Her hand reached out to her nose, and I'm pretty sure I saw some blood start to drip. She turned to me, eyes wide. "What the fuck?" she exclaimed, and I could almost feel all my blood travel to my neck and ears, fogging my thoughts. I had lost all ability to think straight.
The thought of my brother -and possibly my... well Aiden- being locked away with a lunatic, all because of her, made me want nothing more than to see her head smashed against the door.
And that's exactly what happened.
My fingers hooked on her hair so tightly, it felt like I could lift her whole body if I really tried to. With a thud, I pushed her head on the door and instantly heard Axel's car door close. "What the fuck? You have the nerve to act surprised after what you did? I swear I could kill you right here" I yelled. She slurred, trying to form something coherent and decent, but all she managed to do was get me even more riled up if that was even possible.
Her hands gripped my hand, in an attempt to pull it out of her hair, but I wasn't budging. It was the second time in my life when I felt this betrayed by someone so close to me- the first being the time my father left us. I was sleep-deprived, angry, incredibly anxious, and terrified; even seeing her stand in front of me, like a stray cat, made me want to hit her again until she bled out, just so for once I'd be in control.
"Y-you don't know w-what you're saying, I didn't do anything" she let out, her nails digging into my skin. "Try to prove I'm crazy and I'll make sure it's the last thing you do," I said through gritted teeth.
"Okay, that's not what we're here for" Axel shouted from the street, and within seconds his hands were grasping my shoulders, pulling me away. I squirmed like a fish against him and slapped his hands away like a madman, managing to free myself from his grip.
"You're going to pay for what you did, all of it" I shouted, reaching out to grab Ivory again, but Axel stopped me, getting between us. "I know you're angry, and I understand, but she can't be useful with no teeth. Let's get this done first, and then you can do whatever you want" he said, being the most reasonable out of us two for the first time.
Ivory sniffed her nose. "And why exactly do you think I'll be useful?" she asked and I shook my head. "I don't know if you can but you'll find a way to" I ordered. I didn't want to look a her, but briefly, I caught her with the corner of my eye. Blood was dripping from her nose down on her hands and clothes staining them.
I despised myself. Once, because I had let myself lose control, and two, because after all she had done, I still felt for her. She didn't deserve my sympathy or my help, but still, I walked to the bathroom and grabbed a towel. I handed it to her, catching both her and myself off guard.
"I can't do anything, my part is done," she said, and my ears started ringing so loud I thought my eardrums would explode any minute now. "Your part." I scoffed. "What exactly is your part, Ivory? Helping a psycho kidnap my brother and then act like you know nothing about it? Is that your part?" I shouted and she slammed the towel against the floor, before getting up.
"You have no right to blame me just because you decided we're in a soap opera. No one 'kidnapped' Jason. I bet he's having much more fun than he does when he's with you" she spat out, earning a backhanded slap across the face.
"If no one kidnapped him then where the fuck is he and Lindsay," I asked her and she smirked. "Why don't you ask Axel or Cole? I know you love for me to be the villain here, but I'm not the only one" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"None of them know, smartass. She took Jason, then Aiden, and now she's hiding." I explained. She frowned, her attention going to Axel. "That wasn't agreed" she almost whispered, confusion and disbelief written across her face.
"Well she did anyway, and now we have two people missing, so collect what's left of your nose, and let's go," Axel said, walking back to the car.
But she didn't follow. Her face was blank, and she stared straight ahead like a lost puppy. "What does he mean?" she asked, her voice small. I frowned. Ivory might be.. a lot of things, but she isn't heartless. At that moment, she was being hit by truth, and it was clear she couldn't handle it.
"Lindsay has taken Jason and now probably Aiden as well. From the looks of it, she has no intention to stick to whatever deal you thought you made with her" I explained from what felt like the millionth time today.
"But that's not-"
"-I don't care. Ivory, we don't have time for this can no one see that?" I said, feeling all the pressure go to my head. "We have to go. Now."Â I started walking back to the car, where we had left Cole. "We can't go" I heard her say. Lord help me I'm going to kill her. "What" I spat, and turned to look at her. She stood on her porch, fiddling with the towel. "I can't help you. I can't turn against her now, she'll have me killed" she said, her voice weak, cracking.
I sighed. "You knew that risk when you made a deal with her. If you care about either of them even the slightest, suck it up help"
~~~
Narrator's POV
No one said a word in the car, but the silence spoke volumes; they were all scared, each one for different reasons. Axel tried to ease the tension by turning on the radio to a random station, which made 90's rock fill the car while everyone was getting lost in their bubble of thoughts.
Ivory held on to the bloody towel as if that could slow down the car. Her breathing was erratic, and avoided looking at anything other than the window.
'What have I done' the four words tormented her, as cold sweat stained her skin. She had never felt this scared for her safety. "If you do anything to fuck this up, you're dead" was Lindsay's promise, and even the thought of seeing her was enough to make her shake. Her only hope was that they would somehow find a way to lock her up before she kept it.
Ivory gulped. She knew that even in that case, she was screwed. She had participated in the abduction of a child and there was no way she could get out of that accusation.
"You shouldn't have let them get in your head" Axel whispered, making sure the right person heard. Ivory frowned and turned her head slightly to look at him. "What do you mean?" her voice could barely be heard under the music. "You let them convince you that putting Jason's life in danger would make them stay away from each other. You think Aiden will want you after this?" he scoffed, shaking his head. He knew that the only reason he was telling her this was to make himself forget everything he had done.
She felt her heart sting by the truth of his words but also betrayal. "Don't act like you're any better. You've been fooling everyone since you came here and now you're playing hero" Ivory spat out. "I'm not playing here, I'm trying to get things back under control" he gave her the lamest excuse he thought of, not even convincing himself. She chuckled. "More like save your ass"
Axel turned up the volume slightly, in an attempt to drown out the conversation. "Nothing can save my ass now if the cops get involved and the same goes for you," he said, knowing that if Lindsay were to be questioned, she'd talk. But jail didn't scare him. He had gotten close to getting locked up many times before, he was used to the idea of bars. What did scare him was how he'd live with himself if they didn't find a way to help them in time.
He'd rather be put in jail than have the guilt of his actions eat him alive. He was telling Ivory she acted foolishly, but in reality, he was the one who got blinded by hatred. He had convinced Evelyn -and himself- that he had done all this because he needed money, but deep down he knew that wasn't the real reason. He was so focused on making Aiden's life hell, that he didn't realise he had done the same for the girl sitting in the back seat.
He looked at her through the mirror, as she sat with her hands crossed, frowning. He couldn't see her legs, but he was almost sure one of them was bouncing. The redness around her eyes as well as the bags that were starting to form, gave away the fact that she hadn't been sleeping lately.
If he wasn't driving, he would bash his head against the wheel.
~~~
"When will we get there?" Evelyn asked, breaking the silence. "With this traffic? Not soon" Axel said, looking at the endless row of cars lined ahead of them. He felt Evelyn's agony in the way she asked, and he wished he could make the car grow wings. "Great," she said, sitting up straight. "Great?" Cole asked, eyebrows raised slightly.
"Has no one realized we haven't gone over a plan yet?" she asked, bringing everyone's attention back to the reason they were going on this ... fun road trip. "A plan for what?" Ivory asked, making the entire car roll their eyes.
"Just tell 'em what we agreed," Axel told Evelyn through the mirror. Before Evelyn got the chance to speak, Cole turned to her, now mad. "What you agreed? You think you can make decisions like this?" he scoffed, but it only made Evelyn laugh. "It's real funny how you think you're in the position to judge me right now," she said, wanting nothing but to open the door and kick him to the highway. "Will someone tell me where we're going?" Ivory asked, adding to the chaos.
"Just shut up and let me talk!" Evelyn yelled, accompanied by the horns of the angry drivers stuck in traffic. She took a deep breath to compose herself and rubbed her temples, unable to fathom the situation; she was called to explain to the people who helped in the wreckage of her family, how to put it back together.
"According to Axel, she drove him to his family's warehouse in Westchester, which is where we're going, and hopefully where both Jason and Aiden will be. We know how many rooms there are, and how big the space is" she said. "What we don't know is how many men she has there, or where they are" Axel continued.
"We know" Cole interrupted, not meeting Evelyn's eyes. He had been looking at the ground so much recently, that he felt like he was going to forget the color of her eyes. There weren't enough words created to make her forgive him. He hoped what he was doing today would at least give him a chance to talk to her again.
Evelyn frowned. She didn't know whether she felt relieved or incredibly angry at the fact that he knew so many details all along. She chose neither.
"How will we get in?" Ivory asked, mentally preparing herself to climb in from the back while one of them stayed behind to make sure no one was coming so they could- "The door" Axel said, cutting her James Bond fantasy short. She nearly choked on her saliva "The door?" she asked, while her head filled with images of Lindsay waiting for them with a loaded gun.
"Why don't we sneak from the back or get in through a window? Something that won't get us killed in the first five minutes, anyway?" she argued. Breaking a leg sounded better than instant death.
"Îaybe 'cause we're not the Fantastic Four" Cole murmured and Evelyn rolled her eyes. "You're going through the door because she doesn't know we're acting like the N.Y.P.D." she explained. Ivory nodded, for a second before freezing again. "Wait. Who do you mean by 'you're going?" she asked, already knowing she wouldn't like the answer.
"You and Axel," Evelyn said, making two heads snap toward her. "What?!" Ivory and Cole said in unison. Evelyn looked over at the window; at this speed, she wouldn't be lucky enough to get hit by a car. "Why are you upset?" she asked Cole "Because it's obvious that if someone here is fit to be involved, it's me not them" he argued, sounding like a kid who got told he wasn't Superman.
Evelyn looked at him, dumbfounded, before bursting into laughter. "You thought you were gonna stay in the car while they do all the work?" she said, realising once again she was smarter than her older brother. "No?" he asked "Of course not. While they keep Lindsay busy, we're sneaking in through the back" she explained, and suddenly staying in the car didn't seem like a bad idea for Cole. "Go on.." Axel urged her.
~~~
The sound of the handbrake brought the group back to reality. It all sounded much less scary to them when it was in theory, but now that they had to act it out, none of them were prepared for what was about to happen.
"Hey, isn't that Parker's car?" Ivory pointed out, recognising not just the black Honda, but also the giant scratch on the driver's door which Parker had earned himself while trying to park the car, while absolutely hammered. "It is" Evelyn agreed, equally confused, as to what the hell Parker was doing there.
But Parker wasn't the one who brought the car here, and she would be the one to put the pieces together.
A few days earlier
"Alright, I think I'll get going, Catherine's probably waiting for me. I'll call you later" he told Evelyn, struggling not to kiss her. "O-Okay" she mumbled, walking him to the door. She waited until he got in the black Scoda he borrowed from Parker. He winked at her from inside the car, and she gave him a smile, before she closed the door.
Present time
A smile took over her "Aiden's here" she exclaimed, almost happy enough to hug them. Almost. Relief fell upon everyone in the car, but it wasn't for long as no one knew what state he was in or what they would have to do to see either of them again.
Axel looked at them. "Ready?"
~~~
Hello to my remaining readers! I hope you haven't grown old while waiting for an update, but it's here and i'm happy to announce im finally out of writer's block.
I still want to edit some parts, but i was so excited to have a chapter ready and i wanted to share it asap.
Hope u enjoyed:)