Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

Loud knocking on my bedroom door made my breathing falter. “You okay, Annabelle?” Dean called.

I sucked in a ragged breath, knowing he would be worried if I didn’t calm down. “Yeah, I’m okay, sorry,” I called breathlessly. A quick glance at the clock showed me that it was past two in the morning.

“Is there anything I can do?”

I closed my eyes and wiped my sweaty brow. There was nothing anyone could do apart from the love of my life, and he was miles away. “No thanks. I’m sorry I woke you. Goodnight, Dean,” I called, ending the conversation.

I fell back against the pillows and fumbled blindly on the bedside unit before finding the little switch I was after and flicking on the lamp. My gaze found the picture of Ashton again, and I stared at it until my heart started to slow to a normal pace. A little blue flashing light on my cell phone caught my attention and a little spark of hope started inside me as I reached for it. As I flicked the screen and unlocked it, I saw a message sitting on there from Ashton, sent earlier on in the evening around about the time I was in the bath. A smile crept onto my face as I opened it.

‘Hey, Baby Girl, we’re still on the plane. You’re probably going to bed soon, I just wanted to say goodnight and I miss you. Call you tomorrow, sleep tight x’

I grinned happily and put my phone back on the side. Just that small text from Ashton was enough to make me smile, even after the nightmare memory I’d just had. I closed my eyes again, leaving the light on as I drifted off to sleep, hoping he was enjoying his weekend off with his friends.

“Princess, I’ve got something for you,” Carter says, smiling excitedly.

Forcing a smile, I look up at him. “What is it, baby?” I ask sweetly, trying to stay in his good books.

He turns and opens the door; immediately, Mark walks in and throws someone at my feet. I squint down at the broken person. I can’t tell who it is; his face is all smashed and bruised. His body is twisted unnaturally as he struggles to move from the heap he’s been thrown into on the floor. Blood is everywhere, dripping from his clothes, and covering his skin. Nausea hits me in waves and sympathy for the man makes my knees weak. My heart feels like it is breaking for him because of how much pain he is probably in. The man is someone’s son, maybe someone’s husband or father, yet he is lying here in front of me, completely and utterly helpless. Because he is here, in Carter’s house, I already know they will kill him. Carter doesn’t bring people back here unless it is the end for them. But why would he say it was a surprise for me?

“You don’t recognise him, Princess?” Carter asks.

I look down again and squint, trying to make out the face behind the layer of blood. The guy is mumbling something incoherent; to me, it is more like a long groan of agony. I shake my head in response to Carter’s question, but I can’t take my eyes off the broken guy on the floor.

Carter laughs and bends down, grabbing hold of the guy’s hair and turning his face to mine more. A scream of pain fills the air as the guys eyes open.

His green eyes lock onto mine, and I literally feel my heart break as my world shatters around me. “Run, Anna. Go, now!” Ashton orders, his voice thick with pain.

Carter laughs wickedly and pulls out a gun, pointing it directly at Ashton’s face. “She’s not going anywhere. She’s mine, she stays with me. And you need to pay for touching my wife,” he growls as he pulls the trigger. I watch in horror as Ashton’s handsome face that I know so well, just folds in and disappears. He slumps back to the floor with a sickening thud. I drop to my knees, screaming his name as I cradle his broken body in my lap, but I can do nothing but watch as the love of my life bleeds out onto the floor. In the background, Carter and Mark laugh and laugh and laugh.

I screamed and screamed; helpless, heartbroken tears fell down my face as the horror of what I had just seen consumed me entirely. I couldn’t breathe. I was suffocating. I pushed myself up and put my head between my knees.

“Annabelle, can I come in?” Dean called from the other side of the door.

I gasped for breath as my whole body shook. Sick. I needed to be sick. Swinging my legs out of bed, I stood but my legs shook so much that I almost fell. Sweat beaded on my brow and wet the back of my hair.

That was the worst thing I could have ever dreamed. At least when I had dreams about things that had already happened, I knew it was over, I woke up safe, but that dream… what would I do if that happened? If Ashton was ever hurt, I knew it would crush me inside, beyond repair this time.

“Annabelle?” Dean shouted from the hallway, banging on the door loudly.

I couldn’t answer; my heart was crashing loudly in my ears. I still hadn’t taken a breath. I couldn’t calm down. Black spots started to appear in my vision as I stumbled blindly towards my bathroom. When my head started to spin, I felt that weightless sensation take over, and suddenly I was falling, falling into the blackness.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

As my heavy eyes blinked open, a guy in a green uniform was hovering over me, touching the side of my neck. I gasped, shocked and confused, and thrashed, slapping his hand away from me.

As I scooted up the bed and hit the headboard, Dean stepped forward, holding his hands up to halt me. “Annabelle, calm down! He’s a doctor, it’s okay,” he said quickly, setting his hand on my shoulder. I flinched, flicking my eyes between the two men in my bedroom, only now noticing that my head was pounding and that my whole body felt weak. “It’s okay. You passed out. I called an ambulance,” Dean explained soothingly.