Tormented (Evolution Series Book 2) (9 page)

I was right in my assumption that they would think I was nuts, but I wasn’t prepared for hearing that they had both never heard of Nikki
Sommers
, and the Melissa Hart standing in front of me was the same Melissa Hart whose name appeared in the paper every day.

Before either of them had a chance to voice their thoughts, I asked, “What about Harry Cross? Is he around?”

“Who?” Melissa asked, getting ready to call security on me. On second thought, she was thinking maybe she needed to call the police.

“Your boss?” I knew I was only proving her right by saying anything more, but I had to know.

“Our boss is James Tucker,” Sandy said, picking up the phone, just in case she needed to call security.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, then quickly walked over to the elevator, where I pressed the down button repeatedly in an attempt to bring it that much quicker. I knew it didn’t really work, but I needed the distraction. All I wanted to do was transport myself out of there, but the cameras weren’t going to allow me to escape that easily.

The elevator doors finally opened when I almost couldn’t take their hushed whispers and thoughts anymore. I was going to be the crazy girl they would talk about for the rest of their lives. When I finally made it out of the building, Aiden wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I could feel him getting further away from me, so my guess was that he was doing another lap of the block, which meant it could take another five minutes for him to get back to me. I needed to find out what was going on, and I’d be damned if I was going to wait for Aiden to drive me back to mine. I ducked around the corner of the building, where I found a bush that would conceal me from any prying eyes. I closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, I was back at my house, standing in our study. I figured the first place I should look for any clues would be in the filing cabinet in the back corner of the room. It supposedly held all of Mum’s “confidential” material.

I tried opening the light grey drawer, but it was locked. I gave it a good hard yank and prayed that some of my freakish strength would come to me when I actually needed it. And it did. Actually, I had to stop the drawer from being completely ripped off its runners. I started searching through the files, looking for anything that yelled out “This is what I’ve been hiding.”

“You couldn’t have waited for me?”
Aiden’s voice rang through my head.

“Sorry
.” I grabbed a pile of files from out of the drawer and carried them into the lounge room. There was going to be some serious reading, and I wasn’t about to stay hunched over a desk for it. I dropped the files onto the coffee table and walked to the kitchen to grab a drink. Everything in the fridge had expired, except for the bottles of water and some soft drinks. I grabbed a bottle of water, headed back to the lounge room, and flopped onto the sofa.

My eyes kept darting to the spot where my mother had died. The magnetic pull was just too much for me to ignore, so I picked up the files and went back into the study.

I was about to dump the files back onto the desk when I noticed something that had not been there only moments ago—a sticky note stuck on top of a disc with the words “Play Me” scrawled across it.

My heart was thumping as I reached out to pick up the disc. I hadn’t heard anyone in the house while I was in the lounge room or kitchen. Slowly, I walked back into the lounge room and turned on the DVD player. I inserted the disk, then switched on the TV and pressed
Play
.

My stomach started churning as a picture of my lounge room came onto the screen. I looked up towards where the camera would have been, but saw nothing there. I returned my attention to the TV, which still had a scene of the lounge room on it. My mother walked onto the screen. She had her phone glued to her ear as usual, and although there was no volume, I could tell by her facial expression and hand movements that she was having a heated discussion with whoever was on the other end. A minute later, a man walked into the scene. All I could see was the back of his head, so it would be impossible for me to identify him. Also, his face was covered with a black balaclava.

My mother turned around, and her eyes widened. But to my surprise, she didn’t let out a scream. The person seemed to have startled her, but she didn’t look afraid.

The man raised his arm, and he had a gun in his hand. She finally started to freak out. She dropped her phone and mouthed the word “No.”

He pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun firing blasted from the speakers, and my mother’s head snapped back as the bullet entered her skull.

The scene of the bullet killing my mother played at half speed, allowing me to see the bullet digging its way into her head. Blood spattered everywhere, and then she dropped lifelessly to the floor. The same floor that that didn’t have a single stain on it.

The screen went blank, and Aiden appeared by my side. I was too numb to say anything or even move. Visions of what I had just witnessed kept replaying over and over again in my mind, the way the bullet entered her skull, killing her instantly. She hadn’t stood a chance against him. Aiden wrapped his arms around me, smothering me with those feel-good calming vibes, which didn’t seem to be having the desired effects. My heart felt as though it had been ripped open again, and there was no way to close it.

“Let’s get out of here,” Aiden said softly. He let go of me, walked over to the DVD player, and ejected the disc.

I didn’t want that thing anywhere near me, but I knew that we needed to take it with us. It was evidence, maybe the only evidence that my mother really was murdered, and she wasn’t just off on some extended holiday. And maybe there might be a clue on the disc as to who the sicko was that did that to her.

Aiden pulled me back into his arms, and I transported us back to England.

CHAPTER 10

It didn’t take long before Anna came rushing into Aiden’s bedroom. She was still wearing her pink bunny PJs, so I could only assume that it was either early morning or late at night. All she did was place her hand on my back, and really, that was all she needed to do. With both Aiden and Anna sending the feel-good thingies pulsating through my body, I was able to get a grip on myself again. And I was thankful that they hadn’t gone overboard like Anna had once before, where she had left me unable to remain conscious.

“Are you ever going to let up about that one?” she asked.

I gave her a heavy smile. I knew she meant well in her attempt to lighten the moment, but I was still having a hard time dealing with what I had just seen.

“I can take that away if you want,” Aiden suggested.

I nodded. The next thing I knew, the raw emotion was no more than a dull ache when I thought about her. I smiled. “What would I do without you?”

He smiled back,
then
said, “Lucky for you, you’ll never find out.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

Anna yawned. “As much as I’d love to stand here and listen to a couple of seventeen-year-olds professing their undying love for one another, I think I have more important things I should be doing.”

“Oh, God! What time is it?” I asked.

Anna waved off my question. “It’s five a.m. But that’s not what I meant.” Her eyes flicked over to the disc Aiden was still holding. “Do you mind if I take a look at that?”

“Take it,” I said a little too enthusiastically. I wanted that thing as far away from me as possible.

Aiden handed the disc to his mother.

“I’ll see you both for breakfast?” she asked.

“We’ll be there,” Aiden replied.

“Okay, see you soon.” She disappeared momentarily before returning. “Oh, just one more thing. Is it okay if I show this to Nate and Kai, too?”

When I hesitated, Anna said, “Don’t worry about it. Dave and I will just watch it.”

“No, it’s okay. You can show them.” It was still really weird to have almost complete strangers know such intimate details of my life, but I knew I needed as much help as I could get.

“Are you sure?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

She smiled,
then
disappeared.

I wondered if anyone besides Bernard actually used doors around that place. Maybe that was why Aiden hadn’t had a lock on his door. There was obviously no point when anyone could just pop in unannounced.

Aiden responded to my thoughts. “You may still think it’s strange, but one day, you’ll be doing the same.”

“So what are we going to do ’til breakfast?” I asked, changing the subject.

He had an uneasy look on his face, and although I couldn’t hear his thoughts, I knew what was on his mind.

I stepped out of his embrace. “Nope. I definitely don’t want to talk about it,” I said referring to what was on the disc.

He sighed. “Well, it’s too cold outside, so we may as well just hang out in here.”

“Sounds good to me.” I walked over to the sofa, sat down, and curled my legs up underneath me.

Aiden sat down beside me. “What do you want to watch?” he asked, flicking on the TV.

“Something funny.” I wasn’t really in the mood for laughing, but I sure as hell didn’t want to add any more misery to my day.

He put on some reruns of
Seinfeld
.

***

About an hour before breakfast was due to be served, Aiden suggested we take a walk. It was still too cold outside, so we stuck to the inside of the castle. He showed me through endless hallways and doors that pretty much had the exact same things inside as the others. In total, there were twelve bedrooms, all of which were decorated similarly to Aiden’s room. Each had its own bathroom and balcony, and the only things different were the views. Each one seemed to outdo the other. I couldn’t wait until it warmed up so I could explore outside.

Scattered between the bedrooms were sitting rooms. Each sitting room was adorned with a different style. It was as if they had been decorated over the years, going from early period to modern day. There was also a cinema, but not like a normal home theatre. It was a replica of a public cinema, complete with rows and rows of chairs, curtains lining the walls, and a massive screen on the front wall of the room.

“We have got to watch something in here,” I said, running up the stairs to the back row of chairs. Each row of chairs was made up of either single or double reclining seats. “How could you have not told me about this?”

Aiden walked up the stairs and sat down in the aisle seat of the back row. “Well, it never came up.”

“Of course it would never come up. It’s not as if anyone would think to ask if you had your own bloody movie theatre.”

Aiden laughed. “It’s not as if I am going to go around and say, ‘Hi, my name is Aiden, and I have my very own movie theatre, you know, like the proper ones.’”

I slapped his arm playfully. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

He pulled me down beside him. “Jade. There’s something that I have to tell you. I have my own cinema. Is that better?”

“You’re an idiot,” I teased.

He graced me with his perfect smile. “And it’s just one of the reasons why you love me so much.”

“Maybe I just love you for your looks.”