Vengeful Soul by Emma Creed
I’m still feeling bad about what happened with Julian, but not having to be fake anymore relieves a lot of pressure.
I book myself a flight to Florida, where I actually do have a friend from college who I plan on staying with until I can figure out what I want to do.
I still have a few days before I leave, so I decide to get a start on sorting through my parents’ things. Walking into their room isn’t easy. I’ve avoided it since the night I came home from the hospital without them. I even made auntie Justine pick out what clothes they were buried in so I didn’t have to go in there.
When I open the door, it still smells the same, a mixture of Dad’s musky cologne and the lavender bundles Mom hangs in the wardrobe to keep the clothes smelling fresh.
I sit down on the bed, in the same spot where I’d sit and watch Mom get ready for the fancy dinners her and Dad sometimes got invited to. She’d always ask my opinion on her outfit choices, even when I was tiny. It made me feel important. I try my best to refrain from crying, but what happened to them still hasn’t sunk in properly, losing them was hard enough. Knowing it hadn’t been an accident is unbearable.
I hear the front door slam shut, and curse myself again for never locking it. A small part of me hopes it might be Brax, he’s far too arrogant to knock. But that’s just wishful thinking.
Clambering off the bed, I walk across the landing until I get to the top of the stairs and when I look down, Julian is standing on the bottom step looking right back up at me.
Only this isn’t the Julian I know. The man staring at me looks so different. His usual perfectly styled back hair is out of place, there’s even a hint of stubble lining his jaw.
His suit is creased like he hasn’t changed in a few days and his chest lifts heavily. He seems unhinged, like he’s about to strike.
“You lied to me,” he says coldly, as he takes a step closer.
“I—”
“Why did you tell me you were staying with a friend?”
“I was staying with a friend,” I lie, and this time it’s not to protect the Souls, it’s because I’m too scared to tell him the truth.
“A female friend?” he asks, dropping his head to the side, as he takes another step. “Think really hard before you answer that question, Grace?”
I don’t know what to say, he’s scaring me, I’ve never seen him so enraged before.
“I had an interesting conversation with Mrs. Deferman on the phone. She told me all about you and your lovely fiancé paying her a visit. Do you want to tell me why you did that, baby?” he grips at the banister until his knuckles turn white.
“I just needed some answers,” I speak so feebly as I take a few paces back, my shoulders eventually meeting with the wall behind me. Julian charges up the rest of the stairs, standing nose to nose with me before I have the chance to run.
“You’re gonna need to tell me everything that sweet old lady told you, or…” Taking my throat in his hands he pins me to the wall. “I’m going to have to hurt you.”
My head throbs, and I feel the veins in my neck pulse against his fingers. All my fear and confusion builds into a loud scream that threatens to come out. I do everything I can to swallow it down and salvage some composure.
“Why does it matter?” I ask sweetly. “Her husband was just a friend of my mom’s, he never made it to the funeral, then I heard he’d passed away. I wanted to check she was okay.”
“And since when have you cared about anyone other than yourself, you obnoxious little brat?” His spittle lands on my face as his nose presses into my cheek before he pulls back enough for me to see his face. “You're coming with me.” He takes a fist of my hair in his hand and drags me down the stairs. My scalp feels like it’s on fire, until he releases me and shoves me hard in the back so I tumble into Mom’s office. I fall on the floor and take some breaths to calm myself before I lift my head.
“Where is it?” he asks as he trudges toward me, fisting my hair again and using it to pull me on to my feet. “I pulled this place apart while you were gone. Now tell me where it is?”
“Where is what?” I yell back at him. “You’ve gone fucking mad.”
I hear his hand slap against my face before I register any pain.
“Your mom’s secret little files. The ones she was using to try and shut down the agency.”
How does Julian know about the agency?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I sob, hoping my lie is a convincing one, because I have a feeling if he figures out that the Agency has already been shut down, I’m heading for more than a slap on the face.
“Don’t fucking lie to me.” His hand crashes in to the back of my head, forcing me down so my head crushes between his palm and Mom’s desk. “You disappear, visit Joe Deferman’s wife, then all of a sudden, agency clients start dropping like flies. That ain’t no coincidence, Grace. Are you working for them too now?” he’s desperate, and I suddenly notice how tired his eyes look, yet his grip remains strong.
“Julian, what has this got to do with you?” I ask, feeling a cold chill leak down my spine.
“I have to stop them before they come for me,” his voice is a whisper, and I realize that he’s actually afraid.
“No,” I shake my head against his hand, as tears drip from my eyes and onto Mom’s desk. “No!” I shout louder, and my stomach heaves when he places his finger over my lips to keep me quiet.
“Don’t sound so disappointed in me, Grace darling,” he leans over my body, the finger of his other hand sliding up my bare thigh and making me wretch. And he laughs inside my ear before he slides his tongue over my cheek. “So how will it be, baby doll? You gonna tell me what you know, or am I gonna have to fuck it out of you?”
“Please don’t. Julian, your name… it wasn’t on the list,” I blurt out desperately. If I can calm him down, I might be able to escape.
“What list?” he steps back, a look of shock now on his face.
“I found my mother’s list, your name wasn’t on it. Do you really think l would have come home if it was?” Julian looks confused now and I sense him weakening.
“Please just let me go. No one is after you. Mom’s task force died with her and Mr. Deferman. The people on the list are dead. No one needs to know that you were involved,” I tell him, hoping he’ll believe me, because it’s the truth, and all I have to get me out of this mess.
“Except for you,” he tells me calmly, shaking his head almost as if he’s disappointed. Reaching behind him, he takes a gun from the back of his pants. I know it’s over for me the moment I see it, and all I can think about is how I’ll never have the chance to tell Brax how I felt about him.
The sound it makes as it goes off isn’t the ear-splitting bang I expect, more like a pop. I feel a sharp sting hit me in my neck, and everything starts to go foggy as I fall back and hit my head against the corner of the desk. I can’t be sure if it’s the knock to my temple or whatever’s just been shot into my neck that makes me lose all feeling in my limbs. My vision blurs, and the last thing I see before I black out completely, is Julian hanging over me, wearing a smile that looks like it’s been painted on by the devil himself.
I wake up to the sound of dripping water. Cold, damp and with a head that aches like hell. When I lift my hands, I notice that they’re tied together with rope, and when I touch my throbbing temple my fingers become coated with blood. Looking down, I notice my ankles are tied together too, and I follow the rope attached to them along the damp concrete floor to the pillar I’m tethered to. Julian sits on a chair opposite me, and I scowl at him when I’ve come round enough to focus.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he shakes his head. “I was only ever the middle man, I never touched…” he’s talking like that makes everything okay.
“You’re a sick piece of shit!” I shout out at him, and when he laughs back at me it ups my rage.
“And you’ll be a dead little slut if you don’t tell me who you were working with to take down the nine men who have disappeared,” he bites back
“Me and you, was it ever fucking real? Did you ever actually have feelings for me? We were together for three years. I thought you loved me.” How could I have been so damn stupid?
“Asks the girl who couldn’t keep her pussy in her panties.” He raises a judgmental eyebrow at me before pulling out his cell and typing something out.
“Adriano will be here soon. I suggest you cooperate. He has very little patience.”
“Why, Julian? Why are you involved in all this? You don’t need the money, your dad has you set up in the company.”
“My dad set me up in more than the company.” He leans his body forward and smiles.
“Why do you think I got with you in the first place? I’m thirty-fucking-five years old. You really think my head was turned by some bratty little rich girl. We knew your mom was working on bringing down the agency. But after planting Dad we were still getting nowhere, your mom was quite the closed book. I don’t think your dad even knew what she did. So we had to get even closer… and that’s where I came into it.”
“But your father… he’s been my dad's partner for years.”
“And where do you think my father got the funds to invest in such a successful company, Grace? The agency bought the shares in your father’s company in my dad's name when the opportunity came up.”
“But…”
“Your mom and dad would turn in their freshly filled graves if they knew what money bought their shares. All your mama’s hard work and we were sitting right under her nose. If what you're telling me is right, the dumb bitch still didn’t know we were involved when she died.” Anger pulses under my skin, and I swear if I wasn’t tied down, I would find the strength to kill him with my bare hands.
“And you sleep at night knowing what those poor children have to endure in order for you to make your money.” I shake my head in disgust. And Julian shrugs his shoulders.
“It’s a trade, sweetheart, no man ever got rich out of playing nice.”
“You’re going to hell,” I tell him.
“Not yet.” The pig laughs at me, and all I can do is close my eyes and tip my head back against the wall, I don’t want to hear anymore, and I have to mentally prepare myself for what’s to come.
My loyalty to Brax and his club is about to be stretched, and I have a bone chilling feeling it’s going to be painful. Pulling my bound hands up to my chest, I take hold of my locket, holding it tight in my fist as I silently ask my parents to gift me the strength to get me through whatever's coming.