Darkness Before Dawn (34 page)

"Thank you for coming, Na...Cole. It means so much to me," Colleen says quietly as she leans up to greet me with a kiss, which I return.

"Thank you for inviting me. It's a good cause," I reply.

"It is," she says with a bright smile before looking at Blake again. "I hope we can all catch up and get to know each other."

"We'd love that," Blake responds cheerfully.

I look at her and she looks at me with pleading eyes that I can't argue with, so I let out a breath and nod in agreement. Then we follow Colleen around so she can awkwardly introduce me as her son and tell Blake's story.

After talking to what seems like two hundred people in the room, Blake and I find our seats next to Aubry and Aimee's and see Connor's name on the table with us. Aimee waves her hand and explains that a lot of people come to these events, and Connor usually doesn't make it even when he says he will.

"Don't count me out just yet," Connor booms behind us, making me laugh.

I turn around and look at him in surprise when I see he's wearing a tuxedo and has a pretty brunette on his arm that's smiling in apprehension.

"This is Sandra," Connor announces before introducing us all to her. When he gets to Blake he pauses and gives her a pointed look that leaves me confused. Blake's smile widens and she stands.

"It's so great to meet you, Sandra. I'm Connor's cousin," Blake says, which confuses me even more.

"Good to meet you, Blake," Sandra says, smiling happily.

"Your son is absolutely adorable, I've seen a million pictures of him. He looks like trouble," Blake continues.

"Oh, you have no idea! Like father, like son," Sandra says with a laugh.

"I am not trouble!" Connor says as he looks at Sandra in adoration, and I realize who she is.

Once we settle down in our seats again, Mark shows up with his date, who Blake also happens to know and talks to for a couple of minutes.

"How do you know all these people?" I whisper as the food is being served.

She smiles. "Sandra is Connor's ex but not really ex—it's complicated. He's always talking about her. I'm surprised you don't know who she is. And Mark's date I know from his office," she says in a low whisper.

"Got it," I reply before taking a sip of champagne and leaning back into my seat.

All of us fall into easy conversation for the duration of our meal before Blake excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Aimee also gets up and accompanies her, tossing her napkin aside before walking rapidly after her.

I crinkle my eyebrows when the waiter brings over the dessert and I realize that I've been so enrapt in conversation that I hadn't noticed Blake taking a little too long in the bathroom. I look around, pivoting my body in my seat to look for her but don't see any sign of her or Aimee.

"Aub, is it me or have they been gone a long time?" I ask curiously. Women always take long in the bathroom—I've learned that over the years. But something doesn't feel right.

"You're right," he responds as his eyebrows knit together.

A loud shriek rings through the ballroom and the feeling of dread that was threatening to consume the pit of my stomach, does. My eyes shoot to Connor's as I get up and take off into a sprint in the direction of the screams. I hear stomps behind me and assume Connor and Aubry are following, maybe Mark, but don't care enough to look. My vision tunnels and my ears clog as I look around anxiously for the bathrooms, bumping a couple of people out of my way in the process. My shoulder crashes into a blur of brown hair when I round the corner and I grab on to the feminine figure to steady her. My heart rate spikes even higher when I look past Aimee and realize she's by herself.

"Where is she?" I shout, shaking Aimee by the shoulders.

"There! There!" Aimee shrieks, pointing at the door as she runs toward it again.

"Aimee!" Aubry screams behind us and grabs her as she tries to shake out of his hold, shouting that she has to get to Blake.

I turn the knob of the door she pointed at and find that it's locked. I slam my shoulder into it as hard as I can once, twice, three times before I decide to start kicking it.

"GET THE FUCK OVER HERE, CONNOR!" I yell loudly.

He runs quickly to me and pulls out the pistol from his back, making people around us scream in alarm and start to scramble in every direction.

"Get out of the way!" he shouts, pushing me aside.

"Give it to me!" I demand, earning a 'you've got to be kidding me' look that I don't have time for.

"Are you fucking crazy? You're not using my gun!" he shouts back, pushing me away and aiming it at the doorknob.

Screaming coming from the kitchen doors makes our heads snap in that direction before we take off running that way.

"
WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" I yell loudly as Benny walks me through the commercial kitchen of the hotel. The chefs and everybody else dressed in white drop everything to either scream or put their hands up. "HELP ME!" I scream, looking at them with wild eyes, not understanding how they could just be standing out of the way watching this happen.

"Yeah, yeah, stay out of it unless you want your head capped!" He spits, pushing the barrel of the gun into the back of my skull, making me close my eyes and shiver at the bite of it. "Well, Blake," he starts, my name rolling off his tongue in disgust. "Your father gave me some interesting information yesterday. Your father," he chides with a throaty laugh before pulling my hair back roughly and making me yelp at the pain. He walks me to the back door, pushing my chest into it with an elbow in the middle of my back. He turns my face so that the tip of my nose brushes the scar on his left cheek before he shifts and we're nose to nose. "Turns out...that I'm your uncle. Or that's what Liam wants me to think. Dumb fuck. We're gonna find out the truth, but I call bullshit. Liam wants to save his ass, wants to keep you safe, wants to screw me over as usual. We're gonna see how true that is when I call him now and make him listen to me splitting your face open like he did me. Let's see how much he likes to feel helpless."

I gasp and screw my eyes shut as my chest heaves against the metal door. I open my eyes and turn my head slightly at the absence of the gun on my head and catch a sharp blade through my peripheral vision that makes me yelp and frantically turn the doorknob beside me. I push it open, letting it hit the rail beside it and scramble outside. I pray that my heels don't slow me down as I take the four concrete steps as quickly as my dress allows and begin to run with him on my tail. He yanks me back by the hair and presses the tip of the blade to my naked lower back.

"Don't fucking move," he demands gruffly.

"Please, Benny! Don't do it! Please!" I beg in a broken, dry sob as he walks me to the wall on the other side of the stairs. He pushes me onto it and holds the blade in place as I arch my back away from it. He places his ringing phone on the landing between the back door and the top of my head.

When a man answers on the fourth ring, Benny tightens his hold on my hair, making me screech.

"Liam! I'm here with your girl, Blake. I was just filling her in on the news. Figured I'd test out how true it is by decorating her face a lil' with this blade here. You remember when you did that to me, Liam?" Benny asks in amusement.

I bring my hand out from under me to dry my tears and look at him in disgust as he talks on the phone, holding the knife close to my face with one hand and my hair with the other.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Liam screams through the line.

"Oh, but I dare, Liam. I do dare. You gonna take back what you said or wait until she's nothing but shreds?" Benny asks sharply.

"SHE'S ALEX'S KID, BENNY!" Liam yells loudly. His admission makes my mouth drop open, and for a moment I wonder if the loud ringing in my ears is altering my hearing or if he really just said that. "CORY WAS PREGNANT WHEN I MARRIED HER!"

"He was in jail, you piece of shit!" Benny yells back, the emphasis of his words spitting on my face. "Stop trying to get out of this one, Liam!"

Benny positions the knife to the corner of my eye where my tears are running and he wipes them with the flat side of the knife, making me flinch.

"Stop crying, girl!" he growls, narrowing his stark eyes at me as loud sobs rake through my shuddering body.

"Benny! She got pregnant before Alex went to jail! He's gonna fucking kill you for this if I don't get you first!" Liam shouts over my sobs.

I kick my leg up, trying to hit him and hoping to nail him between the legs, but he shifts and barks out a laugh. He looks at me with crazed eyes and pushes me down again as I struggle against him, trying to push off his heavy body. I kick again, making contact with his leg. He laughs as he pins me harder against the concrete.

"You wanna do this the hard way, huh?" he asks through gritted teeth, turning my body to face him. From the corner of my eye, I can see his tight grip around the blade that he brings toward my face. I screw my eyes shut as I continue to struggle against him but await my impending punishment. A whimper, followed by loud sobs escape me when I feel the sharp blade meet my hairline.

"Please don't!" I shout, my guttural voice a stranger to my own ears. "Please," I plead once more, feeling woozy when I smell the blood streaming down my face. I hear a shout from afar and feel the blade leave my face.

My eyes pop open at the sound of ringing shots, immediately followed by the wind getting knocked out of me as Benny's body pushes fiercely into mine. I try to gasp for air before another shot rings off. Benny pushes into me again, driving me deeper into the wall. He languidly pushes his body away from me and turns around, bringing his gun out in front of him, as if in slow motion. He pulls the trigger twice, shelling out two bullets. My horrified eyes follow the direction his arm is pointing, and I let out a loud scream when I see his target. I feel my senses come back to me all at once, and I scream again before lurching forward and pulling Benny's shooting arm down with all my strength, making his body crash down to his knees. I wrap both hands around the gun in his hand and yank it out, tossing it aside before I start running across the alley.

"NO!" I shriek when I see him fall on his knees before I reach him. I take off my shoes and throw them behind me and continue running as fast as I can, not caring what I may step on.

When I reach him I crash down on my knees and put my hands over his face, over his hair, before my eyes trail to his stomach where his white shirt is drenched in blood. He shifts his body sideways and falls to the ground, landing on his side in a thump.

"DEAN!" I shout desperately.

"I'm fine," he rasps before going into a coughing fit. "You okay, chick?"

"YOU'RE HURT!" I shriek, unable to hide the sheer panic flowing through my veins. My eyes brim with tears as I press down on the wound on his stomach.

"Are you
okay
, chick?" he repeats, his voice dimming and his eyes blinking heavily.

I touch my head and yelp at the sting my fingers cause on the cut in my hair line, but I'm not gushing out blood, and it doesn't hurt too much. I look down at myself, blinking tears onto my face, and find that my dress is drenched in blood. I pat myself with one hand, feeling no holes in my dress and decide that I'm fine. Rattled and cut, but fine.

"Yes! Keep your eyes open!" I demand, looking into his exhausted hazel eyes. Before he can reply, I begin to sob loudly, my entire body shaking as I press into his wound with both hands. "What were you doing here?" I ask between sobs.

"Followed him," he replies in a hoarse whisper. "Heard him talking to Liam. Heard."

"Okay, no talking. No talking. HEEELP!" I yell at the top of my lungs despite the pounding headache I'm feeling. "I need an ambulance! HELP! PLEASE HELP!"

"Shhh...'skay, chick. I'll be fine," he says, bending a leg to try to sit up.

"No! Don't move!" I demand. "Oh my God, please don't die. Please don't die," I beg as my chest heaves in sobs, and I look down at the blood covering my hands and forearms.

The doors bang open behind me, and I look over my shoulder to see Connor holding a gun in his hand, with Cole on his heels. They spot Benny on the ground and Connor aims at him and shoots him in the back of the head. I scream loudly, hurling over at the sight of blood and chunks of things splattering everywhere.