LOGINAiden“I’m coming with you.” I step in front of Cary, wanting him to see exactly how serious I am.“No.” Cary growls. He’s taken his jacket off. His hair is messier than I’ve ever seen it. “You’re not coming.”“I know what that fucker said, but it doesn’t matter.That’s my girlfriend. I’m coming.”“If Aiden is coming, then I’m coming too,” Ginny quips. Violet, who has finally decided to get her shit together, adds. “They are right, Mr Thompson. Going alone is suicide. We have to come with you.”“Excuse me, sir.” Vincent is the most distraught of all of us. I guess it’s different for him. He was tasked with ensuring the Thompson heir’s safety and he failed at that. I can see how that would be torturing the shit out of him. “These three are right. You can’t go alone.”“You heard Horace.” Cary clutches the bridge of his nose, his face contorting in pain. “If I don’t go alone, he’s going to kill her.”“Horace is a piece of shit,” Vincent spits the words out with all the venom he can muste
Aiden“I’m coming with you.” I step in front of Cary, wanting him to see exactly how serious I am.“No.” Cary growls. He’s taken his jacket off. His hair is messier than I’ve ever seen it. “You’re not coming.”“I know what that fucker said, but it doesn’t matter.That’s my girlfriend. I’m coming.”“If Aiden is coming, then I’m coming too,” Ginny quips. Violet, who has finally decided to get her shit together, adds. “They are right, Mr Thompson. Going alone is suicide. We have to come with you.”“Excuse me, sir.” Vincent is the most distraught of all of us. I guess it’s different for him. He was tasked with ensuring the Thompson heir’s safety and he failed at that. I can see how that would be torturing the shit out of him. “These three are right. You can’t go alone.”“You heard Horace.” Cary clutches the bridge of his nose, his face contorting in pain. “If I don’t go alone, he’s going to kill her.”“Horace is a piece of shit,” Vincent spits the words out with all the venom he can muste
Willow“Cary Thompson,” Horace Smith preens, buzzing with sheer excitement. “It’s been a minute.”“Horace.” My dad sounds terrified, already guessing what this call is all about. “You havr her, don’t you?”“You never miss a thing.” Horace snickers. “You’re right, old friend. I have your precious daughter. She’s here with me. Having dinner.”“I swear to the moon goddess, Horace. If I find out that you’ve touched even the slightest hair on her head—““Then what?” The humour is gone from his voice. He sounds menacing. “You’re in no position to be making demands from me, you fucker.”Dad exhales sharply. “What do you want? What would it take for you to release her?”“Not so fast Cary,” Horace is back to smiling. “It’s not about releasing her. I mean, I could let her go and she’d still be very well in danger.”“What is that supposed to mean?”“The poison,” he drawls, enuciating each word slowly. “It’s still very much in her system. Without the antidocte, she won’t be able to make it past 4
AidenThe longer I sit with the fact that Willow is missing, the bigger my guilt grows. I had fought with her. Made her cry. Ignored her for days, all because of some stupid audio file.To think that I had wasted all of those precious days staying away from her. Now, I would give anything just to have her back. To hold her. To get on my knees and apologize for being such a moron.Vincent’s crew gets to the flat almost the same time as me and my group. The flat is empty. Everything is way too clean. Whoever used to live here, it’s no doubt that they’d left in a hurry. “We need to contact the landlord and get the name of the former inhabitants of this space.” Vincent leaves for the doorway, no doubt to talk to the neighbours.Ginny calls out to him. “What if they already got to him and wiped his memory? I mean, there’s a reason why we can’t deduce their identities, even though we’re here.”“Only one way to find out.” He leaves. “Hey.” Ginny approaches me; lowers her voice to a whisp
Willow“Miss Willow Thompson. Come.” Horace Smith holds out his hands, like a royal addressing a subject at court. He holds himself stiffly. Posture regal. Lips stretched in what I can only describe as a sinister smile.He’s old. Probably mid-seventies. He’s got salty hair and wrinkles on his face. But he’s sharp. Not even his old age can take away from how intimidating he is.I make my feet move. They are bare. These scary assholes didn’t bother to provide me with shoes. They must have done it on purpose. A calculated move to make me feel inferior and self conscious. Fuck that. I hold my head high. Horace closes the space between us. He taked my hands in his and kisses my knuckles. His lips are dry and papery. There’s nothing pervy about the kiss and yet, it sends a shudder down my spine. “I’ve been on the edge of my teeth for several hours, waiting to meet the great Thompson heir.” He says the last part mockingly. “I’ve prepared this spread for you. You’ll join me for dinner
WillowI am finally being moved upstairs. Turns out my holding cell isn’t a warehouse but a storage unit connected to a much larger mansion.I haven’t seen Garrett Smith since he physically assaulted my face. Gideon is the one who comes back to announce that I am being moved upstairs.I do not ask questions. I remain quiet and do as I’m asked, trusting that my family will find me soon.In the mansion, we pass through a series of double doors before we come to the grand staircase. I don’t know who lives here but they’ve got to be pretty important. A house like this must be worth over half a billion.Not that I know a lot about real estate. I just have an inkling of the worth of this great big house, gleaming with gold fixtures.I climb up the stairs, following Gideon’s lead. There are two extra guards behind me and I can feel their beady eyes leering at my back view. Whatever they are thinking, it makes me shudder.No. They aren’t going to do anything sexually abusive to me. From what
WILLOWThere’s no flashy announcement; no grand prelude before you die. Everything just goes static. White noise fills your head. The people screaming in your face feel like supporting actors in a bad play. There’s actually a sense of peace— a peace so euphoric— right before you go under. ***I d
WILLOW“What? Dad, what are you talking about?” For a moment there, I think i may have misheard my dad. There’s no way he just said what I think he said. Aiden is silent. It means my dad has managed to take him by surprise as well. “Isn’t it true?” Cary looks between us. “Am I wrong in saying tha
WILLOWI wouldn’t go as far as to call myself the kind of girl who goes out seeking danger. I know there are people out there, who get off on trying all kinds of exhilarating, dangerous stuff, but not me.Somehow though, I’ve ventured into the last place I thought I would ever go to. An illegal fi
WILLOWThe last time I had spoken to Aiden was at an Omega party. He had smiled at me flirtatiously, pouring me a beer. That was a year ago, few weeks after I’d started dating Theo.And because I knew how hostile both brothers were towards each other, I didn’t let myself linger at the alcohol stand







