Forbidden Deception (Deception)

29

“A ll strapped in and ready to go.”

“Can you hear me?”

“I can,” I reply to Aidan, ruffling my hair to hide the small earpiece.

The door to my right slides open, and I jump out of the SUV, then take a deep breath. The stench of rundown buildings and spilled oil fills the air, and I grimace.

My hands ball at my sides.

It’s okay. Medora won’t harm me like that. I saved her. Us. She wouldn’t put me in danger. She reached out because she wanted to protect us.

I scan the area. A few homeless people grumble in a corner sleeping on discarded bags and some in sleeping bags, and the faint smell of weed makes its way around me, skunky haze and drenched with citrus mixed with wet diesel in this foggy alleyway.

Inky night above me makes it hard to see past the silhouettes of run-down buildings, but I manoeuvre through them with careful steps. I am careful to avoid dirty puddles and the random objects scattered on the pavement.

The icy breeze raises goosebumps on my skin, and I rub my arms to get rid of them, then walk down the footpath until I see a broken open sign hanging off the side of a rundown restaurant.

I take the right turn leading into another alley. The sight that meets me makes me halt in my steps.

“Is everything okay?” A voice crackles in my ear.

“Hm,” I quietly mutter, then carefully tiptoe past two men sleeping against the wall.

As soon as I pass them, I do a quick little run until I spot a small, chipped red wooden door.

“I’m here,” I whisper, looking around.

I knock on the door.

Hurry up. Please, hurry up.

The metal gate behind me at the front of the alleyway squeaks every few seconds from the strong night wind.

It’s such a shitty place.

I hate it.

A latch turns.

I look back at the two men who start to stir from the sound.

The lock turns.

The one with a straggly beard and unkempt, long hair sits up with a groan.

Hurry.

The man looks around and spots me. My heart thunders.

“Hey—” I am pulled through the door, and it bangs shut behind me.

“What the f—”

A hand slams over my mouth.

Wide, frantic eyes meet mine. The woman’s black hair is tightly tied into a ponytail, and her sharp features are pinched.

“Medora,” I whisper, my heart racing, and I throw myself into her arms. I tighten my arms around her. Her warmth is so familiar. It was the only place I found comfort in when I had no one. Medora was that friend for me who didn’t judge me for the murder and instead tried to protect me.

She was my rock and anchor through it all. She never let me drown at that cursed school.

“Venezia.” She gently pulls away, her eyes now calm. She looks me over as if to make sure I am doing okay, and once she confirms it, she smiles.

“I’m glad you’re okay and your brother is treating you well.” Of course she would be worried. My parents had given me up. So had hers.

She lifts her black skirt, pulls a knife from the strap on her thigh, hands it to me, then nods at me to follow her. I hold the handle tightly and follow.

Through the dark hallway.

To the right.

The static in my ear crackles.

The smell of blood and petrol clouds around me.

We pause in front of a door that is slightly ajar, a soft light filtering out from the crack.

“In here.” She walks in and moves aside for me to see a man tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

It’s dark except the yellow light swinging every so often above him. The room is made of broken wooden panels, and beneath him is a pool of dark, viscous liquid.

My stomach turns, but I tighten my hand around the knife.

“Guard 23, rotation around the back quarter of the school, also the spiller of secrets, in our case, a loose end,” I recite what I know and catch Medora raising a bat on her shoulder and smiling.

Her teeth show, and she blows a pink bubble. The pop awakens the man.

He blinks, then his slightly glazed eyes fall on us. The bruises on his face are purple and yellow streaks, and the sight of it and the blood dripping from his cracked lips force me to turn away for a moment.

“Let me go, you bitch!” He struggles, thrashing in his seat, but the chair is bolted to the floor.

Medora turns to me and grins, pitch black eyes and a dark smile. She is not going to let him go, and she knows I won’t ask her to.

“You will pay for this once the headmaster finds out her security intel is missing,” he spits, his head hanging low. Did Medora really hit him that hard?

“And why do you assume that? What if she thinks you didn’t make it your shift for personal reasons?” I step forward, crouching so he can look me in the eye.

Clearly Medora has done some serious damage for him to not be able to raise his head.

He narrows his crazed eyes.

“Who would believe you bitches?” He thrashes once more. He’s breathless and can barely do anything but throw a tantrum in place.

Medora steps forward. She grabs his jaw, nails digging into his cheek. His eyes instantly squeeze shut, and his harsh breathing fills the silence between us.

“Tell me the name of your headmaster, your employer,” I ask calmly, a faint smell of gasoline passing me.

He tries to jostle, but she back-hands him. Her ring catches his cheek, slicing open his skin. Blood drips from the cut, and he screams.

“She said, tell us the name of your fucking headmaster.”

He takes deep breaths and spits blood out onto the dirty floor.

“Mrs Anderson Gravy.”

I nod. “And who hired the company you work for?”

“Remember, correct answers only,” Medora says from behind him, lifting his jaw and shaking his face.

“An anonymous entity.”

So basically, Helia, so Remo could get me out of there.

“Right. Do you happen to know this entity?”

He shakes his head with a loud sigh.

“I don’t like the tone you have, mister,” Medora tuts and hits his arms with her bat with such force, I hear a faint crack of bones.

“Ah, did you just break his arm?” I ask, looking up at her.

She shrugs.

“Now, please answer nicely or else she might end up breaking every bone in your body.” I eye him up and down. He tries to sneer at me, but I raise a brow, and he stops.

“No, I don’t know anything about this entity.”

“Do you know who else has rumours about having an entity? Power and influence but no name the public could call them by?”

He ponders over the question. “Remo Cainn, Rafael Gustav, Vance Hartley.”

“Remind me, Medora, what is my full name?” I don’t look away from the man in front of me who seems to be oh so confused.

“Venezia Cainn.”

I smirk.

His jaw slacks and his eyes widen, and he stills. Then his eyes flick between us.

“I own you, you motherfucker,” I whisper.

“So let’s spill the beans. What the fuck did you tell the Ricco family?”

The man looks between us both, a frantic look in his eyes and his breathing now accelerating. He put me in danger when I’ve tried to keep myself safe all these years.

He ruined the safety net Medora and I had with how we discarded Samuel’s body.

How dare he do that for barely any money?

“I-I told them I saw you both bury a body just behind the cherry blossom tree near the back gardens. They suspected it was their son, but I wasn’t sure. So I told them to check. They were there for the whole night. They left when the sun began to rise and took something with them. I don’t know if it was the body or not. I promise I didn’t know they would be so concerned—”

“About their own son? What the fuck do you think they care about, then?” I snap.

“You think they came to eat apples and watch the sunrise, you fucking moron?” Medora grits out.

“That place, that school, is for wealthy people to dump their unwanted children to keep them out of sight and out of mind. They don’t care about the ones being abused, the victims. No, they care about keeping their names and reputations clean. You don’t have to be a fucking genius to understand that they are threatened by the murder of their son. They don’t want to make amends for the women their son tried to rape; they just want to keep their ‘good’ name.” I run a frustrated hand through my hair, breathing heavily and so done with this man.

“Imagine having morals for once in your life, and maybe you’d be more concerned for all those innocent girls who got abused.” I step back. I don’t want to waste any more of my time and breath over this sorry excuse of a man.

Medora steps forward and slams her bat against his head. Blood explodes from his ear and splatters across our clothes, but since we are both wearing black, it doesn’t show. Only a few flecks of blood here and there show on our skin.

“I fucking hate how disgusting these people are,” Medora mutters, standing next to me as we watch blood pour from his head.

I turn away from the scene. Then I suck in a sharp breath and release it. My hands tremble, but I hide them in the pockets of my hoodie.

“I told my brother about this. He will look into who in the Ricco family knows. I don’t know his plans yet, but I’m glad I met you.” I look at her and smile.

Guilt, longing, and maybe even sadness swim through me, but I manage a small smile for her.

Looking into her dark eyes brings back memories of us stuck in a tiny room together.

Ricco walking towards us as he holds a knife.

Him ripping through our clothes.

Our breaths and cries echoing against in the four walls around us.

The slashes of the knife across our skin, The cries and bruises from him trying to touch us and kiss us.

Then the push from Medora.

Me scrambling to the floor towards the knife.

Medora sobbing.

My hand grasping the knife.

Ricco launching at Medora in rage.

And then, the knife stabbing into his neck.

And blood staining my hands.

I blink, and I am standing in front of Medora again. She has a vacant look in her eyes, but she’s smiling. A sad smile, possibly. A tortured one, maybe. The expression that I used to see in the mirror.

I know Remo helped her get out. I requested it personally, but we lost contact, and I didn’t know where she ended up.

“Don’t think about it. Don’t worry about it. Don’t ever stress over it, okay?” she whispers, grabbing my hands.

She feels so cold. Like a wandering ghost who has been seeking revenge on those who did it wrong.

“I’m thankful to have you, you know.” I glance down at our bloodied hands and swallow back my tears. “But I hate how our innocence has been tainted and ripped from us.”

Medora shakes her head and wraps an arm around my shoulders. Then she leads me out. Something falls behind us, but I don’t pay it mind.

We walk out of the building and onto the street; then Medora sees my car and stops.

Scorching heat flares at my back, and I whip around and gasp. Flames lick up the building, the sight terrifying and absolutely horrific, and then it hits me.

She dropped a lighter and burnt all traces of the body and our DNA, so nothing would be left behind.

“Feeling a muffin?” I question, looking away from the fire, knowing what could be awaiting us soon. Remo won’t ask, but he will know a man from his security team has been found dead. He will find out; it’s only a matter of when.

We choose a quiet cafe not too far from the burning site.

“I haven’t been back to this city since you left. Please thank your brother for getting me out of that school.”

I nod, smiling down at my little muffin and the hot coffee beside it.

The sight of the coffee instantly reminds of Rafael, and my chest constricts.

It doesn’t matter what I have told him; it doesn’t matter what he wants to believe. After what I will do, after everything I will destroy between us, nothing will be left for me.

Only a void.

Only a piece of my broken heart that I shattered myself.

“What has you in such deep thoughts?”

I blink and look up, my mouth opening and closing, but I eventually just shut it.

“That messy, huh?” She raises a brow, and I sigh, an awkward laugh spilling out.

“I was gone for four years, and you suddenly have this look on your face as if your whole world is about to fall apart and you are forced to watch it.”

Didn’t she just hit the nail on the head?

She’s so fucking right it hurts.

Tears coat my eyes.

I look up at her, and she stops smiling.

“I am in a mess. I am the reason. I am the one who will suffer the most in the end, and I am the stupid one who begged to do.”

“Venezia, what are you saying?” She reaches across and grabs my hands, a dip in her brows marring her face.

“I am about to lose everything, and I have to watch someone I love walk away from me soon.” Tears slowly spill out of me.

Medora gets out of her chair and hugs me, and I tell her everything.

I spill until there is nothing left to tell her about.

I spill until there is nothing left in my heart.

And my eyes and heart bleed with me.

This is only the beginning.