Page 63 of Anathema
Her eyes were fixed on Dean, and her breaths had quickened. I knew she didn’t want anyone else involved in this and that adding Dean was just another liability, but she was quite obviously freaking out over him being here, which made little to no sense to me. Unless…
“No, nothing’s wrong. I’m just nervous for Lex, that’s all.” She clipped, dismissing me and moving to let Dean pass by us.
Curious, I raised a brow, making a mental note to ask her about this later, firmly believing that something was up with her and Dean. We had more significant priorities. Alexis.
Dean, Derek, and Eli led the way, with Madison, Atlas, and I following closely behind them. This place gave me the creeps. The further we walked into the darkness of the abandoned building, the more the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.
“Are you sure she’s down here?” Madison asked, her hand gripping mine so tightly that I felt my fingertips tingle from lack of blood circulation.
“If she isn’t, then we have a much bigger problem. This is their central hideout. If they’ve moved her elsewhere, we have zero leads as to where that could be.” I could hear the pain in Derek’s voice at the thought of Alexis not being down here. He was hoping to find her in this hideout; he needed to—we all did.
Atlas’s hand rested on my shoulder, and I turned my head, my eyes meeting his. He knew what Derek was going through, as well as I did. I was pissed off at him for losing her in the first place, but deep down, I knew that he loved her and would do anything to get her back. Whatever it took, he was going to fight to save Alexis.
Atlas gently squeezed my shoulder, pulling me from my thought spiral, and leaned in to kiss the side of my head.
“Quit beating yourself up over this, sweet thing. It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have predicted this.” He was right, but I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to Alexis, and I wasn’t there to stop it.
Dean glanced down at his phone before looking over his shoulder at us.
“Not far up ahead. From here on out, we need to be as quiet as possible. If they find us before we can get the upper hand on them, we will lose our chance of getting to Alexis.” He whispered.
“If she is even down here,” Eli added before Madison sprinted forward and punched him in the back of the head. “Ow! You dumb bi—”
“I’d watch that mouth of yours, Eli, before Mads decides not to let you leave these tunnels… she isn’t particularly fond of you.” I cut in.
“Is she fond of anyone?” Eli spoke, a tone dripping with sarcasm, and I caught a brief glimpse of Madison and Dean eying each other in an all too familiar manner.
Ohh… she was not?I couldn’t help but let my mind wander—anything to distract me from why we were here in the first place. Was Madison sleeping with Dean?
Dean and Derek stopped before an archway after rounding what felt like the twentieth corner. Next to it was a stack of boards that looked like they had been recently removed from their original placement.
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that this is the entrance we’ve been looking for?” I quipped, reaching up and tracing a symbol of a rabbit with the letter A that was carved into the sandstone. My eyes trailed down the wall and into the darkness beyond.
“How much further down is their hideout?” Madison asked, coming up beside me.
“Shouldn’t be too far. We haven’t gotten past the barricade until now, and since it’s been removed. I’d say they are expecting someone... possibly us.” Dean grimaced as he inspected the planks of wood on the ground and the archway.
If he was right, we needed to prepare ourselves for the worst. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I took Madison’s hand, squeezing it lightly, and we stared into each other’s eyes.
She nodded, and we both understood what was required of us at that moment; it was just like the night we first met Alexis. Taking a deep breath, we let our dark sides take over. There was no room left for questioning.
Time to get our sister back.
Chapter 27
Alexis
Istruggledtoopenmy eyes, blinking several times until I could better understand where Adrian and his fuck boys had moved me. From what I could tell, I was no longer in the damp prison cell from earlier, and my entire body was aching from the beating they had given me. I don’t think there was a single spot on my body that wasn’t bruised or potentially broken anymore.
I could still taste the iron on my tongue from Chad’s blood. I’m sure it was still caked to my mouth, chin, and chest. I could only imagine how unhinged and fucked up I looked right now. I flexed my fingers behind my back, my wrists burning from the zip ties that were cutting into them, the warm drops of fresh blood sliding down and pooling in my palms.
That sleazy, lying son of a bitch would pay for this. The moment I get myself free from these restraints, I’m going to kill him. I knew Adrian’s intentions for me were bullshit from the start. But I wastoo ignorant to quit while I was ahead and walked away, too scared to realize I could have found another way out. He knew I’d never back down from a challenge, and that was what landed me in this fucked up situation in the first place.
My tasks were nothing but sloppy setups to earn my trust and confidence before beating and breaking me until I felt like I was weak and worthless. I could see the look on Madison and Chyler’s faces now—the disappointment in my blind recklessness.
Here I was, poor fucking Alexis. Tied to a goddamn pole, in an underground secret hideout, beneath the city I grew up in, waiting to die, with no one who could give two shits to come and find her. I doubted Derek had even a single clue as to where I was. He’ll never find me; if he does, it will be too late.
Where did I go wrong?Blind ignorance…
