Can you feel me in your arms?
Holding my last breath,
Safe inside myself.
Are all my thoughts of you.
Sweet raptured light,
It ends here tonight
"My Last Breath" -Evanescence
Ashton stared at his brother. "This is not part of the plan."
I glanced at him. "You have a plan?"
"No," he admitted. "But if I had made one, this wouldn't have been part of it."
"You came without a plan?" I demanded. My head spun and my arm felt tired- why was I holding it up so high? I let it drop to my side, and attempted to shake off the dizziness.
He gave me a flat look. "Like you had one."
"I brought a gun," I replied defensively.
"Where is it now?" he asked.
I glanced away. "Detective Fallon took it from me."
Nathan glanced at us, then back at Vanessa. "What's going on? Elena, why are you bleeding?"
Ashton and I both looked down to see blood leaking from below the makeshift bandage Ashton had applied earlier. "Damn it, Elle, you need to keep that above the heart!" Ashton exclaimed, grabbing my wrist and holding my arm up.
"What's going on?" Nathan repeated.
None of us answered.
"Ash?" Nathan asked, glancing at his brother. Ashton didn't respond, instead just played, or 'fixed' the cloth tied around my arm. I could tell he had heard the question, though, not just because it was nearly dead silent in the room, but also from the way he carefully avoided looking up.
Seriously? Nathan had just walked into middle of everything but Ashton still didn't want to tell him anything? I wanted to say something, but I didn't even really know what was happening, and that combined with how lightheaded I was felling, wouldn't make a very good explanation.
"Ness?" Nathan asked, his voice cracking a bit.
Vanessa stared at him, and through my hazy vision, I saw a tear slide down her cheek, but she turned so fast, I wasn't sure if it had just been my imagination. "I'm sorry, Nate. You weren't supposed to find out," she said, her voice trembling. But then it changed, becoming harder as she turned to Detective Fallon. "Take him away."
Nathan only then seemed to notice the detective he had hired in the room. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, eyeing Detective Fallon wearily as he advanced towards Nathan.
Detective Fallon didn't answer; instead he handed his gun to Vanessa, then pulled out an identical one from his jacket.
Like he was some kind of factory for them.
I shouldn't have found it funny, given the situation I was in, but the loss of blood had probably started to make its way to my head since I suddenly had the delirious urge to giggle madly.
"Stop! I hired you!" Nathan exclaimed, struggling as Detective Fallon grabbed him. He froze when the gun pressed against his temple.
"Careful," Vanessa said, her voice sharp.
"I never worked for you, Mr. Sinclair," Detective Fallon replied. "Though I did appreciate the extra money."
"Where are you taking my brother?" Ashton demanded as Detective Fallon began pulling Nathan towards the hallway.
Vanessa turned to look at him, eyes blazing with fury. "You can choose. Stay here with Elena, or leave with Nate."
Ashton, who'd had his mouth open to yell at Detective Fallon and Vanessa, snapped it shut, looking dumbfounded.
"Choose," Vanessa hissed. "Like you made me."
"Ash?" Nathan interrupted. He and Detective Fallon had stopped at the edge of the room. "What's she talking about?"
Ashton ignored his brother, again. "You'll kill Elena," he said.
"Don't you want to get him out of here?" Vanessa asked, nodding to where Nathan stood, trapped under Detective Fallon's gun.
"Just go," I told Ashton. My words came out more shaky and slurred than I wanted, but I couldn't help it with how dizzy I felt.
Ashton stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head. "You didn't leave me, I won't leave you."
"How touching," Vanessa commented. "You'll be staying, then?"
Ashton clenched his jaw. "You won't hurt him. I know that." He glanced at Nathan, making eye contact with his brother for the first time since he had walked in. "I'm sorry, Nate."
Nathan looked too shocked to respond, and before he could recover, Vanessa issued another order to Detective Fallon. "Tie him up in the Master room, then go do your job."
Your job? What was Detective Fallon's job? How much more to this was there? How elaborate was Vanessa's plan? She already had me, what else did Detective Fallon have to do?
"Why are you doing this?" I rasped out as Detective Fallon jerked Nathan out of the room.
Vanessa glanced at me, almost smiling, and for a second she looked like the Vanessa I knew- or thought I knew. The naive, seemingly clueless Vanessa who'd had me completely fooled. "It's so like you, Elena. Asking questions instead of begging for your life."
"Keira said Ashton broke you and Nathan up," I said. "You're doing all of this for revenge?"
She let out a bitter laugh. "It's not that simple. Ashton is very good at playing villain when he tries." She glanced at him. "Though in your eyes, you were probably the savior."
Ashton didn't respond, simply glaring at her.
"Why don't you tell the story, Ashton?" she asked. Again, he didn't reply. Vanessa raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you want to stall?" Yet again, he didn't speak. "I guess I can, then. You'd probably get it wrong anyway."
Vanessa turned to me. "Your Prince Charming isn't really who you think he is. You should've checked before you fell for him, and you could've avoided all of this."
I stared at her. "What happened?"
"The summer before I turned fifteen, my mother killed herself," she said. "I was with Nate at the time, but he didn't know. Everyone believed my mother had died when I was five because my dad locked her away here." She gestured around to the guesthouse.
Which I guess wasn't really a guesthouse.
It was Vanessa's mother's house.
Dead mother.
"It was because she wasn't in the best state of mind. No one was supposed to know, except me, my dad, and her doctors. And I thought no one did, until one day, Ashton approached me. He gave me an ultimatum- I had to break up with Nate, or he'd tell anyone about my mother," Vanessa spat, glaring at Ashton.
My stomach rolled. I couldn't lie; it made me sick that Ashton had used someone's dead mother and her unstable mind as a threat. But did it really mean killing someone for it? Creating such an elaborate scheme and twisted game?
"I was trying to protect Nate," Ashton said. "You could've turned out like your mother. I didn't want him with someone like that."
"It wasn't her fault!" Vanessa exclaimed. "He drove her to it!"
My mind spun. There was more? "Drove her to what?"
Ashton glanced at me. "There was a reason why Mr. Merrick told everyone Mrs. Merrick was dead before getting her psychiatric help. Mrs. Merrick caught him with another woman and pulled a gun on them. She killed the other women and nearly pulled the trigger on Mr. Merrick."
"She was fine! It was his fault!" Vanessa protested.
I could see an eerie similarity between everything that had happened and the game. Ashton had asked Keira to make Nathan fall in love with her- like Vanessa had forced me to do with Ashton. And before that, Mrs. Merrick had held a gun to Mr. Merrick and his mistress, killing the other woman. Vanessa had a gun pointed at us now, but it was Nathan she was in love with, not Ashton.
"I overheard my parents talking about it," Ashton said quietly. He stood up, slowly sliding up from his crouched position against the wall beside me while Vanessa was distracted. "They, and everyone else's parents helped cover up what had happened. I told Skylar and we figured out what happened together."
So that was what Cameron had meant by the Elite covering for someone before. Skylar must've told him about how he Elite's parents had all covered a murder... Had that been what Blake and Kaden had been looking into before Blake and Avril had been killed? It had to be. I wasn't sure how they could've found out about it, but I knew they wouldn't let a murder go if they knew.
"That was why I was chosen, wasn't it?" I didn't realize I had said the words out loud until it was too late.
"What?" Ashton said.
"Blake, Kaden, they knew about it," I muttered.
"Kaden knew about that?" he asked.
Vanessa shook her head. "I chose you because you were Kaden's adopted daughter and Kaden was who Ashton had chosen to go to about Olivia." She glanced between us. "So if you want someone to blame for you getting chosen, it's really your Prince Charming's fault."
What?
How the hell did Vanessa know Kaden had gotten involved?
A glance at Ashton told me he was thinking the same thing.
"I hated the idea of you, you know," Vanessa said, moving on before either of us could ask. "My only living parent wouldn't even acknowledge me and you were loved by people who should've hated you? It wasn't fair!"
I winced. "Why are you telling me this? Why not just kill me?"
"Because I want you to understand!" she cried, her voice rising. "You were nice to me. I liked you, even."
"Then don't do this," Ashton cut in quickly, creeping towards Vanessa a little. "Let Elena go to LA. We won't talk again."
"No!" she yelled. "I gave you a second chance, I gave you Jacen!"
What?
'You could've fallen for him- and Ashton would've had to watch as the girl he loved love someone else. He would've known how it felt! But instead, you had to fall for Ashton. You could've saved yourself. Ashton could've saved you."
Well, it wasn't like Jacen tried very hard.
It made sense now, though, why Jacen had been so cold, and cruel some moments, and almost kind, normal in others. It explained the kiss, and him asking me to the Winter Formal, and all the other crazy, unreasonable shit he had pulled. His warnings made sense too now. I had thought he was just being a jerk, but he had known what would happen if I fell for Ashton.
Maybe I shouldn't have disregarded his warnings so quickly.
Ashton inched closer to Vanessa. "Please, just let her go."
Vanessa shook her head, her grip tightening on the gun. "You wouldn't understand what you made me go through."
"I'd lose her," Ashton argued, distracting her as he stalked closer. I held my breath. What the hell was he planning? Vanessa had a gun!
She shook her head. "It's too late. I'm sorry, Elena, you know too much now for me to consider letting you go. If you weren't so curious-" she cut herself off, shaking her head.
I blinked.
Ashton had been right- if I didn't know anything; she could've let me go. If I hadn't poked around and asked questions, I could've been considered harmless, clueless. You got all the warnings, Lena, why didn't you listen to them?
And now you're here.
My head spun.
My heart pounded.
Ashton risked another step towards her.
Vanessa noticed.
She pulled the trigger and the plaster beside my head exploded.
I gasped, falling onto my side as pieces of the wall rained down.
"Don't come any closer!" Vanessa yelled.
Ashton froze.
It's over.
There's nothing we can do.
I stared at Vanessa- and in my muddled mind, something clicked.
We believe what we want.
I didn't remember where I had heard that from- probably Devon during one of the lessons. But I knew it was true. Vanessa had -somehow- convinced herself this would make everything okay, as far as that was from the truth. And that killing me would be okay because it wasn't her fault- it was Ashton's.
It was like an illusion.
I had to shatter that illusion.
"Vanes-" I started.
Her eyes snapped open. "Don't."
I ignored her.
"You don't want to do this," I said.
The gun clicked.
"Shut up, Elena!" Vanessa yelled.
"Elle, please," Ashton begged.
I continued anyway. I'd end up dead if I kept silent. Maybe I had a chance this way. "Hurting me will hurt Ashton."
She let out a short, bitter laugh. "That's what I want," she replied harshly. Her finger tightened on the trigger. "Any last words?"
I swallowed, trying to keep myself calm. "You're hurting Nathan." That made her stop for a moment, so I quickly hurried on. "He knows you're doing this. You'll hurt him. Just like your dad hurt your mom."
"This is different," she said, though I could hear a faint tremor in her voice.
"He'll spend the rest of his life hating you."
Vanessa shook her head, hair flying wildly around her. "Shut up."
"And you'll spend the rest of your life knowing you're just like your father."
"I'm not!" she yelled.
"Then prove it."
Through a haze I could see Vanessa shaking, Ashton reaching out to take the gun from her grasp-
BANG!
The sound of a gun going off ricocheted through the room.
Then blood splattered against ground.
-- â¡ --
QotC: Who got shot?
PS. Get used to cliffhangers, if you aren't already.
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