my skin.

I should have got her out then. I should have took her hand and walked her straight out the fucking gates and let her go, but then a darker, more selfish part of my mind creeps forward, filling my ears.

But if you'd have let her go, you'd never have had a taste. You'd have never had the chance to truly know her. I can't even argue with the voice in my head because deep down, I know meeting her changed everything for me. She came into this manor his captive, but somehow, she ended up being my light in this fucking darkness. A life raft that I never knew how desperately I needed. Fuck, I miss her. I miss her face, her laugh, her fucking sarcasm. I should have killed him that night I hid under the bed. I should have stopped being the fucking compliant coward I've been for the last fourteen years, and I should have made him choke on the barrel of my gun.

"We'll find her, Jax," Adrian whispers, dragging me from my thoughts, his hand clasping my shoulder. "Jarrod, go search the cameras. See what you can find."

Every image of what could be happening to her plays in my mind on fucking repeat. I can't get it out, no matter how much I close my eyes. No matter how much I try to force another image, I can see him between her thighs. His dagger to her throat. For once, the rage that's coursing through my veins isn't hot. It isn't scalding against my skin—it's ice cold. It's freezing me in this moment where the sound of her sobs turn into screams. I can't hear what the others are saying, I can't hear anything but her.

"What happens when we do?" Jarrod whispers. "We can't go against Vincent, he'll kill us all."

"If Jax is intent on getting himself killed for this girl, Jarrod, we do what we've always done. We go to war with him," he says through gritted teeth, his words only piling onto the guilt I'm already suffocating in.

Beams of light shine through the balcony window as Jarrod hovers at the threshold. Multiple cars pulling up, tyres crunching over the gravel.

"What the—?" Adrian says, moving closer to the balcony. He opens the doors, the wind blowing harshly into the room. I follow beside him, matching his confusion and curiosity. My eyes widen as I see them in the car park. Six large blacked-out SUVs, men in black outfits, masked, and carrying guns that I'd only ever seen hung up on the training room wall on their shoulders.

"Adrian," I snap at his side, his eyes not moving. His face pales under the moonlight, hands trembling against the railing. "What is this, Adrian, who are they?"

"De Lucas. They're De Lucas. We gotta warn everyone," Adrian says, his feet rushing him through the room. "Jarrod—go to your room. Send out warnings to everyone's phones and begin to shut down the west side of the manor. No lights, no fucking electricity. Nothing. Got it?"

Just like that, his fear is quickly replaced by action as he begins dishing orders like a war general to his troops. Jarrod nods, gripping his phone tightly in his hand. His eyes catch mine, and I respond with a nod. One look tells me everything I need to know, everything I've always known.

Stay safe. Stay alive. Make it home.

He sets off into a sprint down the corridor, and Adrian begins to walk out to follow. I grip him by the arm, pulling him to face me. "Adrian, I have to find her." Our eyes settle on each other before his shoulders sag.

"Don't die. You hear me? Don't die for her. Our lives mean more." He smacks his hand against my cheek affectionately before moving out of the room, his boots thudding against the floor as he quickly moves through the manor.

Screams begin to slowly crawl through the air from the main lobby, followed by the sharp sound of gun shots. I'm running out of time. "I'm coming, Amora. I swear to God, I'm coming," I whisper between each heart-wrenching scream. Sliding my gun from my jacket pocket, my heart beats so loud I can feel it in my throat as I push myself through the threshold and out into the chaos.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Amora

The smell of sand and salt brushes through my nose as the wind blows through my hair. The sun high in the sky, shining down on my skin as I walk along the seafront. I see them, Mum and Rosa walking ahead, hand in hand. A smile sits on my face. We did it. We're finally free.

I try to follow them, to catch up and embrace them, but my feet are caught in the sand that begins to suck me in, wrapping itself like a blanket around my legs as I sink further and further. I try to scream, but nothing comes out no matter how hard I try to force it. I keep sinking until the sand is up to my waist, climbing up my chest and pressing deep, making it harder to breathe. I look up, the sun so bright it stings my eyes.

Then the lid opens.

"Oh, little dove, you're in such a mess." Melina's voice tears me from the dream, my chest rising and falling quicker than ever before. The light above burns into my pupils as I try to open my eyes through the swelling.

I'm pulled from the box by two guards and placed onto a chair, my whole body on fire with a pain I'd never felt before. Every bone, every muscle, every inch of my skin is aching, bruised, and torn.

I'd fallen asleep or I'd passed out—either way, I don't know how much time has passed. Do they know Rosa's gone? Did she make it out? Every question that runs through my head is unanswered, leaving a bullet-size hole in my heart that will never heal, not until I see her again. Not until I know she's okay.