Vengeance (17 page)

“I can’t believe how well she’s healing,” I said.

Aiden put his hands on my shoulders. “You’ve got some pretty special blood in those veins of yours.”

He didn’t know the half of it. I was pretty sure I was the only reason he was still with us.

Chelsea got up off the edge of the bed and threw her arms around me. “I can’t thank you enough.”

I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back so I could see her face. “You don’t need to thank me at all. I’m the reason why she was burnt to begin with.”

“I thought I told you to stop blaming yourself for what happened to her. The only person responsible is the arsehole who blew up my house.”

Lucas’s face dropped. He knew Chelsea was right in saying that his father was an arsehole after everything he’d done. But it was still hard to think of the person who had brought him up as anything but the nice person he portrayed himself to be. Then there was the other thing that was bothering Lucas—he blamed himself. He’d been right there when his father had killed Ben, and if anyone would’ve been able to save Ben, it was him. He should have known what his father had planned and picked up on the signals earlier. Lucas didn’t know what the signals were, but he was sure if he had paid a little more attention to his dad, they would’ve been there.

I walked over to Lucas and sat down on the edge of the bed in front of the chair he was sitting in. “It’s not your fault.”

Lucas looked up at me but didn’t say anything.

“You’re not responsible for the actions of your father. You’re only responsible for the actions you do yourself. And from what I’ve seen, you are nothing like Nathan.”

“You know what?” Aiden said, sitting down beside me. “You should take some of your own advice. Here you are telling Lucas that he’s not responsible for everything his father did, and yet you’re blaming yourself for all of it.”

Lucas and I looked at Aiden but didn’t say a word. We both felt responsible, and our feelings weren’t going to change until we were sure our father was no longer wreaking havoc in our lives.

Lucas turned to me, wondering how we’d both missed seeing how we were connected to each other. “I can’t believe you’re my sister,” he said, shaking his head.

“Half-sister, but yeah, I know what you mean.” I felt then was the time to ask something I’d been afraid to say out loud. “Who’s your mum?”

Lucas shrugged. “I have no idea.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean, ‘you have no idea’? You’ve got to know who your mum is.”

“I don’t,” he said with no emotion. “Nathan never talked about her, and whenever Georgia or I asked about her, he wouldn’t answer us.”

“How could he not?”

“What kind of person doesn’t let their children know who their mother is?” Chelsea asked.

Lucas and I looked at each other than back at Chelsea. “Our father,” we said in unison.

I turned to Aiden. “Do you know, or did your parents ever talk about their mother?”

Aiden shook his head. “My parents don’t know. They just thought the memory of whatever happened to her was too painful to discuss.”

“That’s so not right,” Chelsea said, thinking how awful it would’ve been if her mum had stopped talking to her about her father. And her father had been betraying her mother when he died. Hearing how Nathan had handled Lucas’s mother’s absence gave her a new appreciation for her own mother. She sat down on the bed beside her mum. “When do you think she’s going to wake up?”

“Harry wants her to be asleep while her skin heals,” I explained. “He thinks she might freak out a little if she sees herself healing way too quick for a human. And believe me, I know what that’s like.”

Chelsea picked up her mother’s hand, happy and content with her progress.

I stood and put my hand on her shoulder. “Do you mind if I go see my mum for a bit?”

“Of course not.”

I walked out and followed the sound of hushed voices until I reached the lounge. Mum was sitting next to Jack on the sofa, and Gemma was in the armchair, playing on her phone.

“Hi, darling,” Mum said. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.” That was her nice way of saying that she was surprised I wasn’t bunked up in the hotel with Aiden, too afraid to let him out of my sight after the knifing incident.

“I know I wouldn’t have left him,” Gemma said, keeping up her smartass façade. What she didn’t say was how much she wished she could get away from Harry’s house. It was so not cool to hang out so much with her parents.

“Anyway,” I said, “I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be going to Chrissy’s funeral in a couple of hours.”

Mum sat up straight. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Probably not, but I think I owe it to her.” Especially considering she was dead because of me.

“Okay, darling. But I think it might be a good idea if we came as well. You know, just to make sure Nathan doesn’t try anything. Safety in numbers.”

“Mum, I think I can handle him.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Just like you handled him over dinner?”

Ouch.
“That’s so not cool, Mum.”

Mum shifted in her seat. “I’m sorry. It’s just… you don’t really know what he’s capable of.”

“And you do, I suppose?”

“Well, I—”

I cut her off. “Of course you do. And that was the biggest problem. You knew and didn’t tell me. If I had known, maybe none of this would’ve happened. If you only had a picture or anything… we could’ve stopped him!”

Mum scratched her forehead. “I don’t want to get into an argument with you again.”

“I don’t want to argue either. But for once in your life, I want you to tell me the truth!”

“The truth? I’ve told you the truth. You know why I left him.” My mother’s heart rate soared.

I gave her a cold, hard stare. “But you’ve never told me that you created me.”

“Of course I created you,” she said, her voice catching on the last word. “You were in my belly for nine months.”

“No, Mum,” I said. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t give me that crap, Mum! I heard Nathan thinking it. I know I was a frigging science experiment.”

“I… ah…” Mum didn’t know what to say. She never thought I would find out.

“Don’t you dare!” I yelled as she thought about disappearing.

She didn’t listen. Mum phased out, leaving a stunned Gemma and Jack behind.

“Don’t bring her back,” Jack yelled at me, guessing what I was about to do.

“Why the hell not?”

Jack took a deep breath. “Because she needs time to think.”

“I don’t care what she needs. I—”

“I know,” Jack said. “You want answers, and rightfully so. But I think it would be better to give her some time, and you’d get more from her. So let her calm down and then come back and speak to her.”

No matter how much I wanted to bring her back, I knew Jack was right. “Okay. I’ll give her space. But she doesn’t have forever. I want to know soon.”

“I know,” he said.

“I mean it. Because if she doesn’t tell me soon, I promise you, I can, and I will make her.”

He nodded.

As I was about to leave, Gemma’s nervous voice appeared in my head.
“Can I come with you?”
She didn’t want to stay cooped up there, and Mum and Jack wouldn’t let her go anywhere on her own.

“Hey, Gemma?” I said.

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to come hang out with us for a while?” I quickly turned to Jack. “If it’s okay with you?”

“Umm, yeah,” he said in surprise. He hadn’t seen that one coming. Jack thought I hated his daughter, and I had… right up until I could hear her thoughts.

“We’re just going back to the hotel we were at before, and then we have to go to the funeral.”

“You want me to come to a funeral?” Gemma asked, getting all grossed out by the suggestion.

“Well, you could stay here if you want,” I said.

“No!” She jumped out of the chair and was by my side in a second.

“Are we that much of a drag?” Jack asked with a laugh, but only I knew how serious he was. He hated seeing Gemma grow up from always wanting to be around her daddy to needing her own space.

“You know I love you, Daddy,” Gemma said sweetly, trying to butter him up for her next question. “Can I have some money?”

“We’ve got you covered,” I said, pushing down Gemma’s outstretched hand.

“Are you sure?” Jack asked me.

“Yep. Aiden pays for me and Chels so, why not Gemma, too?” I said, knowing Aiden would be completely on board with the idea as well. “I’ll bring her back after the funeral.”

“Or not,” Gemma said with a cheesy, hopeful smile.

“Don’t push your luck, young lady.” Jack chuckled. “And I’m talking about with Jade, not with me.”

“Right. Got it,” Gemma said.

“See ya.” I grabbed Gemma’s hand and transported us to Harry’s room.

“What the hell?” Gemma said when she saw Marie.

Marie’s body was still covered in bandages, but the ones that Harry had removed from her face showed her skin had practically healed. It was a little redder than normal, but all in all, it was a hell of a lot better than any of the doctors had hoped for.

“What’s she doing here?” Chelsea asked.

“Relax, both of you.” I pointed at the bed. “Sit down.” Gemma did as she was told and sat on the end of the bed.

“Good dog,” Chelsea said with a laugh. When Gemma’s eyes widened, Chelsea added, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Gemma smiled. “I think I’m going to like you better than his sister,” she said, cocking her head toward Lucas.

Lucas laughed. “Anyone’s better than my sister.”

“Gee, thanks,” Chelsea said.

“You know we love you,” I said, sitting down next to Chelsea.

“What’s not to love?” Lucas said, making Chelsea’s heart skip a beat.

“So what’s with the coma patient?” Gemma asked.

“Okay. You have to swear you won’t tell anyone.” I paused, waiting for her to agree. When she nodded, I continued, “This is Chelsea’s mum, Marie.”

“The one who was burnt?”

“Yeah. After everything that happened over dinner tonight… we couldn’t leave Marie in the hospital. So I asked Harry if he could do a favour for me.”

“What? Keep her in his room?”

I shook my head. “No. That was his idea. I asked him if he could inject my blood into Marie to make her heal like how we did with Grandma.”

“Ah,” she said as the penny dropped. “And you don’t want me to say anything to Mum ’cause you know she’ll chuck a hissy fit.”

“Exactly.”

“Obviously Harry was okay with it.”

“Obviously,” I said, waving my hand toward Marie.

“You know, I don’t think you’re going to be able to hide this from Mum for that long.”

“I know. Just long enough for Marie to heal and then I’ll tell her.”

A grin spread across her face. “I’ve so got to hear that conversation.”

Chapter 18

An hour and a half later, the stone angels stood before us, condemning me just as they’d done when we had come to the church for Ben’s funeral. I was almost certain they were going to spit holy water at me to keep me from entering their sanctuary. But I entered the church without incident.

Sitting on a stand next to the coffin was a photo of Chrissy that was taken before Aiden came into our lives. Back when she was happy. I wanted to damn Nathan to hell for causing one of my childhood friends to become nothing but a distant memory. But I couldn’t be angry with him for bringing Aiden to me. In fact, that was probably the only good thing to come from all of his terror. And it wasn’t as if Chrissy had no choice over her actions—or did she? Had Nathan turned her against me just as he had made Aiden fall in love with me? Or was her hatred and jealousy all her own doing? That was a question that would remain unanswered for the rest of my life.

The priest greeted us as if we were any other members of the grieving family or friends. I wanted to sit at the back of the church, but the back four rows were already filled. I spotted Megan toward the front, and although she had always been nothing but sweet to me, I didn’t have it in me to pretend that we were there for any reason but guilt.

“Let’s sit here,” I said, quickly ducking into the pew to my left, halfway down the aisle. I sat down, and Aiden sat beside me. Gemma went to my other side, and Chelsea and Lucas scooted in beside her.

Chrissy’s family were beside themselves with grief, wondering why they had to bury their daughter when it should be the other way around. What was worse, they couldn’t give her an open coffin. The memory of what they had seen when they identified her body was going to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

I reached out and pushed my way inside their minds. I made them accept what had happened, enabling them to move on with peace. When they thought about what their daughter looked like with her throat slashed, I blurred out the gore and left them with a sense of knowing that she was in heaven. Even if I didn’t believe it, letting them do so was nicer. I also made sure that, when they thought about Chrissy, the first thing they remembered would be the sweet girl she once was, not the bitter teenager she’d become.

By the time I was out of their heads, their shoulders had relaxed, and their tissues were no longer needed. They both thought that God had blessed them with peace and acceptance. I figured if that was what they needed to move on, then that was what they were going to get. No parent should ever have to go through what they were.

Aiden put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. “You did good.”

“I wish I could do more.”

“What you did is enough.”

Chelsea leaned forward to look past Gemma. “What are you guys talking about?”

Gemma whispered, “She screwed with their heads.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I did.”

Gemma raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, so maybe I did. But it was in a good way.”

“Oh,” Chelsea said. She’d experienced the same sensation when Aiden had helped her at Ben’s funeral.

The priest made his way up to the lectern and began the ceremony. Pictures of Chrissy were projected onto the screen at the front of the church. The images slowly flicked from one happy moment to another until one of Chrissy and me came onto the screen. We were ten years old, standing on the grass in our swimmers with our arms around one another’s shoulders as we sucked on our ice blocks. I thought I’d felt guilty before, but after seeing that picture, the guilt amplified a million times. Chrissy was once a sweet girl, and Nathan had ruined her. I had given up on her. I could’ve fought harder to keep our friendship.