Chapter 19

"It happened three years ago......."

I observed the picture in my hand then stared at the boy standing a few feet away. It was him, he was the last person in my father's room before he died. I crumpled the picture in my hand before pushing it in my pocket. 

His name is Luke Reeves, lived here all his life, both his parents are cops, he isn't uptight but more laid back. He's on the honour roll, all his classes are advanced and he's single. 

I rolled my eyes at the last piece of information I got from my new friends. They thought I had a crush on him, I didn't deny it so they won't suspect any other intentions but good towards their friend. 

I've been watching Luke for the past month, he hasn't done anything worth seeing so far but I've hacked his computer and phone. He has plans this evening, plans that made him lie to his parents about his whereabouts. 

You may think that it's nothing that he's gonna hang with his friends but no, he's not. He told them that he can't make it to their party today, he has an important family dinner. So either he has another group of friends that both his parents and friends are unaware of, this piece of intel is my best shot at getting revenge.

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"I tracked his phone to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town......."

I watched as he exited his car and walked into the building, waiting for a few minutes, I followed him inside. With my gun drawn, back up in my jacket pockets, knives stored under my selves and boots, I surveyed inside. 

My eyes were keen as I glanced to and fro, listening for any footsteps, I made my way down a hallway, taking a right as the tracker showed. I continued my trek until I came to a stairway. My tracker indicated that he went downstairs.

I started my descent down, gun raised in front of me, safety off, I wasn't taking any chance. Reaching the bottom, I come to an intersection, the tracker showed that Luke continued straight. I was about to go when a scream sounded. It came from my left. 

"What did you do?" Ryn asked stopping me.

I looked at him before turning to glance at my reflection, my face held a blank expression but my eyes showed the answer to his question.

"I followed the scream," I told him.

It was a difficult decision to make but I followed the scream to my left. Slowly walking down the corridor, keeping my ears and eyes keen on the surroundings, I came to a sort of lockup. The smell was horrible, my eyes teared up. Breathing through my mouth, I paused listening for any sound of movement. 

Some whimpering came from my left, moving quietly, I peered into the door since it was ajar. There was a girl about my age lying on the ground, cowering from the guy standing in front of her, he had something in his hand, it looked like a whip.

"Come on baby girl, I need you to tell me what you know, where are your parents," he said to her. 

She raised her head, staring into his eyes with defiance but there was still fear in them. She answered him.

"I do not know, if I did, I would never tell you," her words clipped.

"Well then, hope they like the box were gonna put your box in," he replied to her pulling out his gun.

I stepped inside quietly, his focus was still on the girl so he didn't hear me come in but the girl saw. I walked closer to the man slowly, my gun still trained on him.

"Any last words?" He asked the girl.

"Yeah, I hope you have fun in hell," she replied before kicking at his legs.

Throwing his balance off a bit by surprise, he still moved to kill her but I placed the gun on the back of his head.

"Wouldn't do that if I was you," I told him, my voice low, "drop the gun and kick it behind you," I commanded and he did it.

I picked up the gun, placed it into my waistband of my jeans before walking over to the girl, gun still trained on the guy.

"What's your name?" I asked the girl.

"Sierra," she told me.

I helped her up, supporting her weight, I faced the man.

"You're not going to get out of here," he told me.

I looked him dead in the eyes, "I don't plan to," I responded before shooting him in the head.

Sierra tried to stifle her scream as his body dropped to the ground.

"Come on, we need to go," I told her as I pulled her out of the room.

The man most likely alerted the other members of my presence, if not, the gunshot did. I ran down the corridor and up the stairs with Sierra in tow, she groaned in pain but I couldn't stop now, I needed to get her out. Making sure that it was clear, I pulled out the man's gun and a burner phone, giving it to her.

"There's an unlocked car a few yards from here, I can't come with you since I still have some unfinished business. Use this to protect yourself, I believe that you know how to use one, given your parents' background, Miss Fabre," She looked at me shocked that I knew her last name.

"You know who I am?" she asked.

"Yes, I know who you are, but no I didn't come to rescue you, I had other plans but I heard your screams so I investigated. Go now, call your parents and tell them where you are. In the car, there are medical supplies, food and water as well as a cell phone, tell your parents to track the phone but only turn it on when you've reached some distance away from here, from the car, you can't risk being captured. I really wish that I could help you more but this is my only chance," I told her.

"I understand, but sometimes getting revenge isn't the best option," she said before running away from the base.

I stayed there until I could no longer see her and reentered the base. It was still quiet, as I walked down the stairs but I heard shouts stating Sierra's escape. I hope she is running really fast. I quickened my pace, continuing straight down the second hallway, taking a left I come to a room. 

Advancing slowly, I heard voices arguing about what happened, someone was barking orders, stepping away from the doors as footsteps came closer, I blended into the dark corners waiting for everyone to leave. 

After a few minutes, only one was left, I entered the room, his back facing me I advanced on him my gun ready. A few inches away from him, I asked my question.

"Where is he?" The turned around, surprise on his face but he cooled his expression before scowling at me.

"So you're the one that let the girl out, where is she," he questioned.

"Long gone, so answer my question before I give you the favour of having my bullet in your head like your friend,"I replied, his eyes glared at me, his face hardening at my response.

"You killed Ivan," he stated, taking in my appearance.

"Stop stalling, I know you pressed the panic button already, so save us both the time and just tell me where Luke is," I told him, he stared at me before smiling.

"I'm impressed, you're what sixteen? and you have already infiltrated my headquarters, rescued a hostage without being discovered," He told me with a sense of pride in his voice.

"Why are acting like you know me?" I asked him, disturbed by his indifference and familiarity with me.

"Oh because I do Kristina, I know a lot about you," he told me, his eyes shifting to the door as it opened.

"Uncle Gio!" I turned around to the sound of the voice that shouted.

No that shouldn't be possible! I stared at the teenage boy in front of me, my eyes widening as I took in his appearance. He was taller, well built from a lot of training and sports, his blue eyes stared back at me, the only difference between our looks, his hair still brown but curlier than before, he looked just like my dad. He too stared at me, shock shining in his eyes as he drank in my appearance.

Distracted by this, I didn't see Gio, reach for his gun and knock me out with the butt of it. I collapsed to the ground from the force, the boy rushed to my side, holding my head up.

"Kayden," I whispered before blacking out.

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When I came to I was tied up to a chair in the same room, Kayden sitting off in the corner watching me, while Gio talked on the phone. When he realized that I was awake, he hung up and walked up to me, Kayden followed also stopping in front of me, lost for words.

"How is it possible?" he asked when he finally found the words.

"You told me that my whole family died in a fire, that only I survived," He stated, pacing, "why did you lie to me, Uncle," he asked his voice breaking.

I looked at my brother, feeling his sadness but then I glanced at Gio and felt anger at him for separating our family.

"I did it because when you finally woke up, your life was still in danger and I did it to protect you and your family. There are so many things that you don't know and I would like to keep it that way, Kayden please leave us, I would like to talk to your sister alone," he told him.

Kayden was reluctant but left anyways.

"Are you gonna give me trouble if I untie you?" he asked me, it was a stupid question but I told him, yes, so he untied me.

"Yes, he is your brother, yes he didn't die in the fire, that child was a homeless kid that wondered in some time and no we didn't know about the child being there. Enough with the glares Kristina, I need to tell you something very important," I stopped him.

"Why should I listen to you?" I asked.

"Because you're still alive because of me and you are very lucky that you didn't stumble across Stan, he a lot more ruthless than I," He told me, I looked at him confused.

"You're not in charge?" I questioned, he shook his head no.

"Not in charge but I'm his right-hand man," He told me.

"Back to business, I need you to stop trying to get revenge for your parents' death, Kristina. You're putting yourself in a lot of danger, right now and that's not good for you or for Teague, your aunt and uncle, not good for Kayden. Stan knows who Kayden really is and if you keep digging, he is going to kill him. Sure Kayden is best friends with his nephew, the heir, a good worker but friends, loyal or not, Kayden's life means nothing to Stan and he can snuff it out if he wants to," he paused, his shoulders sagging in fatigue.

"Killing Luke will kill Kayden because it will be traced back to you. Luke has no enemies, your parents' death was his first job, so Stan will know that you had some play in it. Please for Kayden's life, stop getting involved, I'll try my best to keep him safe here but I need you to do the same for me. Forget about all of this, forget that Kayden is alive, you need to forget everything," he told me.

I didn't want to believe him but part of me trusted him. I don't know why but he seems familiar. I sighed as I looked at him, I don't want to leave Kayden and I WANT to kill Luke. I agreed.

"Fine, I won't say anything and I'll stop snooping around and getting involved," I told him.

He smiled at me sadly, "I really wished we met under different circumstances, I really do," he told me before holding a cloth over my mouth, "I'm sorry," he told me but his voice sounded muffled as I struggled against the chloroform. 

My vision started to darken, my limbs felt weak and numb, finally, I gave in to the darkness.

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"When I regained consciousness I was at home in my room, I jumped out of bed, my attire was the same so I knew that it wasn't a dream, Kayden was alive but I couldn't tell anyone, I had to live knowing and do nothing. It was hard, I knew that he was alive but my actions could have killed him. I almost killed him, I almost lost him again," I told them, looking at them.

"I contacted Gio many times to see how Kayden was, I got updates but then one day it stopped, one day I got a note stating that Gio was dead, that they found out that I knew about them, the one person who kept Kayden safe, I got him killed because I wanted to spend time with my brother. The note said that Kayden is still alive because it will keep me in check, that they are watching me and if I step out of line, Kayden will die but he won't be the last," I paused.

"They didn't contact me after that but all that changed when Nuca came, I got a warning reminding me of the threat," I continued.

"Midnight," Rae whispered, staring at me, I nodded.

"She was the warning, that someone else would be in a box if I don't stay quiet," I replied.

I walked up to Rae taking her hands into mines, "I'm sorry that I've kept this from you but I couldn't risk it, I needed to wait it out, needed for Stan to step down before I could get involved again. When he did, Cedrick told me that it happened at a deal, Stan got shot along with some other men, he died in the hospital. Luke took over but someone knew of about me and Luke, just like his uncle kept it up, however, I believe that it goes beyond it, so I wanted to find out, what Luke had in store for me and the way to do that was to play his game, I needed him, everyone to believe that I was past getting revenge that I forgot everything, but I didn't forget and I'm not going to," I told her, gazing into her red puffy eyes.

"What are we going to do?" She asked me, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"We're going to save our brother and end the Hunters once and for all," I told her, my grey eyes gazing into hers, fire, defiance, hope shining and reflecting in our eyes, sure there was a bit of fear but that's alright, we can't be overconfident but we're willing to risk our lives if it means saving Kayden.

If it means saving our family.

Author's Note

What do you think of the plot, writing style, characters? Point out grammatical errors or places where I need to show instead of telling, please and thanks. Anything that seems that needs to fix please let me know, I'm open to feedback and criticism.