Chapter 33



𝕎𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕞𝕒𝕪𝕓𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕞𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤

Lucas POV (ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪)

I was empty. Void. Lifeless. And at this point, I wished I could feel something, anything. Because the depth of the abyss I was plunging into was bad, really bad. Every inch of my body ached. The dull twinge of pain surging through me, from the centre of my chest to every single part of my being and at this point, I couldn't distinguish whether it was physical or emotional. Every single time I tried to breathe, it felt like I was drowning, being pulled under the current of pain, hate, nothingness.

"Let's take a look at you." A nurse said and I zapped my empty eyes to her. She was a beautiful thing, with a bright smile that accented her features. Why I was so focused on her beauty was beyond me. Maybe I needed to distract myself with something. I needed to feel. But even as I looked at her bright face, I felt nothing. Just pure, heart-clenching emptiness.

Across me were Eve, Jay and Rita. They were being equally checked out by physicians. After we landed in Toronto, we checked into The Emerald hotel - which was the chicest hotel in the town. A team of doctors were called upon to fix us up. Eve insisted that we should all be treated in private. We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.

What we had against Laura was the element of surprise, and Eve was desperate to keep it that way. So, when she arranged for another helicopter to land at Dalton, we immediately knew she did it as a distraction.

"Ouch, careful!" Rita yelped and the female attending to her retreated, sending her an apologetic smile. My eyes clashed with Eve who had already been watching me. Everyone has been moving around me in eye shells. It was almost as if Eve had instructed them to be careful with me. As if I was a glass that needed critical handling.

"Are you okay?" She mouthed, her eyes looking sad as if she could somehow feel my pain. As my eyes bored into hers, my heartbeat began to rise. I tore my eyes away from hers and shut my eyes. I didn't need this right now. I didn't want to feel broken, pitied, loved. All I wanted was to hold on to this anger, this hate, this rage.

The nurse finally left my face alone, done patching up my face, my ribs and every other damaged part of me, she exited the room, her colleagues following behind her.

I stood up and made my way to the bathroom, In an attempt to evade any more of Eve's piercing look. As my hands grabbed the bathroom nob, Eve's voice froze me in place. "Lucas." She called and I turn, my eyes landing on her.

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Eve POV

"We need to talk about Vic." At the mention of Vic, everybody became still, finally remembering. I had refused to talk about it on our way here because I knew everyone was still traumatized. But now that things were calm, and we were all treated, we needed some closure.

"What about Vic?" Lucas stated, his eyes void of emotion. I pardoned his dry tone because I knew what he was going through.

"I can understand you are still stricken from the incident with Damien, but that doesn't mean Vic isn't human too. The fact is we forgot him on that island is-"

"Damien was left on the island too," Lucas growled, cutting off Jay. "He was left to die too. So why should I care less if-"

I raised my hands to the air, cutting Lucas words and Jay's upcoming resort. "I will not take this. This is not the time for childish banters, this is the time to plan." Setting my gaze on Lucas, I sneered, "We are not the cause of Damien's death. Laura is, and the sooner you get that into your thick skull, and start directing your anger towards her, the sooner we can get to her."

Jay was about to speak but I tutted, waving my index finger from side to side. "And you, you know better than to taunt him or fuel his fire. He has been considerably calm since he got here." Jay gave me a nod of conception and I sighed in relief. "Please, let's try to work together, shall we?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Lucas walked back to the bed he had risen from and sat back down. I turned to Rita. "Were you able to confirm her location?"

Rita bobbed, then went to pick up her laptop. "The minute we got here, I activated our satellite to track her movement without any server or network tracing it." She sat back on the couch and open the laptop. "Let me confirm her status now."

I nodded in satisfaction just as Lucas asked, "What are we going to do with her when we find her?"

"We'll interrogate her, then use her as bait," I replied.

"And after that?" Lucas drawled, his face set in an intense grim.

"I think it's safe to say we'll let her go. She is an innocent bystander in all of this." Jay answered, interrupting my premeditated response.

"Damien was an innocent bystander and she didn't care. So why should we?" Lucas sneered, eyes boring into Jay's.

I shook my head as Jay opened his mouth to respond. "We don't know if she is innocent or not. So we'll wait till after we have caught and interrogated her before deciding." The answer was directed to both Lucas and Jay.

Lucas shook his head slowly, a sinister grim across his features. The guy was out for blood, and I couldn't help as pangs of jealousy surged through me in waves. How come he never fought this hard for me? How come he had easily destroyed me without a backwards glance? Without a second thought? Had I meant so little to him? Had all we shared been a mere means to an end? I couldn't help but feel like more of a fool every time I watched Lucas defend the people he loved.

"Whether she is innocent or not, I will kill her. And I'm gonna do it in front of Laura, just as she killed my sister, and Damien, in front of me." With that said, Lucas stood up and stormed out of the room.

My eyes clashed with Jay and I stood up too. "Rita, keep the tracker on. We leave at dawn tomorrow." My gaze still on Jay, I said, "We need to talk."

I walked out of the room and made my way towards the garden, with Jay on my heel.

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Lucas POV

I knew I shouldn't have walked away like that, but Lord knew I wasn't in my right mind. I was pissed, frustrated, and desolate. All I thought of was the hundred most painful ways I was going to hurt Laura.

How could one person come into your life and take everything away from you in the space of five years? Empty your life. Make a total waste of your existence. It wasn't fair, and I intended to get even.

I walked into the hotel's large garden. It was so massive, and so, so beautiful. I let the fresh scent of flowers settle beneath my skin. I parted my lips and took in a deep, deep drag of fresh air and slowly began following the maze-like path that the garden provided.

As I proceeded down the path, I had no idea where I was going and didn't give a damn. If I ended up plunging into a ditch, I would wholly welcome it, welcome death. I needed to be freed of this lonely existence I was leading.

The herbal-ish, lethargic scent of cigarettes wafted through my nostrils minutes before a very familiar voice hit my ears. "I don't know Jay, do you think she knows about him?"

I was stopped dead on my track when I heard that. I craned my neck to get a glimpse of where the voices were coming from and caught Jay's dark hair at the other side of the garden, which was somehow secluded from the path by the flowers surrounding it. I immediately changed my direction, taking the path that would lead me to them instead.

"If she knew, I don't think she'd be so quiet about it," Jay responded. I ducked under a flower when I saw Eve's eyes darting towards me.

"We have to do something, Jay. We can't let her know. We can't let them discover the truth about their connection. If they do, my plans won't be fulfilled and need it, Jay. I need it to work."

I rose from my crunched position and moved closer to them. And when I heard what Eve just said, I stepped into the clearing and revealed myself. "Need what to walk? And who can't know what?"

I have never seen Eve look more terrified than at that very moment.

My curiosity went from fifty to a hundred and ten.