~Blake~
Lily’s stupidity is starting to push me to my breaking point. I love her with every fiber of my being, but she’ll be lucky if I don’t lose my shit when she walks through that front door. Dresden’s been muttering curses in German for the last four hours. I thought we’d all been pissed at her before . . . but this is a whole new level of angry.
Sammi’s holed up in her tech office with Caleb trying to track her. Even he let a stream of obscenities loose once we all came to. Drugging us. That’s ballsy even for Lily. It’ll be a cold day in hell before anyone serves me another drink without supervision, that’s for damned sure.
What the fuck is she thinking?
And tonight of all nights. Vlad and I’ve been working to arrange this surprise for Lily for months. We’d started searching for her family after her supposed death. I know she says she doesn’t want to meet them, but she needs closure, and this is the only way she’ll get it. She’s going to be so pissed when she gets home. Mix that with my being pissed at her and this could end up a fucking warzone.
“Mr. Mason is there anything Marcela and I can do to help?”
Delia Georgescu is an older version of Lily. Just as beautiful, but with hazel eyes. She and Marcela, Lily’s biological sister, arrived at the safe house about an hour after those damned sleeping meds wore off. Marcela and Lily look exactly alike, right down to those sapphire eyes.
“Please, call me Blake. Unfortunately, we can’t do much but wait for Lily to come home.” Trying to hide the anger and worry in my voice is like trying to hide a sumo wrestler behind a stripper pole. It isn’t going to happen.
“Does she know we’re here?” Delia’s face has been etched in fear and worry since she stepped through the front door.
I can’t blame her. The last time she saw her daughter was when she sold her to a sex-slaver and Lily’s nightmares about that man still plague her to this day, and it’s been 20 years.
“No.” My jaw tenses as Dresden and Vlad enter the room.
“He’ll be lucky if she doesn’t put a bullet in his head for bringing you here in the first place.” Dresden glares at the two women on the sofa and they both shrink back.
“Enough, Dres.”
“Blake, you and her better sort your shit out when she gets home. She constantly does shit that pisses everyone off, and you constantly do shit she specifically asks you not to do. She didn’t want to meet them. She hardly has any memory of them.”
“I know that. But she needs closure. You’ve said it yourself and Vlad agrees.”
Delia takes Marcela’s hand, lacing their fingers together. It’s obvious they’re close. Lily’s only going to be more pissed about that. Her mother sold her but kept her sister safe and protected. Dresden’s probably right about this being a bad idea but can’t go back on it now.
“She’ll get over it.” Vlad clasps his hand on my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I agree with Blake. She needs this, whether she wants to admit it or not.”
“Blake! Get the fuck in here now!” Sammi’s shrill voice echoes down the hall and we all take off running.
Bursting into the room, Sammi sits in front of a 42-inch television, doubling as a monitor, her entire body shaking. My stomach drops and chest heaves, my eyes zoning in on the picture as everyone joins us. Lily’s in a white room, hands bound, blood running from her nose and mouth, bruises on her cheeks. She’s in a bra and black cargo pants and she’s hanging from a meat hook, her feet hardly touching the ground.
“Sammi . . . what the fuck?” The words are soft and strained, barely leaving my mouth.
“Jax hacked my computer and is transmitting this to us live.” A green light on top of the monitor blinks as Jax blocks my view of Lily.
“Hello everyone,” he says. My hair stands on end as the need to kill him courses through my body. “I’ve activated your camera. Lily can see you all. Sammi, be a doll and let Blake sit down, eh?”
We switch places and Jax steps to the side, revealing my fiancée, who isn’t moving or making any noise. Her head is bowed forward, black hair framing her face on either side. Tears spring to my eyes, and I will them not to fall. Knowing Jax can see me, I don’t want to give that bastard the satisfaction.
“Lily, look. Blake and your team are with us. Say hi to them.”
Slowly, grimacing, she lifts her head. Her eyes widen, tears swimming against her bottom lids. “Hi, baby.” Her voice is so weak and full of pain. My heart breaks, my body aching to hold her.
Soft clicking draws my attention. Sammi is on another monitor, furiously working on something with Caleb standing over her shoulder, whispering in her ear.
“Lily. Come on, sweetheart. Fight.”
A tear spills down her face, dangling on the edge of her chin before dropping to the concrete floor. “I love you so much it hurts.”
Dresden and Vlad each put a hand on my shoulder. Their tension and anger flows through, matching and intensifying my own.
“Don’t you do that, baby. Don’t you say goodbye to me.”