Tristan
"Heaven is currently unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?" Damien said through the phone. I had no doubt in my mind that he was being sarcastic. I knew that he had hit her. I wanted nothing more than to choke him for it but I had to stifle my boiling anger and focus on the plan.
"Yeah, tell her this," I said.
Suddenly, the alarm blasted through the entire house. The French police sprung up from their positions and ran towards the house, weapons in hand.
I looked at Yasmine, her laptop in hand. "Good job," I said. I tossed the phone at Bryson. "Stay here and man the communications. Landon, let's go!"
Hadassah grabbed my hand. "Wait! I'm coming with you!"
Landon turned on his wife, his eyes blazing with anger. "Hell no! Stay here with Bryson and Yasmine."
"My sister is in here!" She said as she narrowed her eyes at my brother. "There is no way in hell I'm going to stay here and let you two be macho men and play Thor and Hulk! I know how to fight. I am going in there!"
"Well, if she's going, I'm going too," Yasmine stated, her eyes daring Bryson to object.
I did not have time for this. "Whatever, let's go," I said and dashed towards the house.
As soon as we realised that Damien and Alexis had taken Heaven to Paris, I called in a few favors with the police. They were skeptical at first but when I showed them the videos that Damien had so graciously sent me, they were suddenly getting on the bandwagon, calling the Parisian police. It ate at my soul that we had to wait two days to save Heaven. I wanted to storm the place to get her back but the police wanted to case the perimeter first and come up with a good, solid plan. Landon, Hadassah, Bryson, Yasmine and I sat in a van across the street from the chateau on the second day. The police had arrived in marked vans. I almost rolled my eyes. They might as well advertise their presence with a billboard. We sat in silence; our thoughts keeping us company till Damien had called my phone.
Chaos became the chateau's new best friend. Fights had broken out between the police and people all dressed in black. It seemed that Damien was expecting me to show up and had gathered an army of men and probably one or two women with weapons and explosives. We had entered Afghanistan.
Damien was on the last step of the huge staircase when the four of us entered the chateau. A backpack was strapped to his back. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, a white shirt, black jeans and red Chuck Taylors on his feet. The realisation hit me like a steam train. Damien was going to escape as the fight was ensuing. He smirked at me, catching onto my thoughts and winked at me before taking off the stairs and headed through a side door.
"Find Heaven!" I yelled at Hadassah and my sister. "Landon, come on!"
I took off through the door that Damien ran through. The door led to the kitchen. The place was neat and tidy with the newest kitchen appliances but I didn't care about the décor. A frosted glass door that led outside was wide open. Landon and I burst through it, entering what looked to be a maze in a big garden. I forgot about the garden and the maze. Cursing loudly, Landon and I plowed on.
Four foot tall brick walls held back the million flowers that surrounded Landon and I but that did not stop them from growing over the walls. I pushed an overgrown rose bush out of my face, my eyes daring everywhere as I looked for signs of Damien. A crunching sound rang through my ears and I turned to Landon, placing my fingers over my lips signalling him to be quiet. The sound echoed again to my right. I knew it was him, trying to hide. I sprinted through a passage, just in time too, to see Damien try to quietly sneak towards the end. If it were not for the dead, dried leaves on the stony ground, I would not have heard him as it seemed that this was the exit to the maze.
Knowing this information, I yelled, "Damien! Stop!"
He turned to me and smiled. "Come and get me, little brother!" He yelled back and again took off before I could get close to him.
I growled and raced after him. I had no clue if Landon had followed after me. I was too focused on getting Damien and making pay for what he did to Heaven.
The exit to the maze led to a pristine beach with rich sand and clear, calming sea water. Palm trees shrouded the area a bit. White chaises sat underneath the small jungle. There was an old dock with a yacht tied to it. I spotted Damien on the dock. This was his getaway.
I ran towards the dock, sprinting in Damien's direction just as he was nearing the yacht. I pushed myself, gaining speed and crashed into him, sending both of us tumbling onto the dock. I landed on his backpack which cushioned my fall a little bit but I couldn't say the same for Damien. With me on top of him, he hit the ground hard. His pained groan made me smirk.
Suddenly, Damien's elbow landed in my side with a painful blow. I rolled off of him, clutching my side. Opening my eyes that I didn't even know I had closed, I saw Damien throw off his backpack and shake his head at me as he pulled out an army knife from his pants leg and climbed on top of me.
"You know, Tristan, I'm quite impressed that you found me. I liked the alarm trick. Threw me off guard," he said casually as he ran the knife slowly across my cheek. I gritted my teeth, feeling him dig the knife into my skin.
"I'm glad you had fun," I spat. "You hurt her. Why?"
He smirked. "I said I was going to break you...and I did. Tell me, did you enjoy her initiation? I certainly did."
I squirmed under him, struggling to get him off of me as my anger reached its boiling point. "You didn't have to rape her!" I yelled.
Damien sighed like a parent when they had had enough of their child's antics and raised his hand, slashing the knife across my face. A scream left my lips. Pain surfaced on my face. I could feel blood drip from the gash into my mouth.
"This is not the time to yell, Tristan," he said slowly. "I hold all the cards." He smiled and waved the bloodied knife in my face.
"No, you don't" a voice said behind him.
Damien barely turned before he was knocked off of me, the force of impact sending him sprawling onto the dock. Landon stood over me, Damien's backpack clutched tightly in his hand and a very serious expression etched in his face. I sighed in relief. Landon held out his hand to me but before I could accept it, Damien attacked him, the two of them tumbling to the ground. I sprung up from the dock and ran towards where they were fighting. The edge of the dock.
Damien was straddling my brother, sending blow after blow into his face. My arm shot around Damien's neck, dragging him off of Landon and his almost bloodied face. Damien struggled against me as he tried to pull my grip from his neck but I held on tighter. Landon got up and began to throttle Damien with punches his stomach. Hearing his groans and yelps satisfied me. He deserved this....and much more.
When Landon was about to throw another punch to his stomach and rib cage area, he elbowed me in my mouth, causing me to lose my grip on his neck. Tumbling to the floor, I watched with wide eyes as Damien placed a kick to Landon's chest. The momentum sent him tripping over his feet and spiraling off the dock.
"Landon!" I yelled.
Damien grunted in happiness and shot past me, heading back to the maze.
I shot up to my feet and raced towards the edge. A relieved sigh escaped my lips when I saw his head floating above the water.
"Go get him!"
Doing as he said, I ran after Damien, racing off the beach and following his obvious path through the maze. I ran through the kitchen and burst through the door only to stop short. Yasmine and Hadassah stood to one side with open mouths. Police officers had their guns drawn. Turning my head, my eyes widened. Damien was in the room and so was Heaven. He was standing behind her, using her as a shield. A gun was pressed into her side.
My heart fluttered in my chest. This was the first time I had laid eyes on her in a week. Her raven black hair was pulled into a loose braid. Tendrils of hair fell into her face. Her skin had lost its rich tan; she looked pale, almost ghost like. Dark circles became good friends with her eyes. Her cheeks were red. There was a yellow bruise on her jaw; it looked like an old injury. Damien had her neck in a vice grip. She looked right at home in a yellow tank top and denim shorts. My eyes narrowed when I saw slight bruising on her ankle. All in all, she looked perfect.
"Ah, Tristan, how nice of you to join us," Damien taunted from behind Heaven.
I took my place in front of the police. This was my fight. This was between Damien and I and as soon I got Heaven out of harm's way, I was going to put several bullets into his black heart. Hadassah and Yasmine came to stand on either side of me. I could they were scared out of their minds by the slight tremble to their bodies so I pushed them behind me and step forward, pulling out the gun that I had taken from a police officer for protection once I proved to him that I knew how to use it and pointed at Damien and Heaven. The gun was just for show. There was no way I would pull the trigger with Heaven in the way.
"Let her go, Damien," I said, my teeth gritting to stop myself from emptying the gun into his body.
"I don't think I can," he said. I knew he was smirking behind her, I could see the curve of his lips. "How are you, baby? Missed me?" he whispered in her ear. It was meant to be a soft question but said it loud enough from me to hear. More ammunition for me to hate him even more. I certainly hated the way her spoke to her. Like she was his.
Heaven flinched and turned her head away. "Not on your life," she spat.
He cackled and I gripped the gun. I hated the sound. "I take it Carlos is dead if you're down here," he said.
Heaven still had her head turned in another direction but she said nothing.
"Here are my terms, Tristan. I will let your precious gift go if you tell your lapdogs behind you to drop their weapons and let me leave peacefully through the front door and of course, provide me with transportation."
Once again, he gave me an ultimatum. Heaven's life for his freedom. I had to consider all options. If I let him go free, he would still be able to torment and haunt me for the rest of my life. If I didn't, he would kill Heaven in front of me. I knew he would do it; he was psychopathic enough. This was a hard decision.
"Don't do it, Tristan," I heard Heaven whisper.
I stared into her green eyes, wishing that I could put the sparkle back into them. "I have to, Heaven. To save you," I said, my voice was firm but I couldn't help the sadness that leaked into it. Heaven was my everything. If a chance for her to be free came along, I would gladly take it, no questions asked.
She shook her head. "You don't have to do anything." Tears were now running down her beautiful face. She took a deep breath, her eyes never leaving mine. "I would rather die than watch him walk through that door alive."
I was about to say something when she elbowed Damien in his stomach. His hand that held the gun to her side trembled. Damien groaned and his grip on her loosened. I stepped forwards, ready to snatch Heaven away from him when she twisted her body and launched herself at him, the gun disappearing between the two of them. Suddenly, the gun went off.
Heaven's body jerked and she slowly turned around. My breathing became heavy as my heart furiously pounded in my chest. Heaven touched her stomach with her hand. When she pulled it away, I almost screamed in terror. Her slender fingers were coated in blood. She looked at me, a small smile on her face before she slumped to the ground.
Furious, I turned my gaze towards my brother who was standing over Heaven's body. He was bared to me. Without any regret or remorse, I clicked off the safety and pulled the trigger, emptying the contents of the gun into his body.
As soon as the last bullet hit his chest, he slumped to the floor.
Dead.