Breaker (Unmasked #3)

26. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Breaker

I was eight when my ghosts came to visit me. They appeared in a dream like a gauzy mist. In my dream, my fingers ached from how cold it was, and every time I breathed out, I could see the ghosts leaving my chest. I dreamed I was in a room that was entirely blue, the walls rolling like waves. It was the same color blue as the room Father rescued me from when I was just a boy.

In my dream I’d thought about how the monster in my chest breathed fire, the way bad things tend to do, but it did me no good since I was so cold. My monster was of no use to me in my dreams because he didn’t stop the ghosts from breathing their cold breaths into my lungs.

Then the mist turned to claws, gripping my throat and I screamed.

Viper woke me up with a kick to my bed. He had asked me why I was screaming and crying in my sleep. I told him that I was dreaming of the cold, blue room, where Father had rescued me.

It was strange to see how his face contorted. The moonlight streaming in through the tiny window high above my bed turned his pale face pure white and I remember thinking his eyes looked so similar to that blue room, but instead of cold, Viper’s eyes were warm, like pictures of the sea.

“He didn’t rescue you,” he’d said. “He put you there, then brought you out three days later.”

I opened my mouth to argue but Viper had never lied to me before.

“He put us all there when we came to the school.” Viper dropped to a crouch by my bed, glancing over his shoulder to the open door behind him. “But you,” he whispered, “he put you in there and then took you out and sent you somewhere else.”

Nanny was my secret. On my first day of school I learned that my brothers all came from different places, some living in large group homes, and others barely surviving on the streets. Reaper and Hunter were the only ones who refused to talk about where they came from. I wondered if maybe they had a Nanny too, and didn’t want to tell the others so they wouldn’t feel so displaced and unwanted.

My memories before the school are full of love and warmth, and hugs and kisses. There were pancakes on Sundays and a toy car I played with. When I came to the school, I held on to those memories using them to keep me sane. Keep me soft in the places Fallon tried to turn hard. Even when I earned my name, I clung to that bright past, just as I had clung to Nanny’s favorite yellow dress when we walked through the village.

Like right now, I’m clinging to my sanity because my Little Red is just yards away, and I can’t get to her. No matter how much I want to snatch her up and throw her on the back of my bike to take her home, I can’t.

Home. I want her with us so bad it hurts. To wrap my arms around her. Kiss her sweet lips. Run my fingers through her hair and smell that slightly sweet, completely her, scent. Flowers and fruit and darkness.

I want to see her eyes when she realizes we’ve not abandoned her to this fate. That every single promise we made that night was true.

I’d fucking kill before I let her go.

I’ll fucking ruin anything and everything before she is anyone’s but mine.

Ours.

Viper must be losing his shit by now. I’m not there. He can’t get to me. He can’t come after her. He’s bound by our plan, and his need for revenge.

Revenge. That’s what has led us here.

The irony doesn’t escape me.

I lean back, adjusting my helmet, my boot on the paved drive, crossing my arms over my chest, my eyes on the house across the street. With a glance over my shoulder, I check the windows of the house behind me, to make sure no lights have come on. I think it’s vacant but have no idea if any staff or security keep an eye on the grounds.

A light blinking on across the street snags my attention. I lean forward, gripping the handlebars. Even though I can’t see inside, I can see movement through the cracks in the drapes. Lights pop on, one after another on the first floor. After several minutes, lights flood the second floor, then the third.

We never bothered getting a diagram of the estate since neither woman ever came to the house, so I have no idea which room she’s in right now. Cora kept the property up, but this is the first time she’s stepped foot in her parents old house since we’ve been watching her.

My skin itches, my chest constricting. While I’m grateful for Harlow’s dedication to protect our girl, he’s also making it hard to access her. And fuck I want to get my hands on her. Make sure she’s safe. Unharmed after spending three nights in that house with Rune.

My phone pings. I pull it from my pocket and check the camera’s we installed around the perimeter of Rune’s property, years ago. We were never able to get any inside, but thanks to the many camera’s we placed, I can now track who comes and goes.

He’s returning home.

He has no security team left, which I’m hoping we can use to our advantage, but I’m still having to resort to using our old system to keep track of everyone. Thanks to the camera I have overlooking the front gate, I see his driver pulling the SUV into the circular drive, and parking near the steep steps. I managed to put a tracker on his vehicle that I think won’t be discovered if his driver does a sweep of the car, but it was still a risk. One I’m willing to take even though Rune hasn’t changed his routine much.

Watching them for four years means I have everyone’s schedule memorized.

Except for the last few days, no one is doing what they usually do. Rune returned late to his home, then left about an hour later. He’s not been gone long and since he’s back, I can only assume he dropped by the office and came right home.

Cora’s only left the house to go to the office then returns to Rune’s every evening. Tonight is the first time she’s gone anywhere after sunset.

And it’s killing me. I want to know what she’s doing in her childhood home.

What would she even want in there? After hearing what her mother did, it’s understandable she’s avoided the house all these years, but something happened that’s made her come here.

Something with Rune.

It had to be Rune.

I rub the knot in my chest, trying to keep my shit together. Everything in me screams to march to the door, rip it down and drag her away from this nightmare.

I’ve debated just breaking in so I can at least get close enough to find out why she’s dragged Harlow to this house of horrors, but I have no idea what type of security system the house has, if it’s even armed, and no way of hacking into it since I don’t have my laptop. That’s even if I could. I’m decent with software, but better at extracting information from people.

Right when I’m about to abandon my bike and jump the wall, the front door opens and Cora marches out. She has that determined lilt to her step, like when she’s decided something and is going to see it through to the end, even if it kills her.

Yeah. I know what determined march. I’ve watch her long enough to know she’s up to something. Clyde walks out a minute later, stopping to lock the door, a garment bag slung over his arm. She climbs into the SUV. He pulls his phone from his pocket, types, then re-pockets it before sliding into the car.

I shrink back into the shadows, as headlights sweep over the street. When the taillights become tiny dots. I maneuver my bike out of the driveway. My phone pings and I pull it out to read the screen.

Fear, anger, pure red rage makes my heart hammer.

Fuck

Reaper is going to fucking kill me.

Fallon may actually shoot me.

Viper is not ready.

Striker…

Fuck.

I take a deep breath as I reread the text. My gut roils with desperate fear. What I’m about to do is going to set everything into motion and there’s no going back.

One last glance at the text and I know I what I have to do.