Forget Me Not (Remember Me Series) (7 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Aidan

Two Years Later

The time since Bella disappeared seemed to stretch on and on. The more time that passed, days, weeks, months, years, the less likely it seemed that I would find her. Desperation was beginning to set in, but I would never share that with anyone else. I couldn’t, the loss of her was my burden to bear, it belonged to no one but me and it would stay that way.

I was starting to forget small things about her. Did she tuck her hair behind her left ear, or was it always her right? I knew what perfume she favoured and yet, when I smelled it, it wasn’t the same as her. Or at least I didn’t think it was. I couldn’t be sure of anything anymore. The reality of Bella was slipping away from me and it was taking a piece of my soul with it.

I glanced over my reflection in the mirror, my hand drifting over the new haircut I’d given myself. The hair was cropped so close to my head now that it felt more like stubble than actual hair. I’d even considered taking a razor to what remained. It felt better this way. If I was forgetting her, then I needed to change. I wasn’t the young desperate detective anymore. I was harder. I knew it within myself.

At first I’d fought the change but not anymore. Now it was apart of me. Losing her had taken the softer side of me. All that was left was a hard shell of a man who was desperate to get her back. And struggling to come to terms with the fact that I might never find her.

So much time had passed, and Christopher had never been known to keep girls past a certain amount of time. The thought of Bella’s body buried somewhere, an unmarked grave… Her final moments a blur of terror and pain and pleading… Pleading for the man that had failed her, it almost crippled me. Agony ripped through my gut and yet outwardly the only sign of my anguish was a slight tightening around my mouth. I had become professional at hiding what I truly felt. And it was a good thing. The less people saw of the real me, the more I could manipulate them for my own use.

Thomas had been good to me, but his plan was taking far too long. It was almost as though he felt afraid to truly make a move against his half brother. I could practically see the guilt he felt, mirrored in his eyes every time I brought up the idea of finishing this. Deep down he knew the truth. He knew what Christopher had done to Rebecca. There was nothing… Not trail to follow. It was as though she had simply vanished.

Vanished like Bella. Christopher was simply too good at covering his tracks, he left nothing behind to find, nothing to trace back to him. Just gone.

I straightened the black tie I wore as the cell phone of the bedside locker began to buzz. I scooped it up and lifted it to my ear, I expected to hear Thomas’ excited voice on the other end. He’d put everything else on hold to get married. A part of me was happy for him, he was a nice guy, he deserved a happy ending. But a greater part of me, the dominant half of me hated him for it.

I hated that he would get to watch the woman he loved walk down the aisle towards him. I hated that he had paused the investigation for this. And I hated that he wouldn’t tell me where Christopher was holed up. He’d said he was doing it for my own good, I didn’t see it that way.

“Aidan.” 

His voice wasn’t filled with excitement, it was filled with terror. It had me instantly on alert.

“What is it, Thomas? What happened?”

“She’s gone, Aidan! Stacey is gone. After the ceremony she just disappeared. I thought she was talking to her family but I can’t find her anywhere!”

His voice hinted at the edge of hysteria and panic that he was threatening to disappear into. He needed to keep his head.

“Have your security shut the place down, don’t let anyone leave. I’ll be right there.”

But he had already hung up. I knew he’d do as I said, Thomas trusted my instincts. He’d asked me to attend the wedding and I’d turned him down. Happy occasions weren’t my thing, not anymore. Grabbing my gun I couldn’t help but feel a sick sense of satisfaction creeping through my chest.

I hadn’t wanted things to go this way. Thomas was a good man and he loved Stacey. I’d watched them together often enough, felt the gnawing envy eating away at me. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. And now, now it felt like a sort of twisted justice had been served. I wasn’t allowed to have the woman I loved… It made sense that no one else could have their happy endings either.

The car zipped around the tight bends in the road easily. I had one hand on the wheel, the other resting in my lap. If Bella could see me now she probably wouldn’t approve of who I’d become. I was reckless and yet, I really didn’t care. I wanted to be reckless, if I died what would it matter? She was probably already dead, I certainly had no proof that she was still alive.

And yet, something made me put both hands back on the wheel. Something whispered in the back of my head that I couldn’t give up. Until I knew for certain, until I witnessed it with my own eyes I still held a tiny flicker of hope. And that tiny flicker meant I had to live, I had to live so I could save her.

The car screeched around the final bend and I swung the car into the manor’s drive way. The house loomed up in front of me, sitting at the end of the long gravel drive. Stones sprayed up around the car as I abruptly put the car into park and hopped out. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach that told me something awful had happened.

People had gathered at the side of the house and as I jogged closer I could make out the sound of wailing. There didn’t seem to be any cops on the scene and no ambulance crews. Had they even bothered to call any of the authorities?

I pushed my way through the guests, finally breaking out into the clearing. Stacey was on her knees, her white lace and satin dress fanned out around her. It was her that the terrible wailing was coming from and the moment I broke free of the crowd I could see why.

Thomas lay on his back, half on the grass, half on the gravel path, shattered glass from the broken window splintered around him. For a moment I found myself frozen on the spot. Stacey continued to sob but it was the only sound being made. If I hadn’t known better I’d have said the people gathered around were all mannequins, they certainly didn’t seem real. It felt more like a staged set.

My boots crunched across the gravel and Stacey turned to stare up at me. Her green eyes swam with emotion and her dark brown hair was mussed up as though she’d been involved in some sort of struggle.

“Aidan, help him, please, help him.” 

I crouched down next to her, pulling the cell phone from its place inside my suit jacket. My fingers slid across the screen, dialling the number for the emergency services. With my free hand I reached across and placed my fingers against Thomas’ throat. There was a small flicker, he wasn’t dead.

The operator picked up, her cheerful voice demanding to know what my emergency was. I barked out orders, demanding the police and an ambulance. If I had been different I might have felt sorry for the woman on the other end of the line. But I wasn’t different, I wasn’t soft and I didn’t care if I hurt her feelings or not.

Hanging up I pushed the phone back into my pocket as I started to stand. Stacey simply fell across Thomas’ body, her voice high and breathy as she pleaded with him to stay with her.

“Please, Thomas, baby, I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry.”

Her words caught my attention and I dragged her to her feet. She fought me, struggling to escape my iron grip but I refused to let her go.

“Why are you sorry? What happened? What did you do?”

She sobbed loudly and slapped at my body.

“Let me go, let me be with him, he needs me, he needs to know I’m here with him.”

I shook her violently, her small head bobbing around on her delicate neck as she fought to breathe, cry and escape all at once. But I couldn’t let her go, I needed the truth. Thomas was my one chance to get to Bella, if he died then all hope was lost… And if Stacey was the cause of it, then I wasn’t sure what I would do.

“For god’s sake, let her go.”

A tall man strode up to my side, he grabbed my arm in an attempt to pull my grip from Stacey. I held on, with all the strength and determination of a dog with a bone.

“This is not your business, butt out.”

I snarled, still holding Stacey. I tried to move away, tried to take her somewhere more private so I could question her about what happened. I needed to know. Was Christopher back? Were we closing in on him and so he felt the need to come back and try and silence us?

“My business? When you have your hands all over my sister, this is very much my business.” The other man’s tone had dropped to a cold, furious, whisper.

When he grabbed at me again, I released Stacey suddenly and turned into him, using my body to knock him off balance. He tried to defend himself, tried to duck out of the way but I was faster, angrier and I used it to my advantage. I jabbed my fist upwards connecting with his jaw. It sent him sprawling back on the grass.

“Will!” 

Stacey cried out, her voice so full of distress it was practically unrecognisable. I didn’t wait around to see if he got back up. Holding her arm in my vice like grip I towed her away from the scene, the sound of sirens splitting the air.

No one tried to stop me, they seemed too stunned to move or even do anything else except stand around in shocked silence. I dragged Stacey, her stockinged feet sliding across the tile. We reached the living room before anyone had a chance to intercept us.

I pushed her down onto the couch and went back to close the door.

“Aidan, I don’t understand, why are you doing this? You were Thomas’ friend? I need to go back to him.”

“No.”

My voice was cold, clipped and filled with authority. She instantly froze, her sobs half formed in her throat. She shook her head, as though she didn’t understand me, and maybe she didn’t. To everyone else I was probably behaving like a lunatic. But it had to be this way. If I could cut myself off, force myself not to feel anything, then I would find Bella. I would get her back.

“Aidan, I don’t understand, you have to let me go back to Thomas.”

She stood and flung herself at the door but I stood in her way. She beat her fists against my chest but it may as well have been a child doing it. I had no intention of letting her out until I had every last detail.

“I need you to tell me what happened?”

She shook her head and sobbed.

“I don’t know. I need to see Thomas.”

I grabbed her roughly by the arms and shook her gently.

“Stacey, you need to tell me what happened. You need to tell me how Thomas ended up like that… You have to help me find out who did this?”

That seemed to get through to her and she nodded slowly.

“I don’t really know. I went to the bathroom and then there was someone there with me. He told me he was planning a surprise for Thomas and then he gagged me, covered my eyes…”

She hiccuped and sobbed. I watched as she covered her face with her hands and struggled to get her emotions under control. And for the first time in a long time I felt a twinge of guilt over what I was doing. She loved Thomas as much as I loved Bella. And I was keeping her away from him in what could be his final moments…

I squashed the emotion as far down inside myself as I could. I couldn’t let it get in the way, it would be a mistake.

“Next thing I knew I was up in the honeymoon suite on the bed. Thomas burst in and there was a fight. He tried to fight him off but Thomas isn’t like that, he doesn’t like violence… And then…”

She paused again, her eyes widening and I knew she was reliving the moment. It would stay with her for ever and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

“And then?” 

I prompted her along, I had to get as much information out of her before the cops came in and ruined everything.

“Thomas stood up, he was right in front of the window… And then he was gone, he just pushed him out the window. He disappeared out the window… I can’t get his face out of my head… The look of surprise on his face and then nothing…”

She broke down completely and I knew I wouldn’t get anything else from her. She collapsed against me, her face buried in against my chest. I had no choice but to hold her, it was either that or let her slide to the floor.

The door swung open violently and her brother strode into the room. I could see the bruise that was beginning to swell on his jaw, the place where I had hit him.

I didn’t try and stop him as he drew back full force and punched me. If I was him I’d have done the same, I was a jerk after all. The blow knocked me backwards onto the couch and he came after me. Stacey was in a heap on the floor, her crying reminding me of someone who was broken. And maybe she was.

“You leave her the hell alone. Do you hear me?” He wrapped his hands into my shirt, ripping some of the buttons free and tearing it at the seams. I didn’t fight him, I had what I’d come for.

“Will, leave him, he just wanted to know what happened, he wants to find who did this.” 

Stacey spoke up from her place on the floor. Instantly Will released me and turned to his sister. I watched as he gathered her up into his arms and carried her from the room. He was a good man, probably always wanting to do the right thing by everyone. People like that couldn’t survive in my world, people like Christopher would simply chew them up and spit them back out.

All I could hope was that when I found Bella, she would be able to forgive me for what I’d become. I could only hope she would love the monster I now was… For her.

The hospital corridor was practically empty as I sat and waited for news on Thomas. His family sat at the opposite end and I wasn’t welcome, not after my earlier display. None of them truly understood what I had been doing with Thomas anyway. He hadn’t ever shared it, and the little he had shared with people didn’t explain why he needed such an asshole hanging around.