Kindred of the Fallen (21 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Evan threw a hundred dollar bill at the taxi driver, grabbed his bags and slammed the car door without waiting for change. He tripped over a bright red motorcycle parked behind a huge black Hummer. After waiting four hours in the London Heathrow airport to get on an earlier flight back to New York and not being able to reach Serenity for three days, his nerves were raw and he could barely see straight.

He’d almost broken down and called the police, but there was probably a logical explanation. Her cell phone might have died and she got so caught up in drawing she hadn’t even realized. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
She gets so absorbed in her artwork. Too bad it’s not for a gallery instead of a tattoo shop
. But he’d fix that soon enough.

He rushed inside the building.

Maybe this was her way of avoiding another discussion about setting a wedding date. Or maybe she’d been kidnapped by some psychopath. The city was full of nut-jobs and lunatics. He hurried to the elevator at the end of the lobby.

A young man carrying a box stared at him wide-eyed as he passed. The guy looked familiar, but Evan couldn’t place where he’d seen him. The man put the box in the Hummer, looking back at Evan.

One elevator was out of order, but luckily the second one was on the ground floor. He hit the button for the thirty-fourth floor and tightened his grip on his briefcase and garment bag as the elevator climbed. He glanced at his watch, barely noon. He’d find Serenity eating lunch or painting and making a mess of the carpet. When they first moved in together, she ruined the Cavallo hide fabric of the sofa with residue from charcoal on her fingers. He had to have the couch reupholstered in black leather. In hindsight, it seemed petty how upset he’d gotten. She could ruin anything she wanted as long as he found her alive and well.

When the elevator doors opened, he noticed
 
the apartment door was ajar. The rustle of paper echoed from inside. He breezed across the threshold, dropping his bags. A taped box sat propped by the couch. The alcove with all of her artwork had been cleared out, leaving barren walls.

The redheaded beauty that accompanied Cyrus everywhere waltzed out of the bedroom, carrying another box.

“Talus? What are you doing here?”

She stared at him, silent and still as the dead. The young man from downstairs rushed into the apartment, red-faced and gasping for air as if he’d run all the way up the stairs.

He
had
seen the young man before, briefly once with Cyrus.

Evan’s heart pounded so hard his chest ached. His gaze bounced between Cyrus’s two employees as his stomach did somersaults. “What are you two doing here? Where’s Serenity? All of her stuff?” Thoughts rained in his mind, but refused to puddle together to make sense.

“Cassian, grab that last box and let’s go,” Talus said, walking to the door, ignoring his question.

The young man picked up the box as instructed, a grim look plastered on his face.

Evan snatched the guy’s arm. “Is that her stuff? Where are you taking it? Where’s Seren—”

Blinding pain tore through Evan’s shoulder as Talus wrenched his arm behind his head, bringing him to his knees. He never saw her move.

“Serenity is moving in with Cyrus where she belongs,” Talus said.

“What are you doing?” Cassian asked. “Serenity is supposed to tell him, not us.”

A cruel hand pressed down hard between Evan’s shoulder blades while the grip on his captured arm tightened. He hissed as his vision blurred from the searing pain.

“Well, he’s not supposed to be here,” Talus said to Cassian. “His plane wasn’t supposed to land until tomorrow afternoon.”

“You should let him go,” Cassian said.

Talus released his arm. “What are you doing here a day early?” she asked, like it was her apartment and Evan was the trespasser.

Agony diminished, but didn’t disappear. Evan crawled to the sofa, careful not to put any weight on his injured arm. “Flew. Standby.” He rested against a cushion, holding his shoulder, trying to piece together what the unnaturally strong bitch had said. “What do you mean,”—he caught his breath—“Serenity is moving in with Cyrus?”

Talus shoved a box into Cassian’s arms and picked up the other. “Serenity will explain.”

“She’s leaving me? For him? She just met him.”

Cassian stared at Evan, wincing. “We’re sorry. Do you want me to take a look at your shoulder? I could probably make it feel better.”

“Get the hell out of my apartment! And tell my fiancée to pay me the courtesy of giving me a fucking call.”

The two gofers hurried out and couldn’t even shut the door behind them because their hands were full of Serenity’s things.

Serenity’s things!

He pushed off the sofa with his good arm and ran to the bedroom. Her clothes had been stripped from the closet. He searched the dresser, but found none of her lace bras or frilly panties. The vintage ivory and tortoise shell jewelry box he’d given her last year for Christmas had been emptied.

His head buzzed with a grating pain as if a chainsaw were ripping his skull in two. He staggered to the bathroom, his legs growing numb. All of her toiletries had been taken from the cabinets, except for the small yellow case containing her diaphragm.

Dizziness pounced. The room swam in a blur of their furniture, the bed they’d shared, pictures, moments in time the two of them had created together.

His heart seized as he tripped over an empty box and hit his head on the nightstand.

She couldn’t be gone. Not after all these years, not after everything they’d been through together, everything he’d done for her. She was the best part of his life. He had no past without her. His entire future was based on her, because of her.

And if he had anything to say about it, she’d always be in his life. He’d talk to her, see her, get this misunderstanding straightened out. She couldn’t have left.

Left him for Cyrus? His client?

The deal in London. Too easy. A ploy. A distraction to get him out of the way.

A knot of outrage and misery simmered to a boil.

Manipulative, greedy, selfish, rich prick.
Evan jumped to his feet, ripped a lamp from a socket and smashed it against the wall. “Bastard!”

He’d kill him. Make him pay.

An excruciating ache throbbed in his shoulder, but it was nothing in comparison to the gaping wound in his heart. His eyes homed in on the half empty closet.

This couldn’t really be happening. He’d only been gone four days.

A chill dampened the air as Serenity jogged along a trail under the fragrant shade of the lemon grove to the woods adjacent to the iron fence encircling the property. Security cameras planted on the fence moved with her. She wondered if Cyrus or Abbadon watched.

Her joints appreciated the new spongy sneakers and dirt path, a welcome change from the unyielding concrete of the city. The sun edged through a rift in the slate gray clouds.

She returned breathless, sweaty and feeling absolutely marvelous. She took the stairs two at a time up to the second floor. The door to her room was open. She sensed Cyrus inside.

“It was an accident!” Talus said from somewhere inside the room.

Serenity slowed her pace in the hall.

“You didn’t have to hurt him,” Cassian said.

As Serenity walked into the room, all three looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Evan is back. He flew standby. They ran into him at the apartment,” Cyrus explained.

Spots of darkness flashed in front of her eyes and her lungs seemed to shrivel, making her strain to take in air.
 

“There was a slight altercation,” he continued, “Evan sustained a minor injury.”

His last word reverberated in her mind, clearing away her shock and self-pity. Her sights washed over Cassian and zoomed in on Talus. “What happened? What could Evan have possibly done to warrant you hurting him?”

“He demanded answers.” Her voice was flat, hollow. “He got in the way.”

“Don’t ever touch him again under any circumstances! Do you understand?”

Talus nodded, but her cold expression showed no repentance.

Serenity narrowed her eyes. “I want to hear you say it!”

“I won’t touch him again,” Talus uttered through locked teeth.

Cyrus clasped Serenity’s shoulders. The heat of his body caressed her and her blood pressure lowered. “You didn’t tell him anything, did you?” She couldn’t bear Evan knowing she was with Cyrus, or wanted to be with any other man over him. The split had to be clean.

Talus’s eyes burned a coppery emerald as she crossed the room. The rustle of her candy apple red leather outfit chafed Serenity’s ears.

“He asked, so I told him the truth.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Serenity said. “He’s an innocent bystander. He won’t understand any of this. How can you be so callous? Is your heart made of stone?”

“You never should’ve been with the human. Don’t blame me for your mess.”

“Enough!” Cyrus looked at Talus. “Watch your tone and choose words with respect.”

Talus’s eyes turned glassy. “Of course you’d take her side, even though you know I’m right.” She ran out of the room.

Cyrus kissed Serenity’s temple. “I need to speak with her. Don’t worry. Everything will work out as it should with Evan. He’ll get beyond this,” he said, then left.

Breaking up with Evan was never going to be easy, but how could she explain now that he knew about Cyrus?

“Evan wants you to call him,” Cassian said.

She slapped her forehead as she remembered he was going to call her Sunday night. She hadn’t spoken to him in three days. “Oh my goodness, I’m sure he’s called a dozen times. He must be going out of his mind with worry. I need a phone.”

Cassian handed her his cell. “I’ll give you some privacy.” He stepped out of the room.

Her insides curdled. She should have called him days ago, but it’d been easier not hearing his voice. Looking at his engagement ring every day had been hard enough. She dialed his number. Her heart thudded in her chest, the beat increasing with each ring.

“Hello,” Evan said.

“It’s me. Are you all right?”

“Serenity? Finally. What’s going on?”

A cacophony of voices, sirens and other sounds made it hard to hear. “Where are you?”

“The ER, waiting for a doctor. I think the damn bitch dislocated my shoulder.”

Wincing, she shut her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Evan. I—”

“What’s going on?”

She gulped, uncertain how to respond.

“Did you leave me? Are you with Cyrus?”

Her thoughts twisted into a jumble. She hadn’t given any consideration as to what she was going to say or how to explain. “Evan, we need to talk, face to face, not over the phone.”

“It’s true?”

“Please meet me somewhere so we can talk.”

“Answer me!”

“It’s complicated.” The sound of his ragged breath filled her ear. The image of the disheveled, emotionally broken Evan from her nightmares slid into her mind. A distraught Evan, holding the engagement ring, was the only fragment of her dream she could never draw. “I need to see you and explain. When can we meet?”

“I don’t know. The ER is full. I could be in here half the night, waiting to see a doctor.”

“How about tomorrow morning around nine?”

Silence. Had the line gone dead. “Evan?”

“Where?” he asked. His voice was soft as cotton.

“What about that little place a few blocks from your office, Frankie’s?”

“No, I like that place. I want to be able to go back there and enjoy a meal. How about the café you like on Park Avenue?”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.”

After he hung up, she took deep breaths. An aching tightness squeezed her chest. She ran from her room outside and took in a gust of fresh air. Her legs kept moving as she hyperventilated, carrying her toward the lake.

At the water’s edge, she fell to her knees. Her heart ached and her guts tightened into a knitted cluster of nerves. The wind whipped the murky surface of the lake and tousled her hair.

Evan had been the one solid thing in her dismal life of foster care, rotating homes and ephemeral families. The stability of his presence had been a buoy during the turbulent times, keeping her safe from drowning. He was a good person and didn’t deserve this type of treatment.

Cyrus rushed out of the house, following the magnetic draw of Serenity’s energy stream tugging at him. The pools of their life force weren’t connected, too far out of reach, but he could sense her distress, dense and pervasive as the moisture in the air.

By the lake, she sat on her heels, slumped over, facing the water. He hunkered down beside her and rested his hand on her knee.

“I don’t know how to leave him,” she said softly. “He’s been in my life for so long. How do I say good-bye, after he’s only been gone a few days?”

“Quickly is best,” he said.