38
Pandemonium ensues. Saint and I run from the office, but there’s nothing we can do to stop the fire, and there’s Nora, still in the room with Jameson—making sure it spreads.
Reaching the second-floor landing, he cups his hands over his face and bellows, “Fire! Everyone get the fuck out!”
At first, I don’t know if people believe him, but then a cloud of smoke bursts from the hallway and the rest of the house explodes into chaos as everyone tries to get out and to safety.
Saint turns to me and barks, “Get the fuck out of here, Mallory!”
“What about you?” I scream.
“I need to make sure everyone else gets out,” he explains. “Go.”
“But—”
“Just go!” he roars.
I stumble back, my head spinning, but then I nod. With tears in my eyes, I pick up my skirt and turn to rush down the stairs and out of the house with the crush of other people trying to escape.
When I finally make it outside, I keep running until I’m across the street and know I’ll be safe. The fire is spreading upstairs. I can see it lighting up the windows on the second floor. Shit, shit, shit. Where is everybody? Where’s Loni, Liam, and Gabe? How long does Saint plan on staying in there?
As I stand there worrying for my friends, my mind latches onto someone else I haven’t seen leave the house yet.
Nora. I don’t know where she ended up after she dropped her cigarette. I was too concerned about getting out of that room to pay attention to her, but I realize that I can’t let her get away. This is just the type of chaos and confusion she needs to disappear completely. I force my mind to calm itself enough so that I can focus. She didn’t follow us to the front of the house, so if she got out of the office in time, she had to have gone to the back of the house. Which means, there’s only one place she could be.
The beach.
I don’t give myself time to overthink it and hesitate. Grabbing my skirts up again, I dash back across the street and run down the side of the house toward the back. People are still streaming out of the front door like it’s a dam that’s burst open, but when I reach the back patio, there’s no one there. I continue on, running down to the beach. Looking left and right, it takes me a moment, but my eyes finally land on a figure running away, about half a mile north of me.
There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s Nora.
Kicking off my shoes, I take off after her. She’s fast, and has a head start on me, but I’m younger, stronger, and fueled by hatred.
About a mile from the house, I catch her. Jumping forward, I snag her around the knees and she goes toppling to the ground, face-first.
“What the fuck?” she screams before kicking out at me. She gets me in the gut and I roll to my side, clutching my stomach. She pushes up to her knees and then moves to stand.
“No!” I cry, lunging for her again. I hit her square in the back and we both go careening forward.
She throws me off her and gets up again, sputtering sand.
“Why are you attacking me?” she screams in my face. “I’ve done everything for you.”
I block the path she was headed and bare my teeth in warning. “You’ve done nothing for me.”
She actually laughs at me, which is both infuriating and insulting.
“What? Are you going to kill me? Is that it? You don’t have it in you.”
“Funny, that’s what Angelle said to Saint, and look what happened there.” My brain’s still not fully ready to process that whole encounter. I don’t know if it ever really will be, but I’m not worrying about that now. I can’t afford to get distracted.
Nora’s face drains of color, and for a moment, she actually seems a little worried.
“Saint’s an animal,” she spits at length. “Just like his father was. You’re not like them. You’d never be able to do to me what Saint did to Jameson.”
“My goal isn’t to kill you,” I reply. “Just hurt you, really, really bad.”
“Why?” she asks, catching me off guard.
“What?”
“You heard me,” she snarls. “Why are you so hell-bent on punishing me? What have I truly done to you that’s worth such treatment? I ensured you’d receive the best education. I got rid of those who would have hurt you. And I haven’t once smothered you, have I? I respected your space and let you do your own thing.”
I gawk at her in disbelief. All those years in captivity have warped her brain, I’m sure of it. “You manipulated me, tormented me, and threatened me, all to get an inheritance that was never meant to be yours. And Jenn…” I can barely breathe when I say her name, but Nora can.
In fact, she sucks an exasperated breath through her teeth.
“It’s always about Jenn with you, isn’t it?” she taunts. “She’s not even your real mother and was a pretty shitty foster one. Why do you care so much if she lives or dies?”
“Which one is it?”
“I took her to a hospital.” She holds her arms wide, as if she’s waiting for praise. “Satisfied?”
“And you just left her there?” My jaw drops. “How cruel can you be?”
“I could’ve left her to die in her own vomit, you know. I showed mercy by taking her somewhere.”
“You wouldn’t know the first thing about mercy. All you’ve ever done is hurt.”
“And all she’s ever done is hurt you, so now we’re even.”
I flinch. Her words are sharp, cruel. And sadly, they’re correct.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t care for her. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry for her wellbeing.”
Nora cocks an eyebrow and looks as if she can’t quite understand what she’s hearing.
“What a waste of time and energy,” she hisses. “You’d be better to forget that burden. In fact, you’d be better to forget anyone you’ve come to care for in your life. They only get in the way of whatever you want. There’s a sweet freedom to not giving a single fuck about anyone.”
She’s in my face again, and before I can stop myself, I’m crushing the rock I’d swiped up when we both went crashing down against her temple.
“Shut up already,” I rasp, but she’s already crumbling to the sand.
I drop to my knees and check that she still has a pulse. It’s steady and strong, and when I check the wound, there’s no blood. She’s just knocked out, which is what I was hoping for. Gazing around, I double check that there’s no one nearby to find her, but this part of the beach is pretty isolated, so she should be okay here until I can return with help to get her.
Standing, I run back toward the house, where I can see the flames lighting up the night sky, and I’m scared out of my fucking mind.
As I draw closer to the house, I see that a small crowd has formed on the beach behind it. Most likely stragglers and people who gave up trying to escape through the front door. As I get closer, I scan the crowd and let out a shout of relief when I spot Loni, Gabe, and Rosalind all huddled together. Loni sees me coming first and breaks away from Gabe to charge me. She throws her arms around me and hugs me tight.