Page 82 of Lost to Thievery
“No,” the director cut him off. “You are too close to this. I’ll handle it. You are going home to sleep. That’s an order, Becket.”
Ava
Iwanderedbetweenthestars, awestruck by their beauty.
A far-off voice called to me. “Merope?” The sound of the feminine voice filled the dark void around me, quiet, yet thunderous, like thousands of women speaking at once.
She called to me again. This time closer, sounding more panicked. “Daughter? Merope?”
I had never heard the voice before, but it was oddly familiar, pulling on my soul. I didn’t like that she was worried about me, so I instinctively called back to her. “I’m here!” I shouted across the void, searching for her.
I immediately knew it was a mistake. My skin crawled as the void around me took notice of my presence.
“No,” that feminine voice breathed, fear lacing her tone. Fear forme.
The darkness stirred and swelled around me, and I tried to make myself as small as possible, closing my eyes like a little kid against the danger.
Then a whisper, so loud, it felt like she had crawled inside my head. “Run.”
I screamed and broke out into a sprint, but I tripped over something invisible and fell. I fell through the heavens, clawing at nothing, screaming into the darkness.
As I continued to plummet, an eerie feeling of acceptance washed over me, and I clamped my eyes shut, giving in to the fall. No one could save me.
“Get up.”
The harsh voice startled me. I jerked my eyes open and whipped my head up to see Grayson standing over me, looking murderous. His dark hair was glistening with raindrops, and his chiselled jaw rigid as he stared at me.
I was in the forest, I realised. My foot throbbing and the rain pouring from the heavens.
A memory. The day Grayson had saved me from Digger.
“Get up,” he repeated and this time I instinctively obeyed.
Grayson lifted me up into his arms, and my racing heart slowed. I was safe, I wassafe.
I watched from outside my body how Grayson carried me through the forest. I watched how I reached up and touched his cheek, how I smiled up at him in wonder. At the devil who had saved me. Who was protecting me and taking care of me.
“No. No, Ava!” I shouted at her. She shouldn’t look at him like that. He wasn’t a hero.
Grayson dipped his head down and kissed her.
Horrified, I watched her melt in his arms.
“No!” I screamed myself awake.
A few seconds later, Owen came bursting through my bedroom door. He looked me over and searched the room. When he saw no one but me, his shoulders slumped in relief, and he came to sit on the bed next to me.
He pushed my hair out of my face, squinting to see me in the dark. “A nightmare,” he stated.
I nodded, trying to calm my breathing. “I know what the message means.”
He lifted my chin, searching my eyes.
“I’m in danger.”
Owen frowned. “How so?”
“I think he’s telling me I’m being hunted.” I didn’t dare mention how Grayson’s message had also been a plea for me to trust him. How he’d used specific words from the precise moment I had first decided to put my trust in him. Words from a time when he had been the hero in my story, not the villain.
