Twisted Tides (Forged Hearts #2)

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

EVIE

“Sacrifice” by London After Midnight

“ M om. Dad. I’m home.” I slam the door and hear my parents calling me from the kitchen. I see a young teacher who works with my parents in the kitchen with them.

“Hey, Eves. This is Rebekah. She is one of the new teachers who recently started working at the school.” The young woman, who can’t be over twenty-two, waves at me.

“Hey, Evie. It’s nice to meet you.” She looks like she could be friends with Emma and me from high school instead of teaching in one.

“Hi. So nice to meet you, too.” I look at Mom, wondering what the girl is doing here. Tomorrow is the big day when we leave for Mexico, and we really don’t have time to entertain guests. We should be packing and planning our exit out of here.

Mom senses my thoughts and looks over at my dad.

“Evie, Rebekah here will be house-sitting for us indefinitely. She is new to the area and needs a place to stay. She doesn’t have any family to help her, and I thought since we would be taking a sabbatical, we could use someone to care for things while we are gone.”

I shake my head, contemplating this, and agree with a nod that this is not a bad idea. I wonder if she told anyone. Not sparing another thought about this anymore and trusting that Mom has everything taken care of, I look around. “Guys, where’s Emma?” I attempt to walk out and call for her, but my mom stops me.

“Evie, she left a few minutes ago. You missed her.”

My face falls as I hope it wasn’t with who I think it is.

“Who did she leave with, and where did she go?” I say, trying to control my rage.

My parents look at me, and before they answer, I know she’s with Julian. They don’t even have to tell me to confirm what I know to be the worst possible circumstance.

“She’ll be fine, Evie. They just went out to dinner. She’ll be home before you know it, and you guys can get packed together.”

I gulp down the feeling of impending doom I have and chalk it up to my usual anxiety, nothing more. But this feels so different. It feels like something ominous is looming over the house, shrouding us in darkness. I shiver at the coldness that runs through me and my skin breaks out in goose bumps.

“O-kay,” I say, but the words get lodged in my throat, making it hard to get out.

Just then, the doorbell rings, and I look worriedly at my parents. My mother sighs.

“It’s just pizza, Evie. I ordered your favorite. Why don’t you go get your bag packed, and then you can grab a couple of slices and show Rebekah around before Emma gets back.”

Rebekah looks from my mother and then back to me, trying to get a read of the room. If she guessed secrets, so many secrets… then ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.

I nod, wanting to escape the mixed stares I am getting from my parents and Rebekah. I trot up the stairs, quickly close the door, and grab my emergency backpack from the closet. Since my assault a few years ago, I have always been prepared in the event of an emergency, and this threat with Julian on my sister has caused me to take extra precautions.

I’m throwing some of my favorite toiletries I can’t live without into my bag when I hear a thud, as if something has fallen. I stop packing, standing motionless, waiting to hear anything else—voices, footsteps, but nothing but silence.

“What the fuck was that?” I say aloud as I come to my senses and run out of the room, but not before grabbing my backpack and heading down the stairs.

I drop my bag when I get to the kitchen and gasp as I bring my hands up to my mouth in horror at the sight before me. My mom has her face in her slice of pizza. My dad is on the floor, and Rebekah is leaning backward in the chair. I don’t have to look any further because I know with certainty that they are dead.

I stand there in shock, looking at them, unable to move. That is until I see movement in the slider patio door. It opens swiftly, and a black figure enters and shuts the door behind him.

I pick up my bag and run back toward the front door. I’ve seen too many horror movies to know that I will get trapped and suffer a similar fate as my parents if I head upstairs and lock myself in my bedroom, somehow ensuring my demise.

“Evie,” I hear my name called, and that stops me in my tracks. “Wait, it’s me.”

The voice is so familiar that it sends chills up my spine, making the baby-fine blond hairs on my neck stand at attention.

I turn around against my better judgment and look into the eyes of the stranger who saved me years back. That night of my assault almost destroyed me, and it would have without all the therapy I underwent.

“What do you want?” I ask, even though I should be running far away from here.

My throat feels dry. “Evie, we don’t have much time. I need you to trust me if you want to live and get your sister back.”

I nod because, at this point, what choice do I have?

He holds his hand out. “Here, give me your ring.”

I go to take it off and hesitate. But instead of asking questions, I remove it and hand the ring to him.

“What finger did you wear it on?”

I raise my hand where it once resided, and he moves quickly and places it on the same ring finger on Rebekah as she lies lifeless, mouth hanging open and frothy saliva trickling down her chin.

“Grab your bag, Evie, we need to leave. I didn’t think I would make it in time, and I almost didn’t. At least I can save you.” He holds his hand out to me, and I hesitate briefly, looking at my family fallen dead at the dinner table with pizza that was barely eaten still on their plate.

“Poison,” the stranger confirms.

I take his hand, and we leave through the back. I stop, remembering the most important thing.

“What about Emma?” I ask, not wanting to leave, despite knowing that staying any longer here is ensuring my death.

”We’ll have to get her later. She won’t be coming back here.”

“I want to see first if she returns,” I beg, and he takes pity on me.

“Okay, but we have to hide quickly. It isn’t safe here.”

We run out into the shadows and hide amongst the trees and foliage in the newly sold house on the corner lot. The new owners haven’t moved in yet, so I know we are safe here. We barely get to the side of the house when a loud explosion shakes the ground, and its heat makes my skin buzz.

“What the…” I turn around to see my house engulfed in flames. I stand there, rocked to the core that if this stranger hadn’t saved me yet again, I would be dead in the house along with my parents, but I guess that was the point of the explosion.

People come running out of their houses, and soon, the street is buzzing with activity. Shortly after, sirens sound, and a fire truck is coming, attempting to get control of the flames.

This subdivision has acre lots, unlike in the bigger cities where the homes are on top of each other. If that was the case, there might have been other casualties, but more trucks come, and they seem to be getting this more under control; although the house is still ablaze, it’s just not spreading at this point.

The stranger speaks, and I can barely make out the words over the ringing in my ears. He turns me to face him, and he touches my face tenderly.

I think I am in shock. I feel funny, like I drank too much caffeine, and my body is light with energy that I can’t contain, but my skin feels cold. I shiver, and the stranger notices.

“Here”. He takes his hoodie off and places it over me.

I notice his broad chest and muscles that fill out his T-shirt and the black utility belt that holds up his cargo pants down to his black combat boots. He looks like an assassin.

“Evie.”

My eyes shoot up to meet his, and his lip pulls into a smile, showing his straight white teeth. There is something oddly familiar about him, something that makes me want to lean my head on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Evie. Uncle Andrés will send someone to meet us.”

My eyes widen. “What do you mean, Uncle Andrés?” I ask, completely confused. “Who are you?” I squint my eyes to narrow my vision, hoping that if I stare hard enough, the answers will present themselves, making who this stranger is more apparent.

He takes a deep breath and stares me in the eyes. “I’m your brother Mateo. Yes, I just saw our mom get murdered. Believe me when I say that I am not okay right now.”

I gasp in shock. “No. It can’t be. How do I have a brother? Where have you been? Why don’t we know about you?” I don’t realize I am crying as tears roll down my face. He goes to answer me, but I place my hand over his cheek. “Have you been okay? Were you happy and loved, Mateo?”

His eyes snap up to mine, and he gulps. Clearly, this is not the question he was expecting me to ask. “It could have been better, Evie.”

I throw my arms around him, and he hesitates briefly before returning my embrace, and there, in the middle of the night, I hold my long-lost brother, who, along with me, witnessed our parents die just moments ago.

“How did Mom and Dad let you go, Mateo?”

He hesitates but decides to tell me as we watch the chaos erupt across the street. “My dad doesn’t know about me, and Mom gave me up when she had me when she was eighteen. Then she went to college, continued with her life, and met your dad there. The rest is your life, not mine.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “But why not tell us about you? I don’t understand,” I beg to comprehend.

“It’s more complicated than that, and I know we have to talk about it, but let’s do that later, okay? Maybe when we are away from here.”

I nod in silent agreement.

He leans over and tries to get a better look at the black SUV that makes its way over and stops down the street. I see my sister run over to the house with Julian trailing behind her. She falls to the ground, and I stand abruptly when my arm is tugged and my body is forced back down.

“No, Evie. You can’t go over there. It isn’t safe, and that defeats the purpose of making it look like you died in that fire along with your parents.”

I turn my head toward Mateo slowly, absorbing the gravity of his words. Then it dawns on me. “That’s why you had me hand over my ring?”

He nods. “Yes, the Martinez family is more than likely responsible for this, and they won’t bother checking very closely to see if it’s you. Julian will recognize the ring on your finger and assume the girl is you.”

I hear Emma screaming, and I notice something glinting in the light. Emma slumps over, and I see Julian picking her unconscious body up and taking her to the SUV. Her head lolls to the side, her body limp in his arms, and she is once again at his mercy.

“He fucking drugged her.” I point at them and look over at Mateo, disbelieving.

“Does that surprise you, Evie?” He shakes his head in disgust.

“I hate that fucker.”

Mateo nods, agreeing with me. “Yeah, he’s an asshole for sure.”

I look over at him. Trying to get a better read on him. “That’s an understatement, Mateo,” I counter, but his phone vibrates, effectively cutting off our conversation.

“It’s time to go.”

He helps me stand with him as we head to the back of the house. Across the street, the park is shrouded in darkness, but a black pickup truck with tinted windows is idling. We look both ways and see no oncoming traffic.

“Come on,” Mateo calls out and extends his hand out from behind, and I place my hand in his, effectively blindly trusting my brother that I’ve just learned about.

He opens the back door, helps me enter, and hops in after me. I take the backpack off my shoulders and place it between my feet.

“Buckle up, Evie,” I hear a voice from the driver’s seat, and my head snaps up to see Adrian, my cousin.

“Oh, my God,” I gasp. “Adrian! What are you doing here?”

He smiles at me. “Well, my dear Eve’s, it appears that I am saving your ass, and your sister is next.”