Hers To Keep (Servite Academy #2)

Chapter 46

Chapter

Forty-Six

SCARLETT

“ A ce, please drive faster, we need to get away!” I shouted frantically as we sped down the twisting hillside toward the border of Hillcrest Hills and Pleasant Hills. Ace was already driving over one hundred miles per hour, but Luke was tailing us closely, while the other vehicle was trying to run us off the road.

The silver SUV sped up, the sound of shrieking tires and the putrid stench of burning rubber overpowered my senses, as a loud thud was heard and we were thrown against the side of the vehicle we were in.

I startle awake from a horrifying dream only to realize it isn’t a dream at all.

He’s done it. He’s actually fucking done it.

Wesley’s kidnapped Ace, has him hostage, and I’m the only one who can save him.

How am I supposed to if I’m being watched every fucking second of the day? Like I’m some helpless child or an unstable chick who’s about to have a mental breakdown. Even though it’s pretty fucking obvious I just might .

It’s been two days since the car crash. Two days since he took Ace from me and gave me seventy-two hours to get him back. The first twenty-four hours I spent unconscious, in a hospital bed from the intensity of the concussion I suffered when I slammed my head roughly against the windshield, after Luke rammed his SUV into us and flipped our car over.

They left Remi, Lexi, and I made it in the car, injured and bleeding as the smell of gasoline became so strong it burned in my throat. All I remember is seeing Ace’s face slashed and bloody from the intensity of the crash and the shattered glass beside him. I watched as two of the guys Luke came with reached inside pulling him out of the car, while Luke came around to the passenger side where I lay in agony and restrained by the seat belt, the fabric digging painfully into my neck. His fingers traced the gash on my cheek as I screamed from the intensity of the pain that flowed through me as he dug his finger deep into the cut.

His voice continues to play over and over in my head like a dreadful recording.

The Boss says you have seventy-two hours to bring the ledger and your fine little ass to Servite Manor, or you’ll never see your pretty boy again. Tick Tock, sweetheart, for those who cross the devil, shall fear his wrath when they descend into hell.

The next twenty hours I've spent locked in Ace’s room at the beach house, with the Horsemen and Jade irrationally guarding my door. I’ve refused to see or talk to any of them, so Lexi and Remi have been the ones tending to my needs. I’m pissed off that they have me locked in here refusing to let me out, supposedly for my safety, but they don’t understand that I need to make sure he’s okay. They don’t understand the gravity of Wesley’s threats. Every hour that ticks by, is an hour Ace might lose.

Which is why the next four hours, I will spend doing whatever it takes to get him back. I can’t lose him. I refuse to lose him.

Ace is everything to me; he’s the reason I fight every day. He’s the reason I have yet to succumb to my destined fate and accept my place in the clutches of evil. The only person in my life who I’d sacrifice everything for. What frightens me the most, is that he feels the same way.

I can’t let him pay for the mistakes I made. I betrayed Wesley. I failed Ace. Now I will save him if it’s the last thing I do.

I need to sneak out of here, and there’s only one person who I know without a doubt, will help me do just that. Is it foolish to trust him after everything that’s occurred between us? Probably, but I’m desperate and out of options. For now, he’s my only hope.

If you get into bed with the devil, there’s a risk you might get burned.

“I want to speak with Alek!” I shout, banging on the door of Ace’s bedroom. “I won’t stop screaming until I speak with Alek.” It’s a long shot that Alek is still even here. I saw him when they brought me here from the hospital, the scowl on his face when they carried me in proving he blames me for Ace’s disappearance, which is why I know he’ll help me save him.

Alek couldn’t care less what happens to me. He hates me, that much I’m sure of. Despises everything about me, everything I represent. A worthless punk from the wrong side of town who gets to indulge in the pleasures he believes are rightfully his. I can’t say I actually blame him. I mean, look at all that’s happened because of Wesley Servite’s toxic obsession with me. People are dead, others threatened, and Ace is missing.

I hear footsteps approaching the door as I back away knowing I’ll be whacked in the face when they open it if I don’t move. I expect it to be Bass yelling at me to calm the fuck down, or Jade trying to convince me to eat something but how can I eat or calm down when my boyfriend has been kidnapped by his psychotic uncle.

By his own father.

A rush of guilt threatens to overpower me as I remember I am keeping something from him yet again, but this he’ll have to understand .

I’m pleasantly surprised when in fact it’s Alek’s long blond hair and patronizing eyes that appear from behind the closed door.

He saunters into the room, closing the door behind him as he steps forward not saying a word. He watches me, his eyes lingering over my eye covered in a dark purple bruise and my eyebrow adorned with a large gash straight across leading down my cheek. His eyes turn somewhat somber as they watch me, but pity isn’t what I want from him.

“I’m surprised you came. Didn’t think you’d answer to a command not from your master.” His frown deepens at my comment laced in sarcasm altering into a scornful scowl.

Fuck . Surely insulting him will not make him help you, Scarlett.

I’m almost sure he’s about to walk back out the way he came, but he steps forward closing the distance between us. “Didn’t want to have to listen to your incessant bitching all night long. Figured I’d come in here and maybe shut you up for good.” He stops before me, his body straightening, obviously trying to intimidate me, but he forgets who he’s talking to. Nothing scares me anymore, not after all the shit I’ve been through.

“You’d be doing us all a favor, Alek. Maybe with me gone, he’d see no reason to keep threatening Ace and then he’d let him go.” I move forward, my head tilting upward level with his chin. Alek stands at about the same height as Ace, but where Ace is broad, muscular, and toned in all the right places, Alek is long and lanky. He’s also pretty toned, but it’s more of natural muscle, not from hours spent at the gym lifting weights like Ace or even Bass.

“What the fuck do you want, Scarlett?” he asks, clearly unimpressed by my small talk. He drops onto the couch beside the bed, leaning back casually, his legs crossed over one another showing no interest in what I’m about to say.

“I need your help,” I say, cutting straight to the point. I’m not sure if Ace has told Alek about our blood relation, but I’d rather not find out tonight.

“And why in the world would I fucking help you of all people?” he sneers, a rebellious chuckle escaping him. I guess that answers that question.

“Because despite how you feel about me, Alek—cause trust me, it’s blatantly obvious you don’t like me—Ace is your brother, and I know for a fact you don’t want to see him come to harm.” His gaze shows a hint of understanding at my statement, but he doesn’t seem convinced. “Because that’s what will happen, Alek. Wesley Servite is a vicious monster, a ruthless devil who will stop at nothing to make him pay for his betrayal.”

Alek sits forward resting his elbows on his knees as he leans toward me, his blond hair falling brazenly atop his clear blue eyes. “So what, I turn you in instead?” His mouth lifts slightly on one side, his usual condescending smirk making its comeback appearance.

“Yes, you sneak me out of here so I can trade myself for his freedom.”

He scoffs, turning away from me, not believing a word I say. “Servite already had you caged up and he let you escape. He didn’t want you then, why would he now?” he asks, stating the fucking obvious.

Fuck, why is he being so difficult? If anything, I thought he’d immediately jump at the opportunity to make the exchange, my life for Ace’s.

“He had me and then lost me, and now he wants to show me what will happen if I try to leave again. I know you have no reason to believe me. Hell, I know you’re the one who tipped Wesley off in the first place, telling him that Ace and I were just trying to fool him into believing we’d ended things and were actually trying to bring him down. I know you did it not to betray Ace but in hopes Wesley would finally get rid of me or worse.”

His gaze shows a hint of remorse as he looks away, not wanting to look me in the eye. “That was before,” he mutters softly, shaking his head and not making any sense.

“Before what?” I ask, knowing well enough he’s hiding something. He stays silent for a moment, contemplating what he’s about to say next. It’s driving me fucking crazy that this is taking us so damn long. The luxury of time isn’t on our side.

“Before I knew who you were, who you really are.” His eyes lock with mine as I nearly fall back stunned at his admission. He knows.

“He told you?” I ask, realizing Alek now knows the same blood which flows through his veins, flows in mine. I mean assuming he didn’t already know.

“He did,” he mutters, standing and reaching out to me. “Had I known before what Wesley did, what they did, I?—”

I quickly back away as he tries to grab my hand in his, angry and frustrated that he assumes us being related changes anything. “Don’t,” I whisper, woefully. “Don’t say you’d have treated me differently had you known. We both know that’s a fucking lie. You don’t like me, it’s fine. I don’t like you. That won’t change because we suddenly found out we’re related. Blood means nothing to me. I grew up without a family and instead found friends ten times better than any relative could ever be. So the fact that we’re cousins means nothing to me.” I turn around stomping over to the full-length window facing the ocean, whose waves are fiercely ravaging below. The ocean always seems to mirror what I’m feeling inside. Calm, serenity, chaos, volatile anger. “If I’ve learned anything this last month, it’s that keeping secrets is futile. The truth always comes out, and the more we try to protect one another and keep each other in the dark, the more it comes back to bite us in the ass. I made a deal with Marchesi, to not only protect Ace but protect a secret I know will destroy him. Look where that’s gotten me—now he’s still in danger.”

I feel Alek come up behind me, placing a hand upon my shoulder but I refuse to turn around. I know the moment that I do I will crumble and fall apart—the tears I’ve been fighting for days are threatening to overflow and drown us both in their waves. I never imagined things would get this bad. Wesley warned me repeatedly of the horrors he was capable of and yet somehow, I believed it was all an act. After all, the devil doesn’t act out of his own free will. He has others do his bidding. How blindly stupid I was to believe I could ever hope to defeat him? To trick the devil, the king of tricksters.

“We all do stupid shit. Trust me, I know firsthand. I trusted Wesley and my father. I blindly followed their orders because it’s what I was raised to do. Because despite what I make everyone believe, I have no fucking backbone to stand on my own. However, it doesn’t justify the shit I’ve turned a blind eye to. I’m not stupid I know what Wesley and my father are capable of, but unlike you, family means something to me. I just mean nothing to them. If my sister were in your shoes, I’d do anything and everything to protect her.”

His words sound genuine, the way he speaks of his sister Drea. I have had little reason to speak with her, it’s mainly Carrington and Kinsley who are the ones who anger me. Drea simply stands in the background or on the sidelines scowling, yet indifferent. Though unlike Ace and his sister Wynter, who barely seem to get along, Alek and Drea have always seemed connected. Their twin bond is more noticeable with the way he speaks of her now.

I turn around and face him, and for the first time since I met Alek, I see a look of sincerity appear in his blue eyes. Eyes that I now notice resemble mine. “Help me because you want to make right your betrayal against Ace, not for some stupid belief that family is indebted to family.”

Who would have ever thought I’d find myself in this position? Asking for help from the most unlikely of alliances. The only thing worse than this would be to ask Carrington for help.

Although to save Ace, I’m sure she’d even barter helping.

Alek nods his head, understanding what I’m asking. “Fine, what do you need me to do?”

Alek and I snuck out of the beach house with Remi’s help. She knows I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing with Ace’s life hanging in the balance. Especially since he’s in this predicament because of me.

I climbed down the balcony, holding on to the vines of ivy twisted around the columns along the house, jumping down onto a shrub of bushes, while Remi stayed behind to stall the group as much as she could. She told them I locked myself in the room and wanted to be left alone, while Alek drove me out to Servite Manor to save my man.

Our drive up the winding hillside toward the manor is unnervingly quiet, neither one of us really knowing what to say to the other. I want to ask him how he could betray his best friend, his brother that way, but then I remember how I’ve betrayed everyone around me with blatant lies and withholding horrible truths. I guess we’re more similar than I had thought.

Must run in the family, a notorious Smoak trait to be a fraud and traitor.

Alek drives us through the steel gates, which surprisingly open with ease, and up to the circular driveway, a wave of fear suddenly overcomes me as we approach the house. The same house that’s been haunting my nightmares for the last month since I first took up residence here.

I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t run into any of the Servites, keeping myself locked away in the room he settled me in. Warren and his wife Willa, Ace’s parents, have been staying at their property in New York for the last few months, while Wynter wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near me, so luckily the house has been dark and grim, just the house staff and me.

I turn to push the door open before the car stops completely, but just as I am about to step out Alek grabs my arm abruptly, causing me to turn and face him.

“What the hell?” I shout, trying to get him to loosen his grip, but he doesn’t budge.

“I don’t like this, Scarlett. I have a terrible feeling. We got in way too easily, this has to be a trap.” He looks around nervously, as an eerie feeling we’re being watched overwhelms me.

“I don’t care, Alek. I need to do whatever it takes to save him. If I don’t, I’ll never be able to live with myself. Get help if you must, we’re going to need it, but don’t let my sister come here. Whatever happens, promise me you won’t let her come.” He nods sympathetically as he releases my arm.

“I promise,” he mutters solemnly, and I just might believe him.

“One more thing,” I say as he watches me closely. “I need your phone. I don’t know what happened to mine.” He nods, handing it to me without a fight as I jump out of the car.

As I step out, I take in the familiar sights around me. The sun has set, darkness consuming me in a blanket of panic and terror. The tall trees surrounding the property fiercely sway back and forth, the rough winds making them look like they’re dancing in warning around us. The moon is full and round, its bright light illuminating the house forming a sinister shadow around it. I quickly rush up the concrete steps toward the front door of the mansion not bothering to turn around as I hear Alek drive away.

I find the front door unlocked and turn the handle slowly, a strange, ominous feeling hovering over me as I step into the foyer of the manor. It’s frighteningly empty, not a person nor sound heard anywhere in the house.

Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out Alek’s cell phone and turn on the flashlight, using it to guide my way further inside. At the front of the staircase, I light up the floor looking down at my feet and find red rose petals scattered along the marble floor, like one would scatter them for a romantic Valentine’s Day surprise leading toward the bedroom. Bending down to pick up one petal, I find it isn’t a red rose petal, but in fact a white one soaked in a thick red substance I’m afraid might be blood.

The petals drip along the floor as I wipe my fingers against my jeans and head down the hall toward the living area on the right side of the foyer, following the trail of blood-soaked petals. I recognize they’re leading toward the same room Ace brought me to that night months ago, where we waited for Wesley to join us.

My boots echo on the marble floor and I curse myself for my chosen outfit. At first it seemed smart, my black jeans ripped at the knees, a black crop top, faux leather jacket, and military style combat boots, an ensemble meant for war. But now I’m thinking I should have worn something slightly more bullet proof.

Because to no surprise, as I sluggishly step through the doorway, there he is. Ace . Sitting in the middle of the room tied to a chair, his face bloody and beaten, his clothes ripped off his body, exposing large, bloody, gashes covering his torso which I assume could have only been made with a large whip.

My heart falls to my feet, my body nearly following it as bile threatens to rise in my throat and erupt like hot lava, burning everything in its way. Tears uncontrollably spill from my eyes like venom upon my bruised and scarred cheeks, as I stare at Ace with his head hung low, his chest slowly rising and falling, the only sign he’s still alive.

I want to run to him, to take him in my arms and tell him I’m here, that I’ve come to save him, but my legs refuse to move forward. I feel as if I’m sinking in quicksand, plummeting to my untimely death. My throat is dry and closing in on me. I can’t scream, or cry out, or even yell for help. I’m utterly immobilized.

A sinister cackle echoes in the room as Wesley appears from the dark shadows behind Ace, holding a gun in his hand and pointing it directly at me. If it were possible for my heart to beat any faster, I assume it would run down the hall away from me and the scene playing out before me.

Wesley continues his strut toward me, stopping behind Ace, and pointing the gun directly at his temple. The feel of the cold mental barrel awakens him, and he shifts in his seat, lifting his head. Our eyes meet for the first time tonight, and the fear in his gaze as he sees me, nearly kills me.

“No!” he cries out, the cry erupting from his lips, shattering my soul. I take a step toward him but stop when I hear the safety of the gun click.

“Not so fast, sweetheart. One more step and I'll blow his pretty little brains out all over the floor. Not that he has much, if he did, he’d have known better than to go up against me.” Wesley’s dressed in a slick black three-piece suit, his blond hair cut short and combed neatly in place, his face clean and shaven, and his blue-green eyes display an intense look of hatred as he looks toward Ace, toward his own son.

It’s revolting.

“Scarlett, why the fuck did you come here? I thought I told the guys to keep you away,” Ace shouts, but Wesley quickly slaps him across the face with the back end of the gun. His head falls to the side, blood spewing out of his mouth onto the marble floor beneath his feet.

“Someone owed me a favor,” I mumble, hoping to distract Wesley, my voice cracking as I watch Ace’s head fall.

“You’ll fucking pay for this if you put a damn hand on her,” Ace sneers, spitting blood at Wesley’s feet.

“Shut the fuck up, Wallace!” Wesley shouts, but just as he is about to slap him once more, a loud yelp escapes from deep within me.

“Please, stop. Don’t hurt him anymore. I’m here, I’ve done what you asked. I’m here and I brought it with me.” I pull the ledger from the pocket of my jacket, holding it up for him to see. A wicked smirk takes over his heinous scowl as he whistles, calling for someone to join us. Just as if she were summoned from the depths of hell itself, my mother appears behind me, dressed in a long white gown, her black hair flawless as ever. She struts toward me, yanking the ledger from my hands with lean fingers, her long red fingernails scratching me as she pulls it, then turns and walks straight toward Wesley.

“Well, well,” Wesley says, taking the ledger from her hands and holding it up to me. “What shall we do with the two of you now?”