Chapter 101
Skyfall by Adele
Let the sky fall when it crumbles, we will stand tall face it all together. At Skyfall.
The room went eerily quiet when the recording went flat.
"You always did say that the old man liked to kill ten birds with one stone." Avery is the only one brave enough to fill that silence. "Twelve." Jameson corrects in a pained chuckle.
Twelve birds, one stone.
"We did exactly what he thought we would." Xander realizes, jumping to his feet and pacing, "All of us. From the beginning."
"That sonofabitch." Nash curses. "How dangerous do we think Vincent Blake is?" His tone sounds casual, but thats just Nash, he doesn't falter or show any weakness.
"Dangerous enough to require a decoy." Grayson's voice appears cold and fierce, but I know by the way he's gripping desperately to my hand that this is just an act. Grayson acts a lot, he always acts like he's fine when he isn't. He hates showing weakness, he only shows me that side to him. It's only since I've really got to know him that I've even realized he even has that side. He appears so strong and brave but inside he's broken, but he hates being acknowledged as broken because that breaks him even more.
"We're dealing with a family whose fortune, though significantly smaller, goes back a lot further than ours. There's no telling what people or institutions Blake has in his pocket." He adds.
"The old man took the four of us off the board." Jameson says. "He raised us to fight but never intended this fight for us."
The old man had chosen Avery and I as the targets. His boys he had made sure were safe. He could never have saved me. Avery however, he threw her right into the fire, I may be mad at her right now but nobody does that to my sister without facing the consequences. But Tobias Hawthorne is in no state to seek revenge on, he is dead.
Something in my stomach churns as if I'll throw up any minute.
"Where are you going?" Jameson calls after Avery who is now walking out.
"To make a call." She yells back. I want to follow her out but the bile raising in my throat stops me.
I pull my hand out of Grayson's firm grip, finally alerting him he's holding me so tight. He immediately lets go and follows me as I lunge out the room and fall to my knees by the bathroom next door to the library.
I puke all my stomach up over the toilet, he holds my hair back and comforts me with a hand on my back.
I wipe the vomit off my chin and flush my upchucking away. "Fuck." I sigh, leaning against the bathroom wall in a ball. Grayson pulls me into his kneeling down body and holds me. I guess i've missed being held by him.
I hear a cowardly attempt at a bark and turn to find the puppy standing behind Grayson. How could I forget her, "Hey.." I smile softly, she runs straight into my arms, clinging to my shoulders and licking my face.
I hold her in my arms for a hug and start talking to her in my baby voice without even noticing it. "Hey baby.. I missed you so much! Yes I did! What did Xander name my little baby?" I smile enthusiastically, playfully brushing her ears around.
Grayson smirks beside me, looking at me as I play with her.
"What?" I ask him curiously.
I plant a kiss on the puppy's head. "Nothing." He dismisses, trying to hide the smile on his lips.
"Give Gray some kisses." I encourage the dog as I pick her up and place her on Grayson.
Grayson blinks at the puppy like it's a mysterious monster from a foreign land. The dog climbs up his shirt making it to his shoulder and liking his jaw.
"Well pet her then!" I encourage him. He looks at me in horror as if I've just asked him to tame a lion.
"Oh my god!" I realize suddenly. "What?" He asks, not taking his eyes off the puppy licking his face as if he's scared it'll attack him.
"You're scared of her!" I burst out laughing. "What? No i'm not." He dismisses. "You totally are!" I reply in fits of laughter.
"I'm not. See?" He challenges, placing his hand on the tiny dog's head and tapping it a little.
"That is pathetic! Give her a hug!" I instruct.
He grimaces as he picks up the dog, keeping his arms outstretched as far as he can so she doesn't touch him.
"Oh my god." I shake my head scoffing. I take the puppy back into my own hands.
"C'mere." I order, stretching one arm out for him. "What?" He asks with confusion.
"Hug us both. Unless you're scared of me too, it's only half scary." I explain.
He raises a brow sceptically but comes closer and hugs me, the puppy joining in and climbing his shirt, this time he isn't as scared because i'm hugging him too.
I almost think he'll say something, he hesitates as if trying to find a way to. We're interrupted by Libby bursting inside, a worried look on her face.
"He has Alisa." She announces. I take a shaky breath, I notice the way Grayson physically tenses up too. We both do.
"What?" I'm the one to speak up.
We leave for like 5 minutes and all of a sudden the very dangerous man has our lawyer?
"Ave said the only way to get her back is to find a body?" Libby looks between us in alarm as if expecting an explanation, one I can't give. I sigh as I push myself to my feet, puppy still in hand. "Give me strength." I shake my head as the three of us leave the bathroom to rejoin the others.
We leave the bathroom just in time to have Nash pass us striding off ominously. Libby scampers after him. The rest of us collate to brainstorm a solution that doesn't end in Alisa being killed.
"The cottage." Xander is almost never serious, but this is a time when he is. "Bex was ignoring her mom's calls, but then her grandma called, after Eve..."
"These are in chronological order, I used that chronology to find the construction project erected in the wake of Toby's conception: the chapel. The altar was made of stone and hollow inside." Avery tells us. "A tomb– but no body hidden in it, just the USB, which your grandfather must have hidden there shortly before his death, and a message scratched into the stone by Toby way back when."
"Not that you need another nickname," Xander says, "but I'm liking Sherlock. What did the message say?"
"I know what you did, Father." Avery answers Xander's question. "I'm taking that to mean that at some point after Toby found out he was adopted and before he ran away at nineteen..."
"He found out about Liam," Jameson finishes.
"Toby found the body." I realise, saying it out loud feels weird. "It would've just been a bag of bones by then. He took the seal, moved the remains, left a series of hidden messages for the old man, and went on a self-destructive tear across the country that ended in the fire on Hawthorne Island." I finish.
I get a couple weird looks for being the one to vocalise this conclusion much less understand it.
"The evidence I stole," Avery quotes aloud, "is in the darkest hole..."
"The tunnels?" Jameson suggests, stepping right behind Avery. I look behind me to hear the input of the very quiet Grayson. Which I now I realize is the very much gone Grayson. He's not here. But he's a big boy, I'm sure he doesn't need me following him about this house.
"That's one possibility," Avery says, "The others are these, the additions made to Hawthorne House during the time span in which Toby must have discovered and moved the remains. He could have taken advantage of the construction somehow."
"This one," Jameson says urgently, kneeling over the plans. "Heiress, look."
"The hedge maze." I realize before Avery can even notice herself
Soon enough, Xander, Jameson, Avery and I are outside, approaching the hedge maze.
"Start at the outside and work our way in?" Jameson asks the group. "Or go to the center of the maze and spiral out?"
The hedges stand eight feet tall, the maze size itself is probably more than this house. It could take weeks for us to search it all. Maybe even longer.
I picture my nineteen year old father, Toby, hiding a body. The bones of his biological Father that the man who raised him as a Father had killed.
That would be like me hiding the body of Toby is Ricky killed him. Though I don't suppose Ricky raised me in any way to be regarded as a Father.
"Start at the center and spiral out." Avery dictates.
The small shivering puppy still in my hands clings to my shirt, I tried to place her down inside in the capable arms of Libby but the puppy refused, only wanting me.
"So what name did you settle on Xan?" I ask peacefully as we follow Avery through a specific path toward the center of it all.
He mutters some sort of name under his breath and I look at him, "Didn't catch that." I say.
"He named it Tiramisu." Jameson settles with a smirk.
"Xander!" I yelp loudly. "What!" He replies guiltily. "You did not name our adorable puppy after a dessert." I scold.
"You know what. I did. Got a problem?" He stands up to me. "Yes actually. I believe my exact words were, and I quote, 'When I go you need to give her a good name. Nothing stupid like Scones or Tiramisu.' How could I have possibly made that any more clear." I complain.
"I'm honestly surprised you two never got together, you're such an old married couple." Avery chuckles from ahead of us.
"I could never be with a guy who names his puppy after a dessert." I jab. "I could never be with someone who does not appreciate the delicate craft of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered carefully with a gorgeous cream, sprinkled with a chocolatey powder." Xander fires passionately.
"Tiramisu is disgusting." I tell him bluntly. "Tiramisu is delicious." He sneers back.
"Okay quit saying her name, she's getting confused." Jameson interjects, scooping the puppy out my arms and holding her carefully in his one free arm that isn't holding a flashlight.
"I don't suppose you know where he went, do you, Paris?" Jameson changes the subject, speaking through gritted teeth.
"I don't know where Grayson is, but I do know that he's going to be okay. He confronted Eve. I think he finally let go of Emily, finally forgave himself for being human. He's starting to let himself heal." I tell him.
We reach the center of the maze eventually.
We start to dig. Avery produces a metal coin.
"Dig here."
I can't possibly tell how long i'd been digging, but all I know is that when the ground finally caved in and revealed a chamber, my muscles ached and my skin and clothes were tinted brown from dirt.
Jameson carelessly leaps in without a second thought. I follow in next, him offering a helpful hand to make sure I get in safely. Xander comes next and Avery last.
It's tiny in here. Empty. Definitely no body.
"There's a hinge back here, or something like it. I think it rotates" Avery tells us, holding onto a torch on the wall.
Jameson helps her with a hand over hers, both twisting it one way until we hear a snap and the torch engulfs in flames. Jameson and Avery don't let go.
Words light up in Toby's writing when the flames alight.
"I was never a Hawthorne," I read aloud. "I will never be a Blake. So what does that make me?" I read, Avery moving the torch before more words.
I have the same issue as Toby. I mean I'm never going to be a Hawthorne. I was always Grambs but that's not me either. Laughlin is just wrong. Now am I Blake as well? I know I'm a Rooney but there's so much more about it than just that.
"Try the floor," Jameson orders. Avery brings the torch down, showing one last message.Try again, Father.
"It's not here." I vocalise through gritted teeth, "It was never here." I determine angrily.
That's when a light shines from above us outside the chamber. Mr. Laughlin.
He helps us all out of the chamber, silent the whole time, his expression absolutely unreadable.
Avery tries to walk away but he steps before her. Blocking her.
"I heard about Alisa." He says roughly. "The kind of man who would take a woman– he's no man at all. Nash came to me," he tells us haltingly. "He asked me for help, and that boy wouldn't even let you help tie his shoes as a toddler."
"You know where Will Blake's remains are," I determine, "That's why Nash went to you and asked you for help."
Mr. Laughlin forces himself to look at me, which proves rather challenging for him when I look so much like both Emily and Eve. "Some things are best left buried."
"I'll raze this entire thing to the ground," Avery promises. "I'll hire men to tear this maze apart. I'll bring out cadaver dogs. I will burn it all down to get Alisa back."
"You have no right." The man trembles.
"Grandpa." Rebecca's voice says, Thea and her joining us.
"This isn't right," he tells Rebecca. "I made promises– to myself, to your mother, to Mr. Hawthorne."
"Blake has Toby, too," I say. "Not just Alisa. Don't you want your grandson back?"
"Don't you talk to me about my grandson." Mr. Laughlin warns, "Well I think you forget he's my Father too." I fire back, not showing any weakness.
"It wasn't Mr. Hawthorne who killed Liam," Rebecca says laying a hand on her Grandfathers shoulder. "Was it?"
"Go back to the cottage, Rebecca." He shudders.
"No." She says firmly. "You used to be such a good girl," Mr. Laughlin grunts.
"I used to make myself small." Rebecca tells him. "But here with you—I didn't have to. I used to live for the few weeks we spent here each summer. I'd help you. Do you remember? I liked working with my hands, getting them dirty." She shakes her head. "I was never allowed to get dirty at home."
"Please go back to the cottage." Mr Laughlin pleads softly. "Thea, take her back."
"I loved working with you," Rebecca tells her grandfather. "But there was one part of the maze that you always insisted on doing yourself."
My stomach churns. Rebecca knows where to dig.
"Emily looked like your mother," Mr. Laughlin says roughly. "But you have her mind, Rebecca. She was brilliant. Is still." He chokes on the next words. "My little girl."
"It wasn't Mr. Hawthorne who killed Vincent Blake's son," Rebecca says softly. "Was it?" That question is answered in silence.
"Eve's gone. Mom lost it when she couldn't find her. She said–" Rebecca is cut off.
"Whatever your mother said," Mr. Laughlin cuts in harshly, "you forget it, Rebecca." He looks from her to the moon in the sky. "That's how this works. We've all done our share of forgetting."
"Your daughter was only sixteen." Avery starts out with what she knows. "Will Blake was a grown man. He came here with something to prove."
"He used your daughter." Xander takes over for her. "To spy on our grandfather."
"Will used and manipulated your sixteen-year-old daughter. He got her pregnant," Jameson continues, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
"I've given my life to the Hawthorne family. I don't owe any of you this." Mr. Laughlin's voice isn't harsh yet. It's just burning with fury.
"Show us the part of the maze he wouldn't let you work on," I tell Rebecca.
Rebecca takes a step forward, her Grandfather grips her arm.
"Let her go," Thea raises her voice fiercely.
"Mom's distraught. She started rambling. She told me that Liam was angry when he found out about the baby. He was going to leave her, so she stole something from the House, from Mr. Hawthorne's office. She told Liam that she had something he could use against Tobias Hawthorne, just so he would meet with her again. But when he came, when she went to give him what she'd taken, it wasn't in her bag."
"Tobias." At first thats all Mr. Laughlin manages. "He was spying on them. He followed Mal that day. He didn't know why she'd stolen from him, but he was damn set on finding out."
"What he found," Jameson concludes, "was Vincent Blake's adult son taking advantage of a teenage girl under his protection."
"That little bastard Liam got angry when Mal couldn't give him what she'd promised. He went cold, told her that she was nothing. When he went to leave, she tried to stop him, and that monster raised a hand to my little girl." Mr Laughlin says.
"The second Liam got rough, Mr. Hawthorne stepped out from wherever he'd been hiding to issue some very pointed threats. Mal was sixteen. There were laws. The man should have slunk away like the rat he was, but Mal—she didn't want Liam to go. She threatened him, too, said that she would go to his father and tell him about the baby." He continues.
"Will needed to keep his father's favour to keep his seal," I say, "More than that, if he'd come here to prove something to Blake, to impress him– the idea of doing the opposite?"
I swallow.
"Liam snapped and lunged for her again. Mal– she fought back." Mr. Laughlin's eyes close. "I came in just as Mr. Hawthorne was pulling that man off my daughter. He got that bastard under control, had his arms pinned behind his back, and then–" Mr. Laughlin forces his eyes open and looks toward Rebecca. "Then my little girl picked up a brick. She went at him too quick for me to stop her. And not just once... She hit him over and over again."
"It was self-defense," Jameson says.
"No. It wasn't." Mr Laughlin insists.
"I got a hold of her," Mr. Laughlin continues, his voice hoarse. "She just kept saying that she thought he loved her. She thought–"
A choked sob comes out his mouth, yet no tears accompany it. "Mr. Hawthorne told me to go. He told me to take Mal and get her out of there."
"Was Liam dead?" I ask, my mouth almost painfully dry.
A hint of remorse laces the groundskeeper's face. "Not yet."
Will Blake had been breathing when Mr. Laughlin left him alone with Tobias Hawthorne.
"Your daughter had just attacked Vincent Blake's son." Jameson says, "Back then, our family wasn't wealthy enough or powerful enough to protect her. Not yet."
"Do you even know what happened after you left?" Rebecca asks after a long and painful silence.
"My understanding is that he needed medical attention." Mr. Laughlin looks at each of us in turn. "Shame he didn't get it."
"And afterward?" Xander says, his demeanour damaged and low.
"I never asked," Mr. Laughlin says flatly. "And Mr. Hawthorne never told me."
"But when Toby moved the body..." I start to say.
"I knew he'd buried something. Once Toby ran off and Mr. Hawthorne started asking questions, I figured out pretty quick what that something was."
"Show them the spot if you have to, Rebecca." Mr. Laughlin gently pushes his granddaughter's hair away from her face. "But if Vincent Blake asks what happened, you protect your mother. You tell him that it was me."
We found the remains.
My phone pinged through the dead silence of the night. Everyone looks to me and watches as I fish the phone out the back pocket of my jeans.
"It's Gray." I announce in a sigh, expecting to hear some sort of explanation as to where he's been the past hour or so.
"Where the hell have you been?" I ask immediately when I pick up.
I wait for his voice, instead I hear the voice of Vincent Blake.
"He's been busy making a trade." He tells me.
I must tense up immediately, because the second I hear his voice everyone looks to me with confusion and anticipation.
"Where is he?" I grit with rage.
"How about I let you hear." The man suggests, turning the call to speaker.
I hear low grunts and immediately recognise them to be the grunts of Grayson Hawthorne. Pained and injured grunts. He's hurting him.
The line goes flat. My jaw is low and shaking, my hands trembling, tears dripping out my eyes.
"What the fuck? What's wrong?" Jameson's the first to ask me what happened.
A text pings through loudly and all our attention goes to my phone. It's a photo this time.
Grayson's hands tied behind his back with rope, bundled up on the floor of some kind of basement or prison looking thing. He's being beaten by one of Blake's cronies. Blood is dripping down his nose and filing up in his mouth too. His eye looks swollen and bruised, his lip burst. His blonde hair is tinted with red blood.
I hit call again, fully sobbing. Everyone tries to ask me what's wrong.
He picks up again very quickly. "If you lay so much as one fucking finger on him I will find you. I will kill you and I will burn down your awful house around you and have everyone you've ever loved stand by and watch your wrinkled flesh burn in the fire and I will smile as you scream in pain." I warn. I think the scariest part is that in this moment I actually would do that for Grayson.
"So close, Sweetheart. But you're forgetting I have the upper hand here. And every bone in your boyfriend's body will be snapped before you can even strike a match." Blake speaks back, laughing menacingly.
"Don't touch him." I warn one last time, my voice full of fire and rage.
I hear the phone beep in my ear and let out a whimper. Everyone looks at me desperate for an answer, Xander takes my phone and gets the photo up to see what's wrong.
"Oh my god." Rebecca gasps, a hand over her mouth in surprise.
"I'm gonna kill him. And then I'm gonna kill Grayson for being so stupid." I shake my head with rage.
(a/n. Damn, a lot of drama. Okay so I know in the original, Gray turned himself in in exchange for Alisa and wasn't injured like that, but I really do love me some drama, angst and protectiveness, so naturally I changed it so that he turned himself in in exchange for Alisa but ended up getting beaten the second Blake got his hands on him. Literally adding Tiramisu content anywhere I can atp. Huge announcements coming soon — maybe with the next chapter. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this week's chapter)
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top