Objective (Bloodlines #2)(77)

“House...” he mumbles, so I stop and wait. “Southern point of Lake Saint Francis.” I pummel his face twice more for good measure before climbing off him and running to Bentley.

“I’m so sorry,” I sob at his handsome face. He says nothing but his eyes say he understands. I turn and jog to the car. He left the keys in it. I punch in Lake Saint Francis on the GPS and take off.

I reach the southernmost part of the lake an hour and a half later. There is only one house for miles. I slowly creep by to make sure I’m not going to be ambushed. Nothing. There are no lights on and only one car in the drive. I park down the road a bit and walk quietly up to the side of the house and peer in the windows. Nothing. The house is empty. I trot around to the front and check out the car from a distance but there are no people sitting it. Where is he? I push through the front door and into a kitchen. I flick the lights on and look around. I slow my breathing down and listen for noises. Faint mumbling. “Cane!” I scream and move towards the sound. At the back of the house is a three-season porch, and I stumble over something on the floor and fall flat on my face. I panic and scurry to the opposite wall. A pained groan filters through the air. I crawl towards it and reach above the lump on the floor to find the light switch.





Chapter 25





“Hearts are breakable, and I think even when you heal, you’re never what you were before.”- Cassandra Clare


“Cane!” I shriek. He lies in a bloody mess on the floor, is face beaten almost beyond recognition and a gaping wound that looks like a shotgun shot near his hip. I scoop him up into my arms as tears stream down my face.

“Please. Please don’t leave me,” I plead, holding him to me.

“I waited. I waited for you,” he mumbles groggily.

“I woke up every morning to the ghost of you. I love you. I love you. It’s only been six days you can’t leave me again now,” I sob.

“It was always you,” he whispers. “I’d give up everything for just another second with y…” he gurgles. The sound is repulsive. Visions of blood filling his lungs, strangling him of oxygen, rape my mind. I shriek with horror as his eyes gently close. I shake him violently to wake him up and keep him with me but I know he’s gone. His head hangs limply over the crook of my arm and he’s heavy in my lap.

So heavy.

Dead weight.

I would give up every last breath just to make it all right but it’s too late to go back. My soul feels black and empty. I’m vacant. Destroyed. I try to scoot us backward so I can lean against the wall and hold him but he won't budge. In frustration I slam the floor next to me and he slips from my hold. I take in his body, it doesn’t even look like him. His hip and lower torso look like tenderized meat. His face is swollen with gaping wounds and bloody. His hair is crusty and disheveled. His ankle is chained to the wall next to the door. He never had a chance.

My hands and arms and legs are covered in his blood. My stomach revolts at the sight of it and I vomit all over the floor. Sirens blare in the distance. I don’t want them here. I don’t want anyone to touch him. I thought I could save him but instead I killed him twice. Once his heart and the second time his body. I wrap myself around him and hold on as tightly as I can through my violent trembling. Just let me die. Please just let me die too. I can’t do this again. Darkness seeps through the cracks of my heart, rearranging who I am permanently.

ATF swarms the house, probably sad to find nothing but me clinging to a dead body. Three of them try to coax me away from him but it’s not until they let Aster in that I can move. I wipe a hand across my face to remove tears and snot. I shift from Cane’s body to hers and wrap myself around her. I taste blood, metallic and revolting. It makes me gag.

“Shh. Shh. It will be okay,” she coos into my hair. I want to tell her that it won't. It can’t be okay, but my voice is frozen in my throat. She moves us to an ambulance where they treat me for shock on the long drive to the hospital. I’m so cold.

Hollow.

She holds my hand and talks softly to me the entire ride but I can’t really hear what she's saying. Nothing makes sense. It seems like an indefinite amount of time has passed when I feel the ambulance lurch to a stop. I let the black char of my heart drip into my soul. I don’t want to fight it. Not anymore. The back doors fly open and Bentley jumps up and into the cab and pulls me to him. I don’t have the wherewithal to hug him back. My arms hang limply at my sides as he presses my head into his chest. He’s so warm. I don’t want his warmth. I don’t want anyone to speak. I wish everyone would just disappear and leave me alone.

They move me to a room and treat the various scrapes and lacerations from injuries over the past twenty four hours. My right hand is broken from punching Ezra repeatedly. The nurse works silently to stabilize it. I don’t move. I don’t wince from the pain. I don’t feel as if I’ve even taken a breath.

“She needs witsec. Ezra won't stop till she's dead and has connections, even in prison. I promised Cane I'd take care of her. I promised myself I’d keep her safe.” I hear Bentley trying to reason with Aster just outside the room. He sounds wrecked. Decimated. Like my heart. Like my soul.

“No she needs family!” Aster snaps.

“You’re the only one she has who knows she's still alive! It’s better this way,” he barks back at her.