Pure Redemption (Tainted Legacy) (31 page)

“You see Mom,” Ava said softly, “that’s why he’s staying with me. I thought I lost him but we’ve somehow, by some miracle been given a second chance and I’m going to hold onto that with everything I’ve got.”

Leah hung her head, still not sure what to say, as she tried to gather her scattered thoughts. Finally, looking up and blinking away tears, she asked the question that mattered the most. “Are you sure it’s safe? Are you
really
safe now?”

“I would never let anything happen to her,” Gabe fiercely replied, saving Ava from having to say anything.

While she’d confessed what she’d needed to of their past, she hadn’t wanted to terrify them with the predicament of their present. There was nothing her parents could do to help. She didn’t want to burden them with any more information than she already had.

Leah nodded but Daniel didn’t look so certain. He gently pulled Ava from the room
. He took her
outside, onto the
back deck where he thought they’d have privacy.
It was obvious he wanted Ava to have a chance to speak without Gabe hearing.
Ava didn’t bother to let him know Gabe could probably hear them, anyway.

“Do you truly trust him? Can you
swear
to me that you feel safe with him?” Daniel asked as his eyes searched her face for any sign of faltering.

“Daddy,” Ava said softly, “I trusted him with my life. He didn’t let me down. He protected me then with everything he had. He’s not going to let anything hurt me now. I promise you.”

Daniel nodded and pulled his daughter into a fierce hug before leading her back inside. Her parents pleaded with them to stay, at least through dinnertime but they politely yet firmly declined. They both knew that their nightmare was far from over.

Ava slid into the driver’s seat of her car, enjoying the sense of relief tel
ling her parents had brought
her. It was short lived as Gabe handed Ava her phone. She’d left it in the car, sitting on the passenger seat.

“Eleven
missed calls from Molly,” she gr
oaned. “This cannot be good!”

Chapter 22

“Ava,” Molly began in a shaky voice, “I think we have a problem.”

“Another one?” Ava asked on a moan. She was now sitting in the passenger seat because after seeing how upset the missed calls from Molly made her, Gabe insisted on driving. They hadn’t even pulled away from the curb in front of her parents’ house when she got Molly on the line.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about Oliver so I decided I needed a distraction. Yesterday, it was so relaxing at the country club. I decided to go back. You know, keep an eye on Julia and keep my mind off of Oliver at the same time. When I got there, I looked around for her but I didn’t see her. I thought she must be on her lunch break. I waited for a while but then realized she’d been gone way too long
,” she admitted
. “You know she works with that snob, Audrey Richmond. I asked Audrey if she’d seen Julia. She was livid. She said Julia came in, worked for a little bit, then claimed to be sick and said she needed to go home.”

“But you don’t think she went home?” Ava prompted when Molly hesitated. She glanced at Gabe who was
darting worried looks her way as he listened in on the call.

“Audrey said she left with someone. A guy. That’s why she was so pissed. She also said he was tall and that he was wearing a baseball cap so she didn’t get a good look at him. She couldn’t even tell me what color hair he had. All she could tell me was that compared to Julia he was crazy-tall. I’ve tried calling her but she isn’t answering,” Molly wailed. “I drove by her house but her car isn’t there. I should’ve gotten there sooner. No, I should’ve started looking for her sooner! I should’ve found out if she was really on her lunch break and not just assumed. Ava, what are we going to do?”

Ava thrummed her fingers across her knees as she thought. “Maybe she just snuck off with Cam for a date. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about just yet.”

“Do you really think that?” Molly asked. “Because you don’t sound like you really think that. Julia skipping work is not normal. It’s hard not to be worried. She’s not like the good girl gone wild. She’s like the good girl gone stark-raving, freaking-mad,” she muttered.

“Molly, where are you right now?” Ava asked.

“I was just driving through the country club parking lot again. I thought maybe she’d come to her senses and go back to work. Not likely, I know, but I didn’t know what else to do. When you called I pulled over so now I’m just sitting here.”

“I think you should go home. Keep trying to get a hold of her,” Ava said. She honestly didn’t think Julia was going to answer. But she wanted Molly to feel like she had a job to do so that she’d be more likely to listen to her request.
Ava wanted her at home, safely out of harm’s way.

“Okay,” Molly agreed. “I’ll let you know the second I hear anything. What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure,” Ava admitted. “I’m with Gabe so I need to talk to him. I’ll let you know though, okay? I just need you to be somewhere safe so we don’t have to worry about you, too.”

They disconnected just as Gabe pulled up at the jobsite he’d been working at earlier in the day. The crew had cleared out but Gabe needed to pick up his motorcycle.

“Julia’s missing?” he asked and Ava nodded. “Damn it!” he growled as he slammed his hands against the steering wheel. “Rafe said I had a week! That was just yesterday!”

Ava’s voice was wobbly. “Do you think there’s any chance she’s just with Cam? I mean, that Rafe doesn’t have something to do with this?”

Gabe’s chest was heaving with fury. The look he gave Ava told her that no, he really did
not
think it was a possibility. “Okay,” he finally said, “this is what you’re going to do. You’re going to go home, just like you told Molly to do. You’re going to take this with you,” he said as he shifted in his seat so he could pull the switchblade from his pocket. “It might not be much, but you need to have something.”

Ava glanced at the weapon he’d dropped in her hand before turning back to him. “What about you?”

“I have an errand to run,” he ground out.

“Gabe.”

“I won’t be long.”

Ava slumped against her seat. Despite the warm day, she felt a chill that she knew wasn’t going to go away until she found her friend. “Maybe you should take this with you.”

Gabe pushed her hand away. “You need it more than I do. And ironically, Rafe needs me. Or at least, he thinks he does. So I don’t think he’d do anything to me. And if he did, I heal. You might not.”

“
You
might not either!” she reminded him. She turned away from him and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stave off the prickle of tears. When she opened them, she was looking out the side window. A woman was walking with a young child who was riding a bike with training wheels. Further down was a man with a dog, walking along at a leisurely pace. On the other side of the street, an elderly couple was walking hand in hand. Her breath caught in her throat. She choked down an unexpected sob as she wondered if she and Gabe would ever make it that far.

“Ava,” Gabe said softly. He leaned over, sliding his hand around the back of her neck, turning her so she was facing him. The expression on his face, the look in his eyes when he
leaned in to kiss
her said more than words could convey. She slid her arms around him as she melted into his kiss, taking it and returnin
g it with as much emotion as h
e had shown her.

“It’s going to be okay,” he told her when he finally pulled away so he could look at her again. She nodded and he pulled her into his chest again, holding her tightly. “I better go,” he finally sighed as he released her. He bounced a kiss of
f of
her forehead, whispered
,
“I love you,” in her ear and slid out of the car.

Ava watched him climb on his motorcycle and drive away. She crawled into the driver’s seat
and sat there for a while, d
ebating whether to go home,
drive to Molly’s to check on her, or
search for Julia
. She decided to go home because that was where Gabe was expecting her to be.
She tried to ignore the feeling of fear that was trying to choke her into a frenzy.

***

A long string of expletives exploded from her mouth as she tossed her phone onto the couch. She’d been trying to get a hold of Molly ever since she’d walked in the door but Molly wasn’t answering her calls or texts. Julia, of course, hadn’t answered hers either. Out of desperation, she’d called Gabe. He also didn’t answer but Ava was working on convincing herself that he was driving and that was his reason for not answering.

“Awww.”

The unfamiliar voice came from behind her, causing her to shriek and spin around. Cam stood before her, a sickening grin on his face. The front door stood open and Ava mentally berated herself for not locking it. She’d left it unlocked out of habit because who locks their door in the middle of the day?

People trying to stay out of the hands of crazy Nephilim bastards, that’s who
! she angrily told herself.

“Trouble keeping track of your friends?” he asked.

Ava took a step back. Her cabin had an open floor plan. The living room was open to the small dining area, where
Cam
stood at the side of the small table. Ava edged her way along the back of the couch, which divided the two rooms. She was hoping to make it to her bedroom, where at least there was a lock on the door.
She recalled the violent strength shown when Gabe and Rafe had fought. She knew a locked door
was a pitiful defense against a Nephilim but it was all she had.

“Where’s Julia?” She was proud of herself for keeping her voice steady.

His eyes widened in mockery and he shrugged. “With Molly.”

Was he lying? That was her initial assumption but Molly hadn’t answered her phone. She said she was going straight home. But had she? Had she tried and not made it? Ava thought that was likely the case. Under the circumstances, Molly would’ve most definitely answered her phone if she were able.

“And where would that be?” Ava asked. Common sense was screaming at her to make a run for the bedroom but worry for her friends won out. She stood at the end of the couch while Cam slowly edged closer. Now that she was facing him, staring him down even, she realized that he didn’t look so good. He seemed to be shaking slightly and even from where she was standing a good dozen feet away, she could see the glimmer of a sheen of sweat lining his face.

The sigils. She was sure of it. The fear that was nearly choking her let up just a bit.

“Come with me and find out. It’s as simple as that,” Cam replied.

Ava shot out a hysterical laugh. “Right. Just go with you and all will be right with the world. You’ll bring me to my friends and everything will be just fine.”

Cam shrugged. He made a face, as if he
was
trying to appear amused but it came out as a grimace.

“Aren’t you finding my home very pleasant?” Ava asked with innocent mockery of her own.

His eyes darted to the walls and Ava knew she’d been right.

“Why are you here?” she demanded. “Rafe told Gabe he had a week.”

Cam tried to smile but failed. “He does have a week. However, Rafe likes to
have a contingency plan
. I’ve heard there was a time when he underestimated Gabriel and he’s not going to make that mistake again.”

“Meaning?” She took another step back as Cam took a faltering step forward. She couldn’t miss how his eyes darted around the room. Ava remembered when she and Gabe had been trapped in the cabin at the start of it all.
He’d admitted to her that
when he moved, the sigils connected as if making a web. A net. The more Cam moved, the more his steps seemed to falter. Maybe she just needed to get closer to the outer edge of the cabin, next to the walls where she knew the sigils were inscribed.

“Meaning he’s giving Gabe a week but he’s going to use you and your friends as insurance that Gabriel does as requested.” The closer he edged toward Ava, the heavier the trickle of sweat down his face became, proving to her that her theory was correct. The closer she placed herself to the sigils, the less powerful Cam would become. “See, Rafe isn’t stupid enough to believe that your boyfriend is going to do as he said,
just
because he agreed. But we’re certain he’ll do as requested if it means getting you back safe and sound.” Cam shrugged again, trying to look nonchalant.