No One's Hero (Chadwell Hearts) (23 page)

Of course, I wasn’t counting on not even getting to Plan A.

One building away from the club I step into the opening of the alley that runs between the club and the art shop next door. You know how in movies there’s always that girl you want to beat over the head as you shout at her to run the other way because it’s obvious the bad guy is waiting for her on the other side of the door? Right now, I think I’m that girl.

What am I doing? If someone has kidnapped my sister and sent a ransom note to Axel, they were probably after me. And I’m about to deliver myself on a platter. I don’t want to be the girl who runs upstairs while the bad guy is chasing her, rather than outside. Unfortunately, my epiphany comes two seconds too late.

Just as I spin on my heel to run back to the SUV, a hand clamps over my mouth.

I do the only logical thing in this situation: I bite, hard.

“You little bitch!” My captor screeches, but doesn’t lose his iron like grip on me. He’s got one arm around my waist, the other still covering my mouth. I attempt to stomp on his foot as he drags me into the alley, but it’s to no avail, and even though I’m trying to scream, it’s coming out garbled and more like a chicken dying than a young girl in need of help, so I’m pretty sure no one will be rushing to my aid.

Except Kevin, of course.

Because I know without a doubt he will be coming for me, and I’ve just got to stay alive until he gets here. Not that my confidence in Kevin is going to keep me from fighting in the meantime. I continue to struggle as I’m dragged into the alley, and as my attacker uses his elbow to knock on a door on the side of the club.

I almost manage to make it out of his hands when someone opens the door, but now there are two of them and the other grips me under the chin, tilting my face roughly up to look at them. Trying to wrench it away does no good, it just makes both them men laugh.

“How the hell did she get outside?”

“I don’t know. But it’s a good thing you grabbed her. The boss would be pissed if she got away.”

They’ve taken me further into the building, and there’s a bit more light. I gasp as I recognize the man who opened the door as Megan’s brother, the bartender. I think she told me his name was Mark or Mack or something like that. He recognizes me too, and his eyes gleam.

“She’s a fiesty bitch, I’ll tell you that,” the one who grabbed me in the alley says.

“Felix, my man, I think you just ensured us a double payday,” Mark or Mack says. “Notice anything different about her clothes?” He yanks me from his buddy’s grasp with a harsh grip around my upper arm. This leaves my mouth finally free and I inhale a much needed breath of air, then scream at the top of my lungs.

Mark or Mack laughs. “Do you realize how much soundproofing this building has to have to stay within the city’s noise ordinance while a bunch of filthy rich kids party all night? Scream away, darlin, ain’t no one going to hear you but us.”

Felix eyes me, slowly nodding. “You’re right. Her clothes
are
different. So you think there are really two of them?”

Megan’s brother keeps a firm grip on my arm as he starts down a dark hallway. “Let’s go see.”

I’m tempted to ask him where Megan’s been, because I’m worried about her, but now doesn’t really seem like the right time. Plus, if I ask, it will give it away pretty fast that I’m the real Lexi. Which might save Amelia, but it would doom me. Besides, I highly doubt they’d just let her go. The hallway is dingy with few doors and fewer lights. It doesn’t take us long to reach a gray door marked with peeling plastic letters that spell out “storage.” Two rights and a left. Two rights and a left, I tell myself over and over, trying to commit the path we took to get here to memory. If I get a chance to escape, I don’t want to blow it by getting lost in the unfamiliar building.

Felix unlocks the door, and as soon as I look inside, my knees buckle. Only Matt’s—now I remember his name, Matt—grasp keeps me from landing squarely on my ass. This moment is so far beyond surreal that I’m having trouble processing it. My sister—
my dead sister
—is sitting in a storeroom, surrounded by boxes and tied to a chair. All of my life, I’ve imagined having her by my side, imagined that I could talk to her and share things with her. And maybe I’ve even hated her for dying, leaving me to try to fill the role for both of us. But never in any of my daydreams did I first meet my sister like this.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Felix says. “There really are two of them.”

“The only question now is, which do we deliver for ransom, and which goes to Nick?”

My heart lurches, hearing confirmation of what I’d already suspected. They are working for Nick or the cartel, not that it matters since it’s all sort of the same. And the important thing is, Nick doesn’t need me alive.

I refuse to cry, but there is a definite lump in my throat as I stare across the room at my sister. She’s got a dirty rag tied around her mouth, preventing her from speaking, but her eyes say she’s not as surprised to see me as I am to see her. Then again, she probably wasn’t raised believing I was dead.

There’s so much I want to ask her—I only hope I get the chance.

“Shut her in here. I’ll go get Megan, and she can tell us which of them is actually Alexis Feron. We’ll use the other one for ransom. By the time they realize they got the wrong girl back, we’ll have our money from both of them and be long gone.”

Matt pulls my phone and keys from my pocket, dashing any thoughts I had of calling for help. I’m shoved inside and the door closes behind me with a loud click as I fall to my knees, scraping them on the hard concrete floor. Then I’m half-crawling, half-stumbling across the room and ripping the gag away from Amelia’s mouth. “I’m so sorry,” I say as tears stream down my face. So much for not crying, but considering I’m meeting my twin for the first time and one or both of us is about to die, I think I get a pass. “I’m so sorry,” I repeat again.

One of her eyes is swollen, her lip is cut, and her shirt is ripped, but otherwise she looks unharmed. Her eyes watch me as I work frantically to undo her ties. When I’ve released her wrists, she slowly rubs them, as if they are stiff, which I guess they probably are. “You shouldn’t have come here.” She turns her face, averting her eyes.

Her words sting, but I swallow the resentment. “How could I not come? When I saw the ransom photo, I immediately knew you were Amelia. I know you don’t know me yet, but I’m not the type of person to just leave my sister to die in my place.”

“Annalise.”

“Huh?” I pull off the last bit of rope, freeing her feet.

“My name isn’t Amelia. It’s Annalise.”

Now that she’s free, and there’s nowhere for us to go, we look at each other. I mean
really
look at each other. It’s completely disconcerting to see myself staring back at me. Because even though she’s a bit different—her hair is slightly shorter, her eyes are more jaded and her cheeks are a tiny bit more round—she’s also very much the same. She’s me, only not.

There’s so much I want to ask her, but I’m not sure where to start. This entire situation is just unfathomable. “How are you even here?”

“They grabbed me out of your dorm room.” She gives me a sheepish look.

“No, I mean like, how are you here, alive? Do you have any idea what our parents have gone through? We all thought you died at birth!” I swallow back my anger, not sure who I’m angry at but knowing it’s clouding my thinking. “Wait, what? You were in my dorm? Why?”

Amelia, I mean Annalise, gives me a tight smile. “I was in your dorm to tell Stephanie I couldn’t do what she wanted anymore. As to how I’m here at all, rather than dead, I don’t have any answers. Just more questions.”

I know the feeling. My mind is racing with all the things I want to know. Tentatively I reach out, touching my hand to hers, not entirely sure that she won’t evaporate before me, a hallucination brought on by stress. Her skin is cool to the touch, but very much real. Her gaze drops to our hands, and when she looks up, her expression mirrors the same confusion I’m feeling.

I step back, breaking the connection, because if I don’t I may lose it. This is too much, too fast. “Let’s search the boxes. Maybe we can find something that will help us escape, or fight back.”

—-♥—-

L
exi

Amelia and I are sitting on the floor, back to back. It’s easier this way, not to have to look at each other. We finished with the boxes what seems like ages ago, but maybe it’s only been minutes. Time is a bit hard for me to judge right now, given the circumstances.

“So what were you doing with Stephanie?” I ask, scuffing my foot outward, then in, then back outward again. I just can’t seem to hold still. Maybe I’m cracking under the pressure. I resist the urge to laugh at my own self-analysis, which only makes me suspect I’m cracking even more.

“Stephanie and I went to school together, along with Megan and a bunch of the other kids enrolled here. At Chancellorsville College, I mean. She and I never ran in the same circles, but we knew each other. She also knew I wrote essays for money. She hated me because one of my essays helped one of her biggest competitors for valedictorian beat her.”

I can only imagine how much that pissed Little Miss Perfect off. As soon as I have the thought, I feel guilty for it. Stephanie’s dead, and it’s probably my fault.

“The thing is, I was only doing the essay thing to make sure I could go to college. My mom used to work as a nurse, and things were good, but she got into some trouble at work and things have only gone downhill. I don’t want you to think I’m a bad person, I’m not, I just needed to help my mom, you know?”

And I do know. Because I’ve been taking care of my mom for years. It’s Amelia—Annalise—who doesn’t know. Her mom isn’t really her mom, and I can’t help snidely wondering if her mom’s trouble at work had anything to do with snatching babies. I had to take care of our mom, because she wasn’t there.

“Mom, our real mom I mean, has never gotten over losing you.” It’s a mild way to put it, but I figure I’ve got to start somewhere.

“Stephanie threatened to rat me out if I didn’t help her. It’s my senior year and I just can’t get kicked out of school.”

She’s only a senior in high school? I wonder if her so-called mother delayed her starting, afraid she’d get caught. This whole thing is so messed up. “So what did she have you do?” I ask, but I think I already know.

“She wanted to frame you, and since she knew me, as soon as she saw you she realized that I could pass for you.”

Of course she could pass for me, she’s my twin.

“She sent me to the barn on errands, little things to make it seem like you were causing trouble. But it wasn’t working, so she kept having me do more and more. I swear I didn’t want to hurt the horse, but I didn’t know what else to do. Afterward, when I heard how sick he’d gotten, I went to your room to tell her I couldn’t do it anymore. I was going to come clean and tell the truth. And...and I wanted to meet you. I showed up and Stephanie was already dead, and those two were there waiting for you.”

She sounds so full of guilt I can’t bring myself to be mad, even though I know I should be. Not only did she seriously risk Samurai, she got me in a shit-ton of trouble. But none of that is what comes out when I open my mouth. Instead, I find myself whispering, “I missed you.”

“I—I think I missed you too. I didn’t know what I was missing, but I never felt whole. I always wanted a sister.”

I gulp as my hand works backward along the floor until it finds Amelia’s hand and our fingers weave together. “You have one.” Emotion clogs my throat, making my voice thick. I know they say that twins share a special sort of bond, and I’m pretty sure they’re right. The only problem is, now that I’ve found my sister, how am I going to get us out of here so I can keep her? “Listen to me, okay?”

“Okay.” Amelia squeezes my hand.

“I don’t know if we can both get out of here. We’re going to try, but if it comes down to it, I want you to do whatever you have to in order to survive. But you’ve got to promise me something.”

I feel movement behind me and I think Amelia is nodding.

“Go home to my parents. Mom, she needs you. You can give her the only thing she’s always wanted: you.” I don’t warn her what it’s like living in the shadow of a lost sibling, because if I do she might never go.

“No, Lexi—”

“Promise me!” I snap as footsteps fill the hallway outside the storeroom door. This was always about me, and I’m not going to let my sister die in my place. But I need to know that Mom and Dad will be okay. It’s not that I think they won’t miss me if they have her, I know how much I mean to them. But I also know that getting her back can help ease the sting. It’s the only thing I can do for any of them.

My heart is in my throat as Amelia sobs behind me, finally choking out an, “I promise.” One of my hands is still woven tightly with hers. A few of the charms of my charm bracelet dangle down, digging into my tender palm as they get caught between our hands. The bracelet briefly reminds me of happier times, and I lock that memory in my head as I wait for the door to open.

I quickly pull Amelia—because she’ll always be Amelia to me—to her feet. “As far as these fools are concerned, we’ve both got to be me. Keep your back to mine so they can’t separate us.” I’m hoping that if they can’t figure out which if us it is that can testify against Nick, they will wait long enough before deciding what to do with us that it will give Kevin time to get here.

There’s something right about this, her and I standing back to back, protecting each other as sisters should. I’ll do anything it takes to get her out of here, because I want desperately to be there the moment my mother meets her. Behind me, Amelia is taking heavy, fear-filled breaths, and I’m afraid she’s going to fall apart. “Together, okay? We’ll get through this together.”

“I can’t,” she mumbles and takes one step away.

“You can. You’re my sister, and you can.”

She doesn’t say anything, but she steps back into place. I don’t know if I can count on her or not, but I’ve got no choice but to hope that I can. She’s all I’ve got.