Chapter 165 ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE

Chapter 165 ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE
Scarlett's POV

Blue grabbed my hand, pulling me swiftly into the maze of wooden shelves as we ran further into the library. I could see the clear strategy in his movements—he was using the dense, narrow aisles to make it as difficult as possible for our attackers to track us down.

My heart slammed violently against my ribs. I wondered if some part of Bellamy was already on fire right now, and if we would even be able to reach the underground tunnels in time before the whole place went up in smoke.

Blue pulled me into a dark, hidden corner behind a row of encyclopedia shelves and crouched down. He pressed a single finger to his lips, signaling for me to stay silent.

Footsteps filled the cavernous room outside our hiding spot. Although I knew it would take them a little while to navigate through the rows, their arrival at our location felt inevitable. I clenched the cold metal of the gun in my chilly hands, a terrifying thought racing through my mind—could I actually dare to shoot a real person if it came down to it?

Then, a loud, taunting voice rang out through the tall shelves.

"Blue! Where are you? It's really unlike you to hide like a coward!"

It was Derek. He had clearly brought friends with him, and it definitely wasn't for a friendly chat. Did he really want to kill Blue? Didn't he fear Mr. Linden’s wrath? But then I realized Derek probably felt like he had absolutely nothing left to lose at this point. I heard his slow, deliberate footsteps as he checked out different sections of the library.

I silently hoped Jax and Tanner were well hidden somewhere nearby.

"You're not going to come out?" Derek called out, his tone dripping with fake disappointment. "Don't tell me you want all that money all to yourself!"

Derek let out a harsh, echoing laugh. "Oh... is that why you held on so tightly to her, Blue? Even her biological father wants her back now! Dear Scarlett, I know you can hear me, seeing as you and Blue are more or less joined at the hip!"

I bit my lower lip hard, wondering where on earth Derek was going with what he was saying.

"How nice it must feel, Scarlett," Derek taunted, his voice getting slightly closer, "to be the most wanted person in the entire underground network!"

I turned my head and looked at Blue inquisitively. He didn't look surprised at all; he seemed to know exactly what Derek was talking about.

"Do you think Blue really cares about you?" Derek’s voice echoed again, leisurely strolling down the aisles. "Who knows how long he has known about this?"

I gently prodded Blue’s shoulder, giving him a sharp, demanding look.

Blue leaned in close to my ear, his breath warm against my skin as he whispered simply, "Your step-father kept some money in your name before he died."

The background noise of multiple footsteps stomping around the library helped cover the sound of his quiet whisper.

I furrowed my brows, leaning closer to him. "Why? He didn't even like me."

"He probably just did it to hide it away where nobody would look," Blue whispered back.

"How much?" I asked.

"About six billion," Blue said flatly.

My brain short-circuited. Six... billion?

No wonder. No wonder my biological father had suddenly shown up at Principal Miller's quarters today acting all falsely sweet and caring. It all made sense now. I just didn't know how Greg had managed to get such criminal connections to steal that kind of money in the first place.

Even weirder was how my father had found out about it too.

Somewhere in the aisles, someone started hitting the frames of the shelves as they walked around. I knew nobody was as obnoxious as Derek. It was definitely him, and he was getting dangerously close to our row.

"Oh, did I mention?" Derek shouted, his voice echoing over the tops of the bookcases. "Blue was the one who actually got you sent here to Bellamy in the first place!"

My head whipped around to stare at Blue critically, my eyes widening in shock.

Blue let out a low, quiet sigh. He looked into my eyes and began speaking in a robotic, hushed whisper. "My father had had enough of Rowe and sent me to his place that night to get rid of him. I told him it would have to happen another night because he had a step-daughter who had just arrived back home."

I stared at him, holding my breath.

"My father asked me to still kill him, and then kill the girl too," Blue whispered, his grey eyes darkening. "He is just cruel like that. But then, there seemed to be a commotion happening inside."

I listened intently as the memories of that fateful night flooded my mind.

"Rowe was drunkenly hitting the girl badly for some reason, and he wasn't stopping," Blue explained quietly. "I didn't know her, and I could barely see her face, so I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just shoot, because they were too close to each other and moving wildly around the room. Eventually, he fell down the stairs and looked like he died."

Blue paused, his jaw tightening. "I considered going into the house to take the girl away, but I had no idea what I would actually do with her. So I called the police, acting like a concerned neighbor. They arrived in no time, and I watched them take her away."

My face went white. "But... why would you do that? Why get me sent to a place like Bellamy?"

We could still hear multiple loud footsteps and banging all around the library. Our hidden spot was going to be found out any second now.

"You would not have survived on your own out there with how many unfriendly enemies Rowe made," Blue said, still looking into my eyes. "They were going to come looking for him, and when they found just you, you would have been fucked. I made a split-second decision to have you sent to Bellamy instead. It took a while, but I was able to arrange it without my father's knowledge. In a way... I brought you here to protect you."

My mind raced, deeply conflicted. Was he my savior, or was he just my captor? Was being sent to a place like Bellamy the better choice after all?

"So why did you act like you didn't know me when I got here?" I asked softly.

"Well, I didn't know you," Blue admitted quietly. "I only knew of you. When I finally met you here... that was when I first saw you closely. And you know what I saw?"

I stared at him, waiting.

"A splash of fucking color in my grey, monotonous life," he whispered.

I pressed my lips together, my throat tight. "But you never said anything about all this until Skye showed me those pictures! I would have never known the truth. I can get past everything else, Blue, but the fact that you chose to keep hiding something of this magnitude from me is really discomfiting."

Blue looked down at my hands gripping the gun, then back up at my face. "I'm sorry," he said simply. "I could not bear to tell you that you almost died by my hands."

I could count on one hand the number of times I had ever heard Blue apologize for anything, so I knew deep down that he genuinely meant it.

I let out a tired sigh. "Let's just survive today first. What do you—"

"Aha! Found you!" a triumphant voice suddenly barked from the end of the aisle.

BANG!

A bullet whizzed past my ear, splintering the wooden shelf behind us as Blue hurriedly pushed me to the side to avoid it.

My heart plummeted straight into my stomach. Does Derek really plan to kill us right here?! He must have completely lost his mind! I caught a glimpse of his face through the gap in the shelves, and I could only see unhinged rage and bitterness in his eyes. He was going down, and he was determined to take everybody else down along with him.

Derek raised his weapon again, a sick smirk twisting his lips. "My bad... I actually want Scarlett alive."

I squeezed the handle of the gun in my hand, knowing with sickening certainty that he only wanted me alive because of the six billion dollars.