GRACIE
"You wanted to save your sister, why don't you die first bitch! "
My legs stilled to a stop, I stood there froze as his words replayed in my ears.
Did he just say, sister?
No, I must have gotten that all wrong, It just wasn't possible, I mean how.....
There wasn't much time to ponder over it as he was slowly draining the life out of her like a ragged doll. Any moment from now, it would be too late.
I didn't think nor hesitate.
I acted instinctively, the knife clenched tightly in my palms.
He sensed my movement and moved quickly. Not quick enough.
it was too late.
For him.
A scream of pain erupted from his mouth as the knife drove hard into his chest, I pulled out the knife, tearing another scream from him.
I closed my eyes momentarily at the nauseating sight when red liquid seeped from his cloth and into my hands.
His hands slowly slipped away from Melissa's throat. He staggered briefly, gasping breathlessly in pain before he fell gracelessly on the hard ground with a thud.
Melissa wheezed and went into a series of coughs, the color was slowly returning to her face.
She gave me a brief stare, for a moment I wasn't sure how she would react, he was still her father in a sort of way.
Our gaze communicated silently, there were so many questions running through my mind, Roberts's words still blared in my head..who had he been referring to that I looked similar to?
I would get the answers to that, but now wasn't the time nor the place.
Her gaze drifted from mine as she stared down at her father, my gaze followed her hers to the floor where he lay.
There was so much blood sipping into the floor, He wasn't dead... Yet.
Pain..... shock and regret? etched on his features as the reality sets in, he wasn't going to make it.
He was going to die. He probably was regretting the fact that he didn't manage to take anyone of us with him.
Then reality hit me like a full bucket of ice. The knife fell from my now shaky fingers with a cluttering sound.
I took a step backward as a cold shiver swept through me, chilling me deep inside my bones.
The now sticky blood in my palms glared at me, feeling me with a strange feeling of nausea ....and horror. My heart pounding furiously as I took another step backward.
I was going to be a murderer.
I knew he deserved worse, I didn't regret it, but I couldn't control the way my body soon began to tremble uncontrollably.
The effect that I just claimed a life, made my chest constricted tight.
I couldn't breathe.
I snapped out of my trance with a violent jerked when the door kicked opened, I whirled my head expecting Roberts's men, they must have heard his screams and came to get us.
Only it wasn't them.
The sight before me had me had my heart slamming hard against my ribcage.
Hayden.
He was here!
I barely noticed that It wasn't just him, the rest of them were a blur to my gaze.
"H..help me " Robert managed out, he tried to reach out to Melissa but fell back limp.
A bubble of sound escaped my throat as I sprinted towards him.
His arms wrapped around me, suffocating, crushing... But I didn't care, it was exactly what I needed. He murmured soft soothing words I couldn't make out, all I could feel was his warmth that melted the ice inside me.
How did he find us?
Oh god, I've never felt so relieved to see him.
I reached my index finger to touch his face tentatively, to assure myself that he was real.
He gave out the orders even as he caressed my hair and face gently, I guess I wasn't the only one who needed conviction.
My eyes stung as I inhaled the intoxicating smell of his cologne.
I had thought I wouldn't see these eyes again, or hear the sound of his voice.
But here he was.
As he embraced me tightly, soon everything began to get distant. The shock of everything was beginning to wear down on me.
*
HAYDEN.
The moment we busted In on them, the bitter taste of fear that had burned my insides slowly died down, replaced by a zipping bolt of relief.
She was alive, I had feared that we were too late.
I allowed myself to inhale sharply, my gaze scanning every inch of her face, her gaze was slightly glazed, like a part of her was still in a state of shock.
I tilted her chin gently to mind, her features indicated shadows of bruises, new ones and old ones alike.
My chest constricted tight, it fueled something in me to think of how she came across such.
Sebastian's voice snapped half my attention away as he barked out orders, I didn't pull away from our proximity, couldn't afford to.
"Where's Hazel ?" I asked her quietly, allowing my gaze to scan around the place that looked like a sort of storeroom.
She didn't respond for a moment, my heart pounded heavily as the sick taste of fear returned.
"Gracie, where is she? " I asked again, more slowly and less steady this time.
"She's safe, I will show you to her " a clear voice answered from behind us.
My gaze snapped towards her as she made her way towards us, My instincts flared up.
This was Melissa.
"Where did you keep my daughter! " I hissed, shoving Gracie behind me gently.
My gaze took a moment to scan her features, She looked like hell.
There were bruises all over her face and a slight limp in her walk, but that that wasn't my fucking business. I stared at Robert's form on the floor. He was barely alive, I wouldn't fucking hesitate to send his daughter along with him.
"Hayden, she's not a bad person, she is...... She helped me and kept Hazel safe"
"What are you saying ?" my gaze narrowed in both confusions, still suspicious, and even more alert.
Why was Gracie fucking defending her?
"I killed him Hayden " she whispered snapping my attention back towards her, her voice came out inaudibly, I almost didn't hear her.
Her expression was somewhat distant and cold, I've never seen such a bitter look on her before, not even when..... Okay, scratch that.
I clasped her fingers and walked over to Sebastian, a few feet away.
The bastard still wasn't dead yet, he was barely hanging on, but he was still breathing.
I had seen the look in her eyes, the way her body trembled even though she was trying to suppress it.
She would find it hard to handle it, possibly take some time to get over it.
A far more painful death was something I had in mind.
Seeing the bruises on her face wasn't something he would die without paying for.
"He isn't dead ..yet, so you didn't kill him " but I'll fuck him up real bad, a sadistic part of me added silently.
Her gaze flickered with something hard, but it was accompanied by a twinge of relief she couldn't hide.
"Then I'll finish it " our attention snapped towards Melissa as she walked over us, to meet Roberts.
Why would she want her father dead?
She'd also helped Gracie?
Her gaze was cold and bitter, it wasn't filled with remorse like Gracie's.
There were so many things lacking in information, I couldn't trust her, and I'll be damned if I allowed her to kill of Roberts by herself.
I didn't want any mistakes when he does die.
"Now hold on, take me to my daughter! "
*
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