Chapter Eight| Eliana
"I don't think you understand. Baker doesn't stick to one place, the orphanage no longer exists after the breach, I was moved somewhere else." I explain to King, whose plan was to find Baker's organisation, and blow it to pieces. Only it's not that simple. "He's good at hiding his tracks."
"And where was this new place you were moved to?" He questions me.
"I don't know." King frowns and tilts his head. "Every time I needed to enter, or leave the premises, I was drugged. I haven't been there for over five years as I was able to move into an apartment that Baker provided for me." I awkwardly ring my fingers, because it hits me how sad my life has been. How I've never had the freedom because I was always watched.
"Well, is it in the country at least?" I nod my head. "Right, well things have gotten more complicated than I would have wanted."
"He does have an office at a strip club not far from here. That's where I usually meet him if needed." Reid's body tenses behind me, and I turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. "What is it?"
His jaw tics and he shakes his head.
"It's nothing."
"Me and the girls could go there now and see if he's there —"
"No, you can't. He hasn't heard from you for a few days now, so he'll know something isn't right. I'll send Tank and Brick to scope the place, you will have to stay out of sight." King orders.
"Does that mean I can't leave this place?" The thought of being cooped up in one place for too long sends a shiver through my body because despite being locked away for most of my life, the past few years I was allowed some freedom to go wherever, even if I was watched.
"You can leave, as long as you're with someone else, but I would advise you to stay away from places where you feel like you could be seen by the wrong kind of people. I don't need them following you home, and hurting my family, I have a four-year-old son to think about too." I nod my head in understanding.
"I'll be with her at all times." Reid steps up beside me, and then laces our fingers together. I stare down at our hands, and the back of my eyes burn with tears. He squeezes my hand and I squeeze his back, eventually finding the courage to look up at his face. He gives me a reassuring smile and I return the gesture.
"Right, any of you hear or see anything it gets reported back to me." Nods and yeses fill the room, and then King kindly tells us to fuck off, so we all exit the office one by one.
As I round the corner I bump into a shorter black woman, who looks to be a few years older than me.
"Oh, so sorry." She squeaks.
"My fault, I wasn't looking where I was going." I laugh lightly.
"This is Mabel, my dad's wife." Reid introduces the sweet woman to me, and my eyes widen.
Because for one, she can only be in her early thirties, two, she looks way too sweet to be killing people for a living, and three, she's fucking gorgeous.
"Lovely to meet you." I hold my hand out, but her short frame pulls me into a tight hug, and I hear Reid chuckle behind me as I have to crouch down to an awkward angle to embrace her.
We pull away from the hug and she grabs hold of my hands and throws me a sympathetic smile. "It gets easier, sweetie. Those evil people who steal what's rightfully ours, pay for what they've done." I gasp at what comes out of her mouth. "Baker will pay." Her face hardens, and she squeezes my arms before disappearing behind the door to King's office.
"Mabel went through what we did?" I spin around to question Reid, and he sighs with a subtle nod. "How did she meet King?"
Reid leads me back upstairs toward his bedroom and sits me down on the edge of the bed, sitting beside me.
"Six years ago. She was like you, stuck with a sick man who would control her. She was sent to kill King. He was at his most vulnerable because he had just lost his wife at the time, my stepmother, Adelaide. She died of cancer." Reid smiles sadly, and this time I reach out for his hand and lace our fingers together.
"Is Adelaide the mother to Creed, Antonio and Amelia?" I ask gently.
"Yes. Losing Adelaide was one of the darkest times in King's life, he was so sure he couldn't move on from her, and he thought he would struggle to carry on with life. He didn't care if he got hit by a bus the next day, he didn't care at all. He went to a bar one night, drunk out of his mind. It was the same night Mabel had been given orders to kill him." I gasp lightly.
"She attempted to kill him, but thankfully his head was still screwed on slightly. He tried to kill her, but instead told her to leave to which she did. He didn't think much of it, and he never saw her again until a year later. They met again, in different circumstances, both recovering from grief, so they took comfort in each other."
"Who did Mabel lose?"
"Her older brother. He was the only family that she had left." My heart breaks for the woman. "King and her slept together and she fell pregnant with my little brother, Louis. He helped Mabel kill the man who had controlled her whole life, but he wasn't very present throughout her pregnancy, something he regrets deeply, but he was still grieving."
"She was alone?"
Reid shakes his head rapidly. "She had the rest of us, she stayed here, and we helped. She nearly died giving birth to Louis, and it was like something switched in King when he saw his son, it's like he saw a new sense of life. He loved the little boy like he loves us, and eventually as the years went on, he fell in love with Mabel too." My eyes water at their story.
"They both deserve happiness, losing someone you love so dearly is the hardest thing," I speak gently, and feel Reid grab hold of my face to turn my head to look at him. The look on his face tells me he knows exactly what I'm on about because we lost each other, and at that time we were all each other had.
"It will be okay, little butterfly."
"You don't know that, Reid. Baker is still out there, and this will only go one side's way, either ours or his, and I truly don't think you all understand how much he is capable of." I say, nibbling nervously on my bottom lip.
"What do you mean?"
"He has people like us out there, who have nothing to lose. There are people with much better skills than us who will follow his orders and kill. These assassins have been conditioned to only kill. They know nothing else, Reid. They don't have any feelings; they can't feel emotions. They're dead inside." My hand tightens around his, and I stare at him with wide panicked eyes.
"Did something happen to you?" I nod my head. "One of them tried to kill you?"
"Yes. In the facility, I caught one of them off guard and they tried to strangle me to death. It was so scary, Reid, because deep down although her green eyes were void, I could tell she was scared. A little bit of her was still there, but Baker had killed her for hurting me, and I feel like it was all my fault." I whimper. "I didn't mean to startle her."
"No, no, no, baby. Not your fault, never your fault. It's all Baker's fault, my sweet butterfly." I sniffle and wrap my arms around his muscular body, inhaling his comforting scent. "Never your fault, baby. Always remember that for me, okay?" He pulls back and I nod my head, falling back into his warm embrace that I've missed so much.
•••
I'm walking down one of the corridors to this huge house, minding my own business when I bump into Antonio.
He grimaces, and I grimace back.
"Ew, it's you." He speaks sassily and I raise my brows at the teenager.
"You're so fucking rude."
"I know."
"You're making me feel claustrophobic." Antonio glances around the spacious area and then turns his eyes back onto me.
"Are you like....How do I say this? All there?" He taps his finger on the side of his head, his face all serious.
I purse my lips.
Am I all there?
"Yeah?" I answer, but it sounds very much like I've just asked him a question.
"Oh, because Reid isn't. He was diagnosed with some mental illness years ago, I don't remember what it was called but he has to take medication for it. I assumed it would be the same for you because you were a little insane when we first met, not gonna lie to you." My mouth drops open at the boy's casual ramble.
He grins and goes on with his day leaving me to stand alone in the corridor shocked.
But not because he's just called me insane, but what he just said about Reid.
A/N
So as of now I'm thinking to make the schedule for this book, Mondays and Wednesdays 🖤