Forget Me Not (Remember Me Series) (10 page)

I tugged the door open and Paige grabbed me, fear filling her eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She tried to struggle in my grip as she spotted the guards on the far end of the corridor.

“Chris wants her taken to be sold on… She’s no good for him.”

My voice didn’t waiver as I pushed her out further into the hall. 

“You sure? You weren’t in there for very long… What didn’t he like?”

The guard let his gaze travel up and down Paige’s body, the appreciation in his eyes evident.

I spun Paige around, displaying the red angry welts that covered the backs of her thighs.

“Chris got bored. He wants her sold on and he knows that she can’t go out there too damaged.”

The guard didn’t question me further. If he had I wasn’t sure what I’d have told him. But they all knew better than to question Christopher’s orders. Whatever he commanded was law as far as they were concerned.

Paige started to struggle.

“Wait why isn’t she coming?” She called out, her voice taking on a panicked tone.

I smiled at her. “It’s better if I stay here and tend to Chris… Make sure he has everything he needs.”

She stopped struggling, realisation about what I was doing dawning in her eyes. I had a plan and it involved Christopher never leaving this room alive. Aidan was here and if there was chance that I would get to see him again then I was willing to seize it.

Christopher was a hateful bastard. He didn’t deserve to live. I watched Paige as they took her away. I was worried for her, what if someone horrible bought her? No one could be as bad as Christopher. And at least she stood a chance of escaping… If Christopher had kept her she would have been lucky to keep her life.

Pushing the door closed softly I turned. Christopher wasn’t on the floor. I could still see the paper weight lying next to where he had been… There was a small blood stain on the rug, but no body.

I dived across the room in an attempt to make it to the paper weight. I needed a weapon, any weapon would do. If he was up and moving then I was in even bigger trouble.

His body collided into mine, driving me into the floor. I struggled against him, fighting him with everything I had in me. I scooped the paper weight up from the floor, my hand shaking with pressure as I swung it towards him. But he blocked my swing, ramming my arm back towards the floor he twisted it up underneath me.

He pulled me up from the floor and took me to the chair. His hands working quickly to secure me in place before he stood back.

“I didn’t think you had it in you, Bella. I was so sure you were broken.”

For the first time in two years I heard a flicker of uncertainty in his voice. He really had been so sure about me and I had tricked him.

“All I needed was my opportunity.”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“I’m going to retrieve Paige and then I’m going to bring her back here. I’m going to make you watch as I deal with her and then it’s your turn…”

“I’m not afraid of you, Christopher. Not anymore. Aidan is coming for me and there is nothing you can do about it. He’ll find me.”

“Maybe… But how much of you will there be left to find? Wouldn’t it be terrible for him to find you just too late?”

Fear crawled up my throat. I knew Christopher, he delighted in using people’s fears against them. All I had to do was stay strong. I just had to believe that Aidan would come for me. I just had to trust him.

Christopher walked away and made his way to the door. I waited for the tell tale click of it as it shut before I began to struggle. I fought against the bonds that held me to the chair. I struggled and fought hard enough to tip the chair onto its side. But it wasn’t good enough to free me.

When Christopher returned I was on the floor, still pinned to the seat. He dragged the chair upright and stared down at me. I could see the look of anger in his eyes. Paige had obviously gotten away. I couldn’t stop the smile that curled my lips. I knew it would piss him off and still I did it. She had escaped, gotten away from him. He wasn’t all powerful and he didn’t control everything. Two women had thwarted him.

“I don’t know why you’re smiling.”

“I’m smiling because I’m happy.”

“Happy?” He spluttered and stood up straight. “Perhaps you’ve lost your mind, Bella, and if that’s the case then it will make this a little less fun.”

“Anything that makes your life less fun is good in my book.”

He sighed and pulled the knife from the back of his jeans, the blade glinted in the artificial light of the room. He trailed it down the side of my face, pressing the blade against me until one small tear rolled down my cheek.

“I said a little less fun. But I’ll still enjoy it either way… Now you remember how to scream for me don’t you? Because I expect you to scream for me, lots… Like a good little girl.”

He pressed the blade to my throat and I closed my eyes. I could see Aidan. I imagined him finding me… And I knew that he would be too late…

Bella

How could I ask him to love me, after everything that happened? How could he look at me and still want me? I was damaged, broken beyond repair. Aidan deserved so much more than that. He deserved someone perfect, someone like him. 

Not me, never me.

I want to be selfish. I want to pretend to be right for him, smile and carry on as though nothing happened. But I’m changed. Even he has changed. I feel the darkness in him, it calls to mine but I won’t give in. I have to be strong, protect him and give him what is right and good. And that’s not me…

Not anymore.

CHAPTER NINE

Aidan - The Present

She was still alive, the constant steady beat of the heart monitor told me that but that was the only sign I had. She looked so small in the bed, small and fragile. All I wanted to do was hold her, but with all the tubes and cables surrounding her I was forced to make do with holding her hand.

Risk of brain damage… She may never wake up.

The doctor’s words swam round and around in my head until I felt dizzy. The moment he had said it I wanted to shout, to roar at him to shut up. She was a fighter, Bella was stronger than that. Against all the odds she had survived. Against all the possibilities she had come through whatever Christopher had thrown at her.

“Bella, sweetheart, please if you can hear me I just want you to wake up. Just give me something, anything to let me know you can hear me.”

There was nothing. The machines clicked and beeped in response, the only sign in the silent room that she hadn’t given up. I scrubbed my hand back across my eyes, they felt heavy and gritty from lack of sleep. I didn’t want to leave her. I couldn’t leave her not now that I’d finally found her again. She needed me here. If she woke up then I would be the first person she would see.

The door clicked open and I was immediately alert. Christopher was dead but that didn’t change my fear. I’d lost her once, what if it happened again? What if I let her down all over again and someone took her? Christopher had plenty of friends, plenty of friends in high places that were pissed off about what happened. With the cops swarming all over Freedom Island, and the girls taken into protective custody there was no mistaking what would happen. Those who could afford to get away with it would, those without the protection of billions of dollars would suffer the full wrath of law. Chances were that they wouldn’t be the worst of the offenders…

The nurse made her way into the room, she scooped Bella’s chart up from the end of the bed and began ticking boxes. I watched her carefully, my eyes taking in every little move she made. What if she wasn’t really a nurse? What if she was working for one of Christopher’s friends? It wouldn’t have been the first time Christopher had someone infiltrate our operations. Natalie’s face popped into my mind but I quickly pushed it away.

“She’s doing better today, Mr Crantree. Perhaps you should take this opportunity to get cleaned up? Get some sleep?”

She fiddled with the drip that was connected to Bella’s arm and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

“Why would I do that? If she wakes up I want to be here.”

“Oh, we’ll call you if there is any change in her.”

Her voice was cheerful and it grated across my already frayed nerves.

“No.”

My tone was gruff, angry and tense. She glanced up at me in surprise. The look in her grey eyes a little frightened. I liked it that way. I wanted people to be afraid of me, that way there was less chance of them going after the people I loved.

“I just meant it might help you feel better if…”

“I said no. If she wakes up then I want to be here. She has to know that I was here with her, no matter what. So can you please just do your job and leave me be.”

My voice was harsher than even I’d intended it to be here. Her shoulders stiffened and I could hear the distinctive catch of tears in her voice as she turned away.

“Of course.”

She scurried from the room and all of the anger simply disappeared from my body. What was I thinking? Attacking the nurses wasn’t the way to go. I had Bella back, I didn’t need to be so cruel to anyone else. I had everything that mattered to me and as long as she woke up then everything would be fine.

I pressed my lips to the back of her hand, inhaling the scent of her skin. She was still my Bella… Or at least I hoped she was. Would she still want me, after everything that had happened no one would blame her if she hated me.

Two years. Two years, I left her to suffer at that hands of that bastard. How could she forgive me for letting her down so badly? I couldn’t forgive myself, so I didn’t expect her to. Would she have changed?

It wasn’t something I’d ever allowed to penetrate my brain. In the two years that she was missing I’d only ever thought of getting her back. The only thoughts I entertained of her was the memories I held. I’d never even fully allowed myself to imagine getting her back. It had always seemed so impossible, so far out of my reach that to dream of it was to taste bitter disappointment every time I woke up.

“What are you doing here?”

Her voice was so familiar and when I turned to look at her I could see Bella in her eyes. It was weird to sit there holding Bella’s hand in mine, while I stared up at a slightly older version of her.

“I said what are you doing here, Aidan? You know you don’t belong here…”

Bella’s sister prodded me again, her parents stood behind her nodding in agreement.

“I have as much right as anyone to be here, I’m her fiancé.”

Sarah laughed. “You’ve been spouting that nonsense, since she disappeared. Don’t you think, Bella would have told us if you and her were together? Don’t you think she’d have told us about you in the first place?”

I stood, rage tingling along my spine. They’d never understood, always believing I was the reason she was gone. And they weren’t wrong… They only thing they were wrong about, dead wrong about was my feelings for Bella. I loved her more than anything else in this world. I’d given up just about everything I was to find her. My life changed the moment she entered into it and when she was taken I had done everything in my power to get her back.

“Bella, didn’t tell you everything because none of you wanted to know the real her. None of you wanted to bother with knowing her hopes or her dreams, she was meant to fit into this perfect little box that you had created for her. And that wasn’t what she was about. She didn’t tell you about me because she knew none of you would understand, it wasn’t part of your plan.”

Her father stepped in front of Sarah, his hair grey and distinguished. He was used to being the one in charge and now was no exception. When I had gone to tell them about Bella’s disappearance I had expected him to show some emotion, anything at all to let me know that he cared about her. But there hadn’t been anything. Instead, he had come across as cold, dismissive even of the danger Bella was in. And perhaps it had been a coping mechanism but after what Bella had told me about them I doubted it.

“Don’t you speak to my daughter in that manner. You know nothing of Bella’s life and I would like you to leave.”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it. I knew it came across as bitter and disrespectful. It wasn’t exactly the perfect image to portray to Bella’s parents. Her father’s face grew darker, reddening around his neck as pressure seemed to build within him. 

“I asked you to leave and all you can do is laugh at me?”

“I’m not going anywhere. The only person who will tell me to leave is Bella herself and she’s not awake yet.”

“Sarah, go and ask at the nurses station to send security in here. We appear to have someone who shouldn’t be here making a nuisance of himself.”

His voice was strained, barely holding the anger he felt towards me in check. I contemplated pushing him further. Pushing him until his calm and collected facade crumbled around him. I wanted to expose him for the bully he was but this wasn’t the place to do it.

I sat back down on the seat at Bella’s bedside, lifting her hand to my lips as I whispered to her.

“Bella, if you’re going to wake up sweetheart, now would be the time to do it. Your parents are here and I’m not sure about how much longer I’ll be able to stay with you.”

It near broke my heart to say it to her. I didn’t want her to wake up without me being there by her side. But what choice would I have. As soon as security arrived I wouldn’t stand a chance against her blood relations. I wanted to stay with her. I wanted to be there for her. After everything else that I had failed her on, this seemed like the only way I could prove to her that I still loved her… And now that chance was slipping through my fingers.

The door opened and I could see the two security officers standing behind Sarah. They beckoned to me. I contemplated just giving in, walking out the door and letting them walk me from the hospital. But that wasn’t who I was anymore. These past two years had been more than just heartache. When Bella was taken, she had taken my heart with her… Now that I had her back I couldn’t just walk away.