Wild Side [h.s au]

Chapter 44

"Not here," she says firmly. "Let's talk somewhere else."

. . . .

Anne pulls out a leather wheeling chair at one end of he table in the conference room, sitting down. She motions for me to take a seat as well, but I only let out a sarcastic laugh and stand at the other, far end of the table. I want to have as much distance from this woman as possible. The woman who left me, my brother, and my father when I was fourteen to become this, I suppose.

"Where is David?" I demand. The thought he's alive and well brings a strong sense of relief to me. I didn't lose another person I care about after all.

"That's all you want to know?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.

"I don't know if you figured it out, Anne, but I couldn't care less about you and the fact you're leading this base." I glare at her. "I only want to know where is my father. You know, the person who has been taking care of me for all these years after you left? The one who has never given up on me? Tall, blue eyes, probably with a stack of cigars glued to his ass. Yeah, that man."

She stays silent for almost a minute, not taking her eyes off me. "David is recovering. When he was released from Vortex, he was in a really bad shape, and my men brought him to me. I knew he was there beforehand, I have a few of my soldiers keeping a close eye on Vortex."

My eyes widen for a second as I process her words, deciding to focus on what's important to me at the moment. "How is he now? I want to see him."

"You should know he's not the saint you think he is," Anne tells me as she stands up, slowly starting to approach me. "A while after I left, I tried to reach you and your brother to let you know where I am. But David wouldn't allow me to go near Hazard nor did he want you to know where I am, no matter how hard I was pleading with him. I-"

"Okay that is really low, talking shit about him when he's not here to defend himself," I interrupt her. "This just shows what kind of a person you are, do you honestly think you can turn me against dad? I think the fuck not."

"And I believe I've told you already I'm not interested in your shitty sob stories, nothing can change what you did," I say accusingly. "Oh, and too bad Zayn can't hear it, did you know he was killed in a battle two years ago?"

Saying it so bluntly brings a strong wave of pain through me, but I manage to keep my expression emotionless, pushing away the sadness and focusing on my anger instead. Anne, however, is visibly shaken up, her lips trembling slightly as she casts her gaze down.

"Yes, I heard about that. And I'm so terribly sorry." She looks up at me again, eyes slightly glossy, but she sheds no tears.

"Oh give me a break, you don't deserve to cry, you gave up on him too. And I'm sure David did all that to protect us from more pain." My hands ball into tight fists. I'm slightly angry at him for keeping this away from me, but I'm sure he did it for the reason I've mentioned. "Now what, huh? Can you tell me what was your goal with all this charade? And what does Elena have to do with it?"

She takes a deep breath like she's trying to calm down. "Ah yes, the Vortex girl you've brought with you and her brother. They had a mission to fulfil and they have officially succeeded." I open my mouth to bombard her with questions, but she puts up her hand, silencing me. "To spare you the details of how their uncle ended up here, let's just say he found a way for both of us to get what we want. I wanted you to come to me, and he wanted Wildfire to make an alliance with Hazard that would benefit him immensely. That's where the twins come along. They wanted something else, and in order to get that, they simply needed to make that alliance possible, finding a way to persuade you into coming here. Honestly, I thought it won't happen knowing David, but I guess fate was on our side."