Chapter 86 Kellan

Chapter 86 Kellan
KELLAN’S POV

It was 10:27, and my phone vibrated on the bed-side table, breaching the silence in my hotel room. All I could think of was who on earth would ring at such an ungodly hour, and by the time Eliza flashed across the screen right in the next second, my stomach started to growl. She never called for nothing whatsoever, and I think something inside my stomach had told me this time it was serious.

“Eliza?" I returned, trying to keep my voice as neutral as possible, though the edges of my mind tickled with dread.

"Kellan," she said in a near whisper and barely holding in her shakes. "Something happened, Carl and Amanda, they had this huge fight.”

My heart did a somersault, skipped a beat in me. "What kind of fight?" I was upright in bed.

“A bad one,” she whispered. "Carl locked her in her room. He's furious. I think-" The words seemed to break off as if the weight of what she was saying hung in silence between them. "I think Amanda might be remembering."

My mind just went completely blank for a second; Amanda, remembering? That word stirred something in my chest that I hadn't felt in months, until suddenly that got doused, too, by how it all went down. Carl wouldn't be this shaken over nothing.

"How do you know?" I leaned in closer.

"I overheard them," Eliza said. "She was screaming at him, saying he had lied to her. Keep saying stuff like, 'I am not what you say I am'. Then-" She fell silent and her voice hitched in a sob. "Then she started banging the door, begging him to let her out. Whatever he did, he's allowed no one near her room ever since."

I felt the burn in my stomach, the fuming of my jaw. The line had been crossed in every which way, but this? Keeping her locked up, keeping her silenced-that was brutal.

"Eliza, you have to keep an eye on her," I instructed, pacing the room. "I need more time to sort this out."

"I try," she said, "but you need to speed things along, Kellan. I really don't think she is safe around him anymore."

As I hung up, I didn't waste another second. Scrolling down my contacts, I dialed Brian's number. He answered after the second ring. His voice was groggy.

"Kellan? You know what time it is?"

"I need your help," I repeated for the second time, pacing again as my anxiety just couldn't let me sit still.

"What's going on?" he asked, awake now.

I need you to get me in touch with the head of London Security," I said. "You know, the one who's close to the Brooke family."

Brian was wary. "Why? What's this about?"

"I cannot explain everything now," I said briefly. "But I promise, I'll tell you everything later. For now, I just need you to make the call."

"Kellan, this sounds serious. Are you in trouble?”

I stopped pacing, pinching the bridge of my nose. "It's not about me, it's for someone important."

There was a pause on the other end of the line and I practically heard Brian weighing his options.

"Alright," he finally said. "I'll make the call. But you better not leave me in the dark about this for long."
"Thank you," I said-the relief washing over me. "I owe you one."
"You owe me more than one," he muttered, hanging up.

I blew my breath out in a slow hiss, willing nerves steady. With Brian helping me, I just may get Amanda out of this after all. No sooner did I sit down than the phone buzzed again. This time, it was Thomas.

"Thomas?" I answered tight.

"You need to leave," he said in a tumbling rush, as though in such haste.

"Leave? What are you talking about?”

‘Carl's Fixer," Thomas said, "he was paid to silence you."

The room seemed to tilt for a second as his words settled. "You're telling me Carl sent someone to kill me?”

Yes," Thomas said, "I just got the intel, and I'm telling you now, you gotta get outta there, grab whatever evidence you got against Carl, and then get out. Now.”

My heart thundered in my ears; for one instant of hypersensitivity, my brain whirled around me, angling on the supposition that already, someone could be in the house. Was I being watched?

"Good enough," I said, proud that my voice was semi-even while my chest ripped open with growing terror. "I'm going."

“Be more careful, and don't go back to your place; it's not safe." The line was still on by the time I sprang from the bed, grabbed my laptop, the files I had compiled on Carl, and anything that could be useful. Shaking, trying to shove all this into a bag, my brain went on with all sorts of worst-case scenarios.

Just as I reached to zip the bag shut, I heard the light patter of footsteps down my door. The blood froze right there and then within my body.

Was this the fixer?

I cleared my head of blood, hugging the bag in tight and clutching tight to the key to my room. Slowly, I opened my door, peering out into the hall outside; it was empty-but that didn't mean I'd come out without a bruise.

I stepped out-my heart pounding against my chest-and toward the elevator. It took an age to reach the ground lobby; every single sound made me flinch.

Finally outside, achingly familiar, a car pulled up to the curb. Alex rolled down the window, giving me a puzzled glance.

"Kellan? What the hell are you doing out here in your nightwear?”

"Drive," I said, wrenching open the passenger door and flinging myself inside.

"What's going on?" he asked. His voice took on a note of panic.

"Just drive," I snarled. "I'll tell you later."

Alex didn't argue. He slammed his foot on the gas, and we hurtled away from the hotel.

By the time we'd arrived at Alex's I was a nervous wreck. I continued to double-and triple-check the locks on every door for good measure before finally giving in and hitting the couch.

“Kellan," Alex said to me as he hovered over top of me with his arms crossed. "You're going to tell me what's going on, and you're going to tell me now."

I blew out a sigh and raked my hand through my hair. "It's about Amanda, okay? Her memories are coming back, which means Carl has a pretty good motive to be frantic right now since things are getting tighter by the day.”

Alex's face darkened. "And you think that's going to keep you safe? If Carl's after you, he won't stop until you are dead."

"I know," I whispered. "But I won't let him win this time."

Alex shook his head and muttered down the hall as he went.

Yet even as I sat, trying to clear my head, one thing crystallized in my head, and that was I could never quit now. The longer I kept putting myself out there in danger, the more Amanda could count on me to keep her safe.

But the moment my hand reached for the phone, ready to dial Thomas, a chilling thought intruded.

Where would it end, if Carl was desperate enough to send a fixer after me?