Vengeance (13 page)

“Jade, please.” Mum exhaled deeply. “You don’t need to see this.”

“The hell I don’t.”

Harry knelt down on the other side of Aiden. “She can stay.” He ripped open Aiden’s shirt, revealing a jagged gash in his chest. Blood seeped out, and the wound didn’t seem to be closing as it should have.

Panic rippled through me. I reached inside Aiden’s mind, looking for the life I’d seen only seconds ago. I found only a small flicker of activity, which seemed to be getting smaller by the second. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know,” Harry said. “But I think I’ll need to close this up.” He disappeared just as he finished his sentence.

Anna knelt beside me. She picked up Aiden’s hand and squeezed it tightly. I had been so consumed with my own feelings that I hadn’t even heard hers. She was his mum, and of course, she was hurting.

Without telling anyone what I planned to do, I stood up and walked over to the table. I placed my hands on it and hung my head forward, pretending I was trying to get a grip on myself. When I knew nobody was looking, I picked up a knife and sliced the palm of my hand.

I balled my hands into fists and walked back over to Aiden. I dropped to my knees and bent over, pretending to hold him as I cried. I carefully slipped my hand over his chest and pressed my palm against his open wound.

Harry phased back in. “Jade?” he asked.

I slowly raised off of Aiden, making sure I balled my hand into a fist once more so no one would see my wound. My hand was already healing, so I didn’t need to keep it covered for long. They wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between my blood and Aiden’s.

Harry was holding that tray of his. It contained not just the needle, but also thread and another sort of needle that I presumed would be used for stitches.

Just as Harry threaded the needle, Aiden’s wound began to close.

“Oh! Thank God,” Anna said. She turned to me, smiling through tears of joy. “He’s going to be okay.”

I nodded and swiped at my damp cheeks as I watched the last of his wound close.

Aiden’s chest began to rise and fall with greater force, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“Hey,” I said.

He reached up and cupped the side of my face.
“I love you.”

I put my hand over his.
“I love you, too.”

He moved his hand to the back of my neck and pulled my lips down to his. Aiden wanted nothing more than to transport to somewhere private, and I wanted it, too, but we both knew it would have to wait. We needed to stay there and talk to everyone about what just happened.

Reluctantly, I raised my head and looked around. They were all stunned into silence. None of them knew exactly what had happened. They’d seen Nathan lunge at me but didn’t know why he had done that.

Aiden lifted himself onto his elbows. “We need to tell you all something.” He tried to sit up but had to grab my hand for support.

Dave reached for Aiden. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“No,” Aiden said, wishing he sounded more forceful. “We need to talk to everyone now.”

“Okay,” Dave said. “But we should probably talk in another room.”

“I agree.” Aiden started to get to his feet, and I rushed to help him. “But we’re going to have to go someplace else.”

I added, “We need to go to a hotel or somewhere. We can’t talk here.”

“Why not?” Anna asked.

“You guys can do what you want,” Georgia said, “but I’m getting out of here.”

“No.” I raised my hand. “You need to hear what I’ve got to say.”

“This is about Dad, isn’t it?” Lucas asked.

I didn’t want to say anything in front of the cameras that were certainly there. We could’ve just talked mentally, but Nathan would still be able to see their reactions. “Will you please just all come with us?”

Aiden tried to stand on his own and succeeded. “I’m going to go find somewhere we can talk, then Jade can bring you all over. I won’t be long.” Aiden leaned down and kissed me, disappearing before he pulled away.

Everyone wanted to know what we wanted to talk to them about, but no one wanted to ask. They were all shocked into silence and still trying to process what had just happened. How could a father, a friend, try to kill one of their own?

Bernie came in carrying a tray filled with desserts. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw everyone standing around with shocked expressions. When he looked at the floor and saw the blood all over the carpet, he passed out.

“Great,” Dave said, rushing to his side.

“We’re going to need to bring him with us, too,” I said when I heard Dave planning to transport Bernie to his bed. “But it’s probably a good idea if he stays knocked out for a bit.”

Aiden returned.
“I’m ready.”
When he saw Bernie lying on the floor, he asked,
“What happened to him?”

“He saw your blood and passed out,”
I explained
.
“It’s probably a good idea if I go with you to the hotel first so I can land Bernie on a couch.”

Aiden nodded. “Jade will bring you all over in a sec.” He transported us to an apartment I had never seen.

“Where should I put Bernie?” I asked.

He pointed behind me. “There’s a bedroom through there.”

I opened the door and stepped inside. Once I had a full view of the bed, I brought Bernie to me and landed him safely on the bed. I then went back into the living room, closing the door behind me, and transported everyone else to us.

Chapter 14

I walked over to Aiden and wrapped my arms around his waist, careful not to put any pressure on his chest. I didn’t care that his shirt was soaked with blood. He was alive, and that was all that mattered. Besides, my shirt already had its fair share of blood on it anyway.

When he tried to pull me closer and I resisted, he said, “I’m okay. There’s no more pain.”

I looked up into his eyes, not understanding why I could no longer hear his thoughts. I was certain that I hadn’t been drugged again because I could still hear the thoughts of every other person in the room.

He narrowed his eyes at me.
“You should know, shouldn’t you?”

“I can’t hear your thoughts.”

“You’ve been drugged again?”

“No. I can still hear the others.”

“Can you guys just get on with telling us whatever you think we have to know?” Georgia asked.

I turned around. “Sorry,” I said but meant it for everyone besides Georgia.

Aiden sat on the leather armchair facing the rest of the room and pulled me onto his lap.

Everyone else took seats on the two sofas and any other piece of furniture with a flat surface. Georgia moved to stand by the door to the bedroom.

“Now,” Aiden said, “I want everyone to keep an open mind, okay?”

“After what happened tonight, I’m pretty sure our minds are way open,” Dave said.

Everyone pretty much agreed with him. Georgia was the odd one out. All she thought about was seeing the love of her life lying on the floor with a knife protruding from his chest.

“And after we tell you, Jade’s going to need to go inside your minds to see where everyone stands. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

“So you want us to take down our mind blocks?” Anna asked.

Georgia scoffed. “Like that’s ever going to happen.”

“Why are you telling them this?”
I asked.

“Because if anyone has a problem with it, then they’re probably aware of what Nathan’s been doing. I’m sure you’d rather them not stay to hear what we’ve got to tell them about you.”

“You’re so smart,”
I joked.

“Does anyone have a problem with that?” Aiden asked again. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but after you hear what we’ve got to tell you, you’ll understand why.”

There were various acceptances around the room, but Georgia said, “Like hell I’m going to let you inside my mind.”

“Then go,” Aiden said. “But know that if you go, you’re never going to be welcome back in our lives again.”

Georgia stood there, too shocked to move. She hated watching Aiden with me, but the thought of never seeing him again made her think twice. She slid down the wall and sat cross-legged on the floor.

Aiden nodded. “Okay, so does anyone else have any problem with what we’re asking?”

Kai laughed, but it wasn’t his usual carefree laugh. He knew something serious was going on and that it had something to do with one of his best friends.

Aiden put a hand on my shoulder. “Do you want to tell them, or do you want me to?”

“Would you mind?”

He shook his head. “Not at all.” Aiden took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Did everyone see what happened tonight?”

Dave let out a strained laugh. “Yeah, we watched as one of our best friends tried to stab Jade, then you threw yourself in front of her.”

“Everyone saw the same thing,”
I told Aiden.

“What we don’t get is why,” Anna said, hugging herself as if she were trying to keep warm. She was in shock and too caught up in what had happened to her son to care about fixing herself.

I knew she hadn’t asked me for help, but considering the circumstances and the fact that she had helped me so many times, I decided to return the favour. Anna jerked as she realised someone was controlling her emotions, but she had no idea who it was. No one had touched her, and as far as she knew, someone had to be touching her to be able to calm her. Anna scanned the room, trying to find who was responsible. When her gaze landed on me, my guilty expression gave me away.
“You did that, didn’t you?”

I nodded slightly.

“How?” she asked, not realising she’d spoken aloud.

Dave put his arm around his wife. “How what?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” Anna wanted to give me the chance to explain, and she didn’t think Dave would be able to keep a straight face if she told him silently.

Aiden shifted me on his lap. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come right out and say it.” Aiden glanced at me. “We know who Jade’s father is.”

“You do?” Mum asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

Aiden nodded. “It’s… Nathan.”

“What the fuck?” Georgia spat as everyone had a similar reaction. “You’re trying to tell me that my dad is
her
father? That she’s my
sister
?”

“That’s impossible,” Mum said, shaking her head. “Don’t you think I’d know who her father is?”

“Mum…” I waited for her to look at me. “It’s true.”

“No.” She shook her head again. “I would’ve recognised him.”

“Bullshit,” Georgia said.

I expected the same reaction from Lucas, but he surprised me. He didn’t want to believe his father could do that, but then Nathan hadn’t exactly been a loving father. Also, Lucas felt guilty for Ben’s death, and as soon as I said that his father was responsible, Lucas blamed himself even more. Besides, he’d seen his father lunging at me with a knife. To him, that was proof enough.

Kai chuckled nervously. “As much as I’d love to watch this new revelation sink into Georgia, there is no way that guy could be your father.”

“How do you even know this?” Jack asked. He’d been helping my mother try to find my father for almost eighteen years, and neither of them had even gotten close.

“Something happened, didn’t it?” Harry asked.

I nodded. “After you gave me the antidote—”

“Antidote?” my mother and Anna asked in unison.

“Harry found out I’d been drugged, and he gave me something to counteract it,” I explained.

Mum glared at Harry, wondering why her friend hadn’t told her.

“Don’t be angry with him, Mum. He didn’t tell anyone because he thought the less people knew, the better.”

“I’m sorry, but she’s right,” Harry said to Mum. “For her to be drugged without knowing meant that someone was slipping something to her. And I’m sorry, but for all I knew, it could’ve been someone close to her.” When Mum didn’t say anything, Harry turned to me. “What happened after I gave you the injection?”

“Nothing at first. I went back to where everyone was having lunch. But about twenty minutes later, this massive pain shot through my head. I felt like my skull was imploding. Then the next thing I knew, I could hear everyone’s thoughts. And no one had dropped their mind blocks.”

“Huh,” Chelsea said when she realised her thoughts weren’t private where I was concerned. She didn’t have a problem with me, but I didn’t think she would be so accepting of it if she knew the others could hear her thoughts, too.

“What the hell?” Kai said. “You can hear our thoughts?”

As soon as Georgia saw me nod, she disappeared. She didn’t leave because she was in cahoots with Nathan. She left because she didn’t want me to know how she still felt about Aiden.

“Is she in this with Nathan, too?” Mum asked.

I shook my head. “No. She just doesn’t want me hearing her thoughts. She might be a bitch, but she’s not a killer.”

“That’s not all Jade can do,” Aiden said, steering the conversation back on track. “You know what we are capable of doing to a normal human? Well, that’s what she’s able to do to us.”

“She’s surpassed us,” Harry whispered, speaking more to himself than to us.

“Say all this is true,” Mum said, standing up. “How do you explain that I couldn’t recognise him?”

I shot Mum a knowing look. “When I first realised he was my father, I was too caught up in what he was thinking to wonder why you hadn’t recognised him.”

Mum’s eyes widened. She feared I had learned the truth about how I was conceived. “Oh, my God,” she said, realising that if I didn’t know before, I definitely knew after what she’d just thought.

“We’ll talk about that later,” I said, giving Mum a ‘Yeah, I know’ look.

Mum closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She had deep regrets about what she had done, but at the same time, she would’ve done it all over again because, at the end of the day, she had me. Although I may have been conceived for the wrong reasons, she loved me for all the right ones. She tried to push her thoughts to the back of her mind and concentrate on what we were trying to tell her, but they kept creeping back to the forefront of her mind.