Chapter Forty Three

Brielle's POV

“Walk out with me slowly,” He whispered, hoarsely.

“Don't try anything smart with me girl,I'm not in the mood,”

“Kidnapping? Again, really?” I voiced to myself as I walked beside him to the exit. He looked baffled, uncomfortably on edge as he stood close to me.

“Yo, kitten!” Zane's voice erupted behind me.

“Where do you think you are going? We need to get back inside, brainstorming and all,”

“Be natural,” Romero muttered quietly.

I turned to see a concerned expression on Zane's face as he held onto the wound by his side. He really looked beat and with Romero history with substances, I knew he would kill Zane out of desperation. That wasn't an outcome I can live with.

“I just wanted some air, that's all,” I replied to him with a smile. Romero walked ahead a few paces, far enough to avoid suspicion but close enough to act.

“The last time you needed air, you got kidnapped. That's not happening, get back in the room,” He shot back.

“Please, Zane,” I said softly, looking into his concerned eyes deeply, hoping he understood my reasons without pushing so hard.

“I really need to go out for air,”

“What's going on with you? You are acting weird,” He tried coming closer.

“Stay back!” I snapped, causing the staff around to turn to the scene.

“I know you love Angelina, I know you want her pregnant. I need air to think about it,”

My words left him starstruck and confused, I walked out immediately, not giving him a chance to respond. But I was sure he understood what I was trying to put across.

“Good work,” Romero whispered as he walked behind me out of the hospital.

“Get into the red van,”

I was walking to the passenger’s seat when he grunted.

“No! The driver's seat, you are driving,”

I sat behind the steering, for the first time in years. I had almost forgotten how good it felt like to be in control of a direction.

“Do you know the park’s old refinery?” He asked.

“Drive there and slowly, I don't want to pull attention,”

“Then why are you doing this?” I asked, pushing all my fears aside as I turned on the car.

“To stay alive,” He responded with a terrifying look.

“Now drive!”

*****

I parked in the space at the old refinery. It was late and dark, everything was spooky and placed me at edge. I could barely catch my breath as I joined him in alighting the car.

“Why are we here?”

“I have been hiding here since I came to town, it's a spit no one would find me,” His voice was becoming more distorted with time, might had been a side effect from the substance he was in.

“Come,”he pulled me into the old shed and he was right, the place was set and arranged like a room. It reminded me of my old bunk in college but a lot messier.

The walls had pictures and torn out news headlines of the deaths of the royals and the mysterious deaths that were dated years back to their time in the club.

“What's all these?” I asked , examining each of the content on the wall.

“My mama was a detective,” He answered, his voice shivering as he popped some pills into his mouth.

“I picked up a few from her. I gathered all the things I felt were connected to their deaths and I know the rest of us alive aren't safe,”

“What,” I muttered when I noticed a writing on the wall.

“Why did you write this?”

The words were WHO KILLED TRIVIA.

“Trivia died, she was ill and she died. That's what Lucien told me and now you are saying someone killed her,”

“Yes!” He blurted.

“Trivia's closest friend was my girlfriend. I loved Naomi so much and a few weeks before Trivia's death, she disappeared,”

“You think it's connected?”

“Is there another explanation?” He retorted.

“We are all being killed one by one, Trivia was first and the rest of us will follow. I am trying to run down a list of people that we could had pissed off but none comes to mind,”

“So this mystery person, you don't think it might be Chase from Crescent?”

“Crescent __”

“No, of course not. The deaths are tortures, a signal, a wolf bringing out their true instincts. The Alpha of Alphas might be assisting this assailant but he can't run Eclipse like how this person does. They know their ins and outs,” He replied as he brought out the files from the drawer.

The files were schematics of the people’s building, blue prints.

“The killer knew his way around them, he knew them,” He added softly as he looked at the files keenly.

“They were all together,” I muttered when I realized a stain on one of the blueprints.

“It is someone in the picture that is still alive, someone that has access to old friends, someone with schematics of their place,”

I stepped back from the table when I confirmed that the stain was blood. My heart couldn't stop racing as I backed away slowly.

“Wait,” He reacted when he noticed my countenance.

“You think I killed them? My friends, the love of my life, Trivia, you think I killed all those people? Why did I bring you here then?”

“You tell me, why am I here? For assistance_”

“The deaths started a few months back. When did you come back to Eclipse?”

“I was discharged from few months back! Stop this nonsense!” He snapped furiously.

“Come closer and take a look with me. I need someone that could go back and explain to Lucien,” He stretched out his hand to reach me and I realized what had been hiding under his hood the whole time.

There were broken cuffs on his hand with a name tag on them. The sign on it showed it was an Asylum center.

“You were discharged?” I swallowed hard.

“Not willingly,” He began scratching his scalp aggressively.

“I uh_ I took months off. I will return when I figure this case out,”

“You escaped a mental institution?”

“Do you want to announce it to the world?” He yelled his question in a way that made my heart tremble.

“I escaped to help you! I'm the good guy?”

“Romero? Where were you last night?”

“I was here, trying _” he paused abruptly, staring into the vast space with a blank look.

“I don't know where I was. I can't remember,” He scratched even harder to the point that I could smell the blood from where I stood.

“Just let me go, please,” I begged as I went slowly towards the exit. I hurried to the door to find it locked shut. I could feel his presence up close behind me, fear racing up me like a chill.

“Where do you think you are going?”