Chapter Twenty One
‘How does this sound? Trapped heart of sorrow beats, with tenderness and misery streaks…’
‘I love it.’
Leo grinned and it felt like the sun shone on my face. Antony squeezed my hand as I looked at him. The words resonated with us more than Leo knew. I was amazed at the lyrics that came from my brother. He was upbeat and serious but his songs spoke of a deeper nature than no one ever saw.
‘Who do you think will find their soulmate next?’ I asked when Leo sat back and tucked his notepad away.
‘Aries of course,’ Scorpio said. His words were mumbled as he chewed on a chocolate bar. A peanut flew out of his mouth and landed on the floor. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered.
The train sped through stations on the way back to Surrey. My gaze caught on the green scenery as it whizzed past. I raised my eyebrows when Scorpio shoved the rest of the bar into his mouth. ‘Why do you think it is Aries?’
He shrugged as he swallowed. ‘Because he’s already met his.’
Leo nodded his agreement. Why hadn’t I known about this?
‘He has no idea, though.’ Scorpio clicked open a can of fizzy drink and downed it.
‘How can he not know?’ Antony said.
It had only been a few hours since he had admitted that he was my soulmate but I didn’t say anything.
‘Did you know when you met Pisces?’ Scorpio raised his eyebrows.
Antony looked away from him. ‘Deep down somewhere I did but I fought against it,’ he said, stroking my palm with his thumb.
The train slowed. ‘Our stop,’ I called. The others followed as we alighted from the train.
‘What do you think Aries is doing then?’
Scorpio fell into step beside us as we commandeered a taxi and asked the driver to take us to Father’s house.
‘Yeah, Aries is probably fighting it, too,’ Antony said as we shared a secret smile. ‘I hope Derek is okay. I still can’t get hold of him.’
A shiver ran over my body and the others saw it.
‘That means something’s not right,’ Scorpio said.
Leo nodded. ‘Yeah. Pisces has this freaky intuition she never listens to. In fact, if I want to know something, I should start to ask Pisces and see how her body reacts.’
‘I don’t know if I like the sound of that,’ Antony mumbled.
I laughed at them as the taxi pulled into the street. The driver stopped and let us out before we got to the house. My skin started to tingle as my stomach knotted. Derek and Bev were in danger, I simply knew it.
‘We need to be careful,’ I whispered to the others.
‘Why are we whispering?’ Leo ducked down to my height.
I pushed him as Antony put an arm around me. ‘You’re really shaking, baby, what’s wrong?’
My whole body heated at the endearment and I smiled up at him. He had never called me a pet name before. The blast of warmth echoed through my muscles, relaxing them.
‘So cute…’ Leo sang.
Scorpio rolled his eyes and turned away from us. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get on with it.’
Antony tried Derek’s phone one last time but there was still no reply. There was no answer from the home phone either.
‘Do we sneak in? Or shall we pretend that we have no idea that something’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘You two go to the front door. You’re probably expected. We’ll go round the back and try to see what we can,’ Scorpio said as he studied the house.
The rest of us agreed and separated. Antony and I walked down the street, hand in hand.
‘I know this might be hard for you but try not to look so scared,’ Antony said.
I glared up at him. The smile on his face made my defences melt. He smoothed the lines on my forehead with his finger.
‘Am I that obvious?’ I asked as we neared the gate.
‘I can tell exactly what you’re thinking.’
‘Really…? Can you tell what I’m thinking now?’
He glanced down at me as his back muscles went rigid. I laughed but he didn’t see the funny side of it. He was busy worrying about what was going on inside the house.
‘You’re thinking that when this is done, I’m going to take you to bed and ravish you.’
The gasp that left my mouth echoed around us. It was his turn to laugh. My hand tightened on his. He pulled me into his arms as we paused on the path.
‘Antony! What are you doing?’ I squeaked, before his lips came down and crushed mine.
‘I’m tricking them into believing that we have no idea they’re in there. I’m also taking advantage of your weird mood. It’s not often you tease me.’
My stomach flipped as I pulled him down to kiss me again. My phone beeped with a text. I ignored it.
‘You will soon discover that will change now we’re together,’ I said, flicking out my tongue and licking his lips.
‘So you’re a bit of a tease under all that seriousness, are you?’ he whispered against my ear as he pulled me to his chest.
‘I can’t wait to get you—’
Another text beeped on my phone. Antony pulled it out of my pocket.
‘That’s Scorpio asking what the bloody hell we’re doing snogging in the middle of a rescue mission.’ I laughed.
‘He has no idea, does he?’
We pulled apart and made our way to the front door. Pretending to laugh at nothing, we knocked.
‘Play along with me, okay?’ he whispered as the door opened.
Bev greeted us with a smile on her face. It was false. Her whole body shook. She had opened the door slightly. I could sense that someone was behind it.
‘Bev, we’re home!’ Antony said as he stepped forward.
The door started to inch open but Bev didn’t say anything.
‘How are you?’ I followed Antony as Bev let go of the door and stepped back to allow us past.
When Antony was in line with the door, he suddenly thrust his whole weight against it. The door crushed the person against the wall. There was a grunt and Bev shrieked as we both ran into the hallway.
There was another man dressed in black at the top of the stairs. He had a gun aimed straight at Antony. ‘Stay where you are!’ he shouted.
We froze. My muscles started to shake. Bev watched us, her gaze flicking to the open door.
‘Bev, come here,’ the man ordered when he saw her checking out the quickest escape route.
I willed her to stay still. The man in the black outfit looked like he wouldn’t be afraid to shoot her if she tried to run.
‘What’s going on?’ Antony screamed.
‘Close the door, Bev,’ the man shouted abruptly.
She did as she was told, tears streaking down her face. The man behind it was sprawled on the floor. Antony had managed to knock him out.
‘I have brought Pisces in exchange for her father. I spoke to Nick and he told me to bring her here,’ Antony announced as Bev started to climb up the stairs.
Biting my lip was the only way I managed not to look shocked at the lie. I glanced back at the fallen man, so the one with the gun couldn’t see my face.
‘I told Nick that I didn’t want to be with her,’ Antony said when the other man grunted.
‘Really…? Why wouldn’t you want to be with her? She’s gorgeous in a strange sort of way.’ The man was young and I wondered at Nick’s intelligence. Did he trust these men or were they the only option he had? I didn’t know that much about the Dysfunctionals. Maybe they recruited them from a young age.
‘What do you mean in a strange sort of way?’ I called.
Antony glared at me. I hadn’t meant to say anything. I tried to stay quiet but I was genuinely interested.
‘I’ve watched you. You dress in random clothes and you’re a little weird. I’d still give you a go.’
I let out an involuntary laugh. It was cut off when a gunshot echoed around us. The man clutched his chest and fell to the balcony floor. I looked at Antony.
His gun was clutched in his hand.
‘Antony…?’ My heart stopped. I felt sick, felt numb.
‘No man ever speaks like that about my woman.’ Antony grunted, pulled his phone out and tapped a message. I assumed that he texted the boys outside. My insides quivered. Blood had spurted from the man’s chest. How could Antony shoot someone so cold heartedly? My throat was dry, I found it hard to swallow.
‘Are there any more of them?’ I whispered to Bev.
She was crouched on the stairs, hugging her knees to her chest. She came and wrapped her arms around me. ‘Yes, there’s another one guarding Derek. They’ve been here since you left this morning. He was told not to leave his post.’
Patting her back, I watched Antony as he crept up the stairs and checked on the man. He shook his head when he looked at me. Bile rose in my throat. Antony had killed someone because they’d called me weird. What would the police think? Would he go to prison?
‘We need to get you out of here,’ I said as Bev pulled away from me.
Leo and Scorpio came in the front door, making us both jump. Antony gestured for them to follow him upstairs. They all disappeared. I suddenly felt cold at the thought of them being in danger. Bev’s eyes widened when she saw the tall lads disappear from the balcony. She grabbed my hand and tried to pull me away.
‘I’m scared,’ she whispered.
I stroked her head. ‘It’s okay, Bev—’ I started.
The blunted sound of an impact vibrated next to me and Bev slouched to the ground. I tried to turn to see who had stuck Bev.
‘Don’t say a word.’ The hiss of a voice I recognised but couldn’t place, filtered into my ears. The breath on my cheek made me shudder. My body was frozen. I couldn’t see my captor. A cold object was pressed against my temple as a strong arm wrapped around my chest, pulling me tight against a hard male body. I squealed but didn’t say anything.
‘Nick wants to stop you and your soulmate. The easiest thing to do is to kill lover boy.’
I shivered again, unable to stop my body reacting to the hard whispered voice. Antony couldn’t die. There was no way I could live if he wasn’t with me. I loved him more than anyone and we had only just harmonised.
‘Don’t kill him, kill me. Nick won’t have to worry about dealing with me ever again if I’m gone. You’ll be a hero if you do that.’
His muscles stiffened at my words. He stepped back, hauling me away from Bev. She was out cold on the floor but her chest was moving.
‘I’ve got Derek,’ Antony called from one of the rooms.
My mouth opened. The pressure of the gun increased against my head so I clamped it shut. I was surprised Antony didn’t know that I was in danger. According to the book, we should be able to feel how the other person felt, even if they were miles away.
‘When he comes out, I’m going to shoot him and then I’ll shoot you,’ the man told me.
I tried to pull air into my lungs but my shivering body struggled.
‘You should just kill me and get it over with. My brothers are big men and they have weapons. If they see you, they’ll kill you.’
His arm weakened slightly. I still couldn’t place who he was but I felt his fear of death as it vibrated through his body.
‘Nick told me that he couldn’t kill you.’
‘No, he can’t kill me, but you can. Whatever you do, make it quick. Nick tried to drown me once. It really scared me…he was so annoyed he couldn’t finish me off.’
Lying was easy when I was around the negative men. The others were taking their time. I had to distract him. He started to drag me out of the front door. The boys had left it open when they had come in. I looked back at Bev and hoped she would come round soon. She could escape or one of my brothers would find her and take care of her.
The man closed the door behind him and put his hand on my shoulder to guide me.
‘There’s a lake over there. I’m going to drown you in it.’ He nudged my head with the end of the gun.
He couldn’t see my face so he didn’t see the smile that I couldn’t hold back. Men were fickle. I allowed the shivering to overtake my body. At least that wasn’t something I had to fake.
‘No, please don’t! If you’re going to kill me, just shoot me, please,’ I cried.
‘Shut up and get a move on,’ he hissed, hitting me on the head with the butt of the gun when I tried to glance back. ‘And don’t look at me.’
My plan had better work. I was being sincere when I told him that I would rather die than live without Antony. If I died, it didn’t matter. As long as Antony was alive.
When we approached the lake, I heard my captor take a deep breath. ‘Nick’s going to be so pleased. And I get to feel you die.’
I opened my mouth to plead. He hit me again. It wasn’t hard enough to knock me out but my skull ached at the impact.
I was about to spin when he wrapped his arms around me and rushed forward. We pitched into the lake. I didn’t have time to think. The deep water could be used to my advantage.
I heard a shout from the house just before my head disappeared underwater. I hoped Antony caught on to what I was doing and allowed me to get on with it.
Fierce heat rushed over my body as I twisted and saw the face of the man that was trying to push my head down. Daniel’s gaze met mine and I screamed. He had betrayed me in so many ways. He had even threatened Antony. I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
Daniel started to flay his arms when I took in a deep breath and didn’t drown. I pulled on his black jumper as he tried to kick to the surface. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I linked them together. He struggled against me and tried to wrench himself free but I wouldn’t let go. I would never let him threaten us again.
‘Pisces…!’
The muffled shout came from above. Something splashed in the water next to me. I turned to see Antony beside us. He grabbed me and tried to unlock my arms. I frowned at him. Why did he want me to let go? Daniel stopped struggling. I glanced up to see that his eyes had closed.
Antony opened his mouth and water rushed into his lungs. I let go of Daniel and wrapped my arms around my twin flame. Antony’s eyes closed before I could help him to breathe. I pulled him to the surface.
‘Give him here,’ Leo called. He took Antony’s top and lifted him out of the water.
Scorpio offered me his hand and helped me up. Leo laid Antony on the ground and started to pump his chest to force the water out of his lungs.
‘Antony, please…!’ I begged, kneeling beside him.
His eyes were closed and his short hair was plastered to his head. I glanced up when I heard a strange sound. Scorpio had caused the water to rise in the air by aiming his hand at the lake. Daniel was on top of the wave as it washed onto the grass. I didn’t care about Daniel.
Leo wasn’t having any success resuscitating Antony so I pushed him out of the way. I placed my mouth over his and breathed into him. Instinct made me suck in sharply. The water in Antony’s lungs rushed up his windpipe and into mine. It dribbled from my mouth as he spluttered and his eyes flickered open.
‘Why did you stop me?’ I asked when he looked at me.
He wiped my hair out of my face. ‘You’re not a killer, Pisces. You’re pure and beautiful. I couldn’t watch you kill someone when it would haunt you for the rest of your life.’
A choking sound made us look over to where Scorpio was helping Daniel. Leo went over to them. His footsteps sloshed in the wet grass. He was still alive, which was a shame.
‘What happened?’ Antony looked at the huge puddle we rested in.
‘Scorpio happened.’ I leant down to him. ‘I almost lost you. I don’t ever want to lose you.’
He snaked his arms around me and pulled me onto his chest. I went willingly, not caring about the others.
‘You’re never going to lose me. I’m the trapped heart that Leo was talking about…except, the misery streaks were worth it. Now all I feel…is you.’
I
looked behind at the devastation around us. My heart sank but it was warmed by the eyes of my twin flame and I knew at that moment I could cope with anything with him by my side.