AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So, I make another call to someone I really don’t want to talk to.
He’ll know how to find her and be willing to help me with another plan I’m forming in the back of my head.
The only question is, when I find Hellena, will she ever look me in the eye again?
29
HELLENA
Chaos echoes through the hallway from the atrium behind me. I scramble down, holding tight to the railing in the stairwell. The emergency lights flicker, red and menacing.
It punctuates the danger. The hell I found tonight.
It ends in a door, opening into an underground garage.
Only a few vehicles are parked in the dozens of spots, backlit by firelight flickering through the windows along the back wall. The lights are out down here, dust hanging in the air.
Blast must have knocked out the power.
Alone in the dark, I nearly fall apart, crumbling inside.
The hole in my heart aches, longing for Evan, hating him.
I don’t understand. I can’t reconcile who he was onstage with me with the man who would sell me out, sell me off!
Worst of all, to the devil who ruined my life. The wretched bastard who killed my mother.
Sobs threaten, clawing up my throat.
No. I have to get out. Get away.
Instinct takes over, sending me shuffling along, hoping to find a valet key box.
After several minutes of desperate searching, I’m debating making my way out front, trying to get on one of the shuttles back to town.
There will be plenty of them. I set them up myself.
Even considering it, I lock up, terror gripping me at the thought of Vice and his men waiting for me out there in the night. I’m huddling back against the wall when I see movement to my right, sending me scrabbling back.
“Hella?” The harsh whisper helps me find the silhouette in the dark.
“Tell?” I’m throwing my whole body into his arms without thinking.
Our lips meet, hands and arms clutching each other.
Then I’m shoving him back, slamming the heels of my fists into his chest. “How could you? You left me there! I needed you!”
“I—” He sounds stricken, his voice cracking.
“And you lied to me! I told you never to?—”
Hands wrap around my wrists. “It's not like that. I promise. I didn't abandon you. And I didn’t know I was going to be here tonight. My dad insisted at the last minute.”
“So, you’ve never been to one of these?”
“No. Believe me, I've tried to get in before. Their security is…”
“I know. I helped coordinate it.”
