Chapter Three

Montana is the last place I thought I would be back so soon. Back in Tennessee, I had thought Hayes would've attempted to fight our way out and make an escape but he did nothing. He allowed them to arrest him and throw him into the black SUV.

My mind couldn't comprehend Hayes having any part in Lily's death. I was so consumed in my own thoughts, I didn't realize the guardians now had their focused on me and it was too late make an escape.

Arriving to the mansion, the gate opens and Abe is waiting at the stairs. I don't know where Hayes is because they had us separated. I immediately went to Abe furious. He had me brought back to the one place I don't want to be.

"Why couldn't you let me go?" I ask. "I had a trail and thanks to you, it's gone."

"I did it for your own safety, Millian. Your life was in danger. You were with a criminal that could've killed you at any given moment."

I scoff. "I highly doubt that. If Hayes had wanted me dead, he would've done so the first night he found me."

"You can't trust him anymore."

"Why? How do you know he committed these crimes?"

Abe wraps his hand around my arm. "Come with me."

He leads me to his office and shuts the door for privacy. He walks around his desk and opens a drawer. He pulls out an orange envelope and sits it onto of his desk.

"What's that?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"It arrived the day of Lillian's funeral. The guardians found it outside the gates and examined it thoroughly just in case if it were a bomb. When it was deemed safe, they brought it to me and I found out everything I needed to know."

"So, what is it?" I say, hoping this time he'll answer my question without the background story.

He looks at me. "Evidence."

He sticks his hand into the envelope, produces a CD and puts it into his computer. A few seconds past by before a figure appears. The camera angle is positioned behind the figure that is on his knees, looking up to another figure. Because it was raining, it was hard to see who the figure belonged to. It isn't until the video is zoomed in when I can clearly see who the two figures are.

Hayes and Ramadi.

Through the rain, I can see they made an oath. Not any kind of oath; a blood oath. Hayes ensured he would do whatever Ramadi asked him with his life.

Why would he do that? Why would he betray us? Betray me?

Granted I didn't know him at the time, but he sworn under oath to protect my life. Making a deal with Ramadi doesn't seem like he was doing what's best for my life.

The video goes on to what looks like Hayes first assignment; the day I met Hayes. Ramadi had wanted Hayes to comes into my life for a purpose different than Abe's.

Hayes made me fall in love with him because Ramadi had wanted him to. It wasn't because Hayes actually cared for me. Ramadi wanted to get closer to Abe and the only way he knew wouldn't cause suspicions was getting closer to me.

But during the whole summer, the video never showed mine and Hayes's private moments. It showed us being super close friends which Abe already had known about. Abe is still left in the dark about our secret relationship.

The longer I watch the video, the more emotions I felt. I'm hurt by Hayes because I trusted him with everything and he was just a messenger for Ramadi. Whatever information Hayes had gotten, he delivered it to Ramadi.

The night he took me to the piano room, after the whole kidnapped situation, he told Ramadi about the trip Abe took every year for a meeting and doing so resulted in Abe's abduction and Lily's death.

"Do you understand now why he is not to be trusted anymore?" Abe asks, turning the video off.

I nod once. "Yes." I look at Abe. "What will happen to him?"

"He committed treason and aided in Lillian's death," Abe starts. "He is going to die in the morning." He finishes without beating around the bush.

My heart drops to my stomach. "You're gonna have him killed?"

Yes, I feel betrayed by Hayes and wanted him to have some sort of punishment to hold him accountable for his actions but a death penalty isn't what I was thinking.

Even after all he has done, I still love him and I can't let him die without knowing the full story, without hearing it from his mouth.

"Yes, I am. You are more than welcome to see him one last time before it is too late. Do so before the sun rise."

The sun rise in a few hours. I don't have much time to decide on seeing him or not.

I leave Abe's office and head to my room with too many thoughts running through my mind. I sit on my bed trying to figure out a reason as to why Hayes would work for Ramadi but I'm coming up empty handed.

I might've been alone for five minutes before there's a knock on my door. I move off my bed and open the door, slightly.

"Maya?" I say, surprised.

The last time I had seen her was at the Valentines dance a month ago. She and Hayes had a fake relationship going on that ended once I got engaged to Marceau. I didn't expect to see her again.

"We need to talk." She says, quickly. "And there isn't much time." She pushes the door open wider and steps into my room, closing the door behind her.

She has a black backpack. One I have seen before. It looks so familiar because it belongs to Hayes.

"Where did you get that?" I ask, pointing the backpack that's currently in her hands.

"I stole it from the evidence room."

"Why?"

"Because Hayes told me to." She replies. "The sun is going to be up very soon and I came to ask you for your help."

My eyebrows furrows. "With what?"

"I'm busting my sister out tonight but I need you to cause a distraction."

There's two things that comes to mind. One, I didn't know Maya had a sister that was locked up. And two, why did she speak to Hayes?

"I know you want to ask all of questions but I don't have the time to explain everything. At least not my part. If you want to know about Hayes," she extends her arms, holding out the backpack. "it's all in here."

I take the backpack from her. "Why did you go see him?"

"We knew each other on Arsyn. He didn't remember but now he does." She shakes her head. "The details aren't important. I need to know if you're gonna help me."

She comes here and demands me for my help without telling me her motives. Who's this sister of hers? And why is she locked up? Why did Maya come back to the mansion when she's supposed to be at the school training to become a guardian? How did she know about Hayes's arrest? I needed answers before I can consider aided her.

"How did you know about the arrest?" I ask.

"Does it really matter?" She replies. "I found out, came here and spoke to Hayes. He told me to give his belongings to you before someone's got to the it. So, here I am doing what he said."

I move on to my next question.

"Who's your sister?"

"I can't tell you. You wouldn't help me if I did."

I cross my arms over my chest. "You'll never know if you don't tell me. I just might surprise you."

She swallows before speaking, taking the risk. "Her name is Sophie."

With the darkness taking over my entire being, I don't feel how I used to. Whenever I heard Sophie's or Kyle's name, I would grow scared but now, I'm furious that Maya had even think for a second I would consider helping the girl who had my beat and torture because she had a crush on my boyfriend. Who, by the way, is her adoptive brother.

I narrow my eyes. "Hell no. I'm not helping you bust out your crazy ass sister who left me to die."

"She's the only family I have left." She pleases. "Don't you understand how that feels?"

Maybe I would've a month ago but now I don't care. My only sole purpose at this moment is finding Ramadi and killing him.

"If you're looking for empathy, don't bother. I have none to give. You asked for my help and I said no."

I'll figure something else out on my own before my time runs out.

She sighs. "I'm hoping whatever's in that bag will change your decision. Not only will it help my sister but it will save Hayes's life." She opens the door and walks out.

I stand there confused about a lot of things but knowing my time is running out, I head to my bed and unzip the backpack. I rummage through the bag until I feel something hard. I pull it out and it's the notebook Hayes tried to keep away from me.

He said it was for me and he would give it to me when the time was right. I'm assuming this isn't exactly what he had in mind but it'll do. I open it and a letter falls out. It's address to me as my term of endearment is written in his elegant handwriting on the outside of the white envelope.

Sucking in a breath, I flip the envelope over and open it. I reach inside and slowly pull out the letter. I'm not sure what to expect but I'm hoping it's some sort of explanation of what happened but what I read is so much more.

The letter reads:

Boo,

I'm so sorry. What you're about to read isn't pretty and all I can say is sorry. I did what I had to do to save them but in the end it cost me everything. I was planning on taking this secret to the grave with me and I know it wasn't fair of me to keep this from you. Out of anyone in the whole entire world, I should've told you what I was doing but I didn't. I didn't think it would've mattered once I killed him. I made a promise to never lie to you again and I meant that. I swore to tell you everything and I didn't. I wasn't going to tell you, not until Ramadi was no longer walking this planet. I wanted you to hear it from me but Ramadi double crossed me.

After you read, if you even read it, you're going to hate me so much and I don't blame you. You have every right to despise me.

I didn't plan on letting people I truly care about get hurt or much less killed and that's all on me. It's my fault. I should've seen it coming.

It wasn't supposed to end this way. I was suppose to save them and kill him before anyone would or could suspect I had connections with him. I gave him important information. No one was suppose to know about. Especially not him.

Now everything is out and there's no stopping it. They're after me and I know eventually they would get to me. There's too many of them to hide from. They have eyes and ears everywhere. I'm suprise I made this far. I don't have long but I have time to finish what I have to say before they find me.

I want to tell you how sorry I am and I hope that one day you can forgive me. They're going to change the story to make it seem like I'm the bad guy and maybe I am but I want you to know the truth. This will be the last thing you'll have of me before they kill me.

This is for your eyes and your eyes only. Everything I say, is the truth. I love you, Millie and I will always love you even in death.

You heard their side of the story, this is mine.

Hayes

I wanted the know the full story and I have it in my hands yet, I'm hesitant to find out Hayes's reasons for betrayal. What if it's not what I hope for? What if he never was on our side to begin with? What if the is a set up and I'm wasting time?

But I can't think like that because deep down, the old Millie, is hopeful Hayes wouldn't betray us unless it was for a good reason. With that hopefulness blooming inside of me, I set the letter aside and reach for the notebook. I open to the first page and read his story.

It wasn't supposed to happened this way but it did. He wrote. I waited for him to arrive, to finally show his face after hiding all these years. When he arrived, it was all too tempting to attack but I had control and waited to hear him out. Whatever he had to say to me had to be greatly important for him otherwise he would've never had shown his face. He had wanted information about you and Lily. Obviously I would have never given him anything he wanted but after he mentioned the one thing that put me in a compromise, I didn't have a choice anymore. He had them, so he had me. He had my parents, Millie. He had them taken and abused. I couldn't let them die. They're my parents.

I continue to take in his words and each page I grow to understand why Hayes did what he has done. He was protecting his parents but that still doesn't change the fact that he didn't tell me. He didn't trust me enough to tell me.

Everything Hayes had made me do during the summer wasn't his own thought, they were orders from Ramadi. For the past six months, Hayes worked for Ramadi, gathering as much information he could and exposed us all. He gave Ramadi all our strengths and weaknesses.

The only good part about this betrayal is Hayes tried to redeem himself when he went to Europe to find his parents and track down Ramadi.

The part that hurt is Lily had known about Hayes working for Ramadi and the reason why he went to Europe and she kept it from me. She didn't think about me telling me anything and that stung. My own twin didn't tell me and I was left in the dark, clueless.

I flip the page and read what else he has kept hidden from me.

That night, Abe's plane went missing, Hayes had known it was going to happened and yet, he still pretended to act like he knew nothing of the sort. Right then and there, is when he should've came clean and maybe, just maybe, things would've turned out differently. Lily and I wouldn't have walked straight into a trap laid out for us and Ramadi would never had gained Tartarus's powers; Tartarus would've never been awaken.

That's all of it, Boo, from the very beginning to the very end. Now you the know the truth, the real story.  So you see, everything that had happened was because of me. You getting your heart broken, Abe's plane not making it to Seattle, and Lily's death were all my fault and I'm sorry. If you don't believe me, at least believe this, I love you.

Even reading his side of the story, I should hate him but I can't. I shouldn't care about him. I should be escaping this place and heading out on my own like I originally planned but that won't work. I need Hayes with me.

It helps that my heart has a mind of its own. It flutters whenever I read a moment I can only describe as utterly sweet and romantic. I keep going back to the one specific moment he had written.

The moment in the piano room when Hayes played our song for the very first time. He explained the meaning behind it the song. He had said he was loving me until the very end. He was going to stick beside me until the end and that means a lot to me.

The words he had written down, replays in my mind.

You can live a long happy life without me but me I will die without you. You are my weakness. You are my world. You are my everything.

I know exactly what I need to do and instead of wasting even more time, thinking about the past, I get off my bed and walk out my room. I search for Maya and when I find her, she knows what my decision is and doesn't bother to ask what I've decided. She tells me her plan, how this is going to work, and how we are both are going to bust Hayes and Sophie out this place and escape.

The only thing that isn't going to be enjoyable is, when this plan succeeds, Hayes and I have a lot of distance to put between here and whenever we head next. The guardians are going to be tracking us down, ignoring Maya and Sophie for the time being. They aren't the main focus at the moment.

My weapons were taken the moment Hayes and I got caught but that isn't an issue. I know exactly where they are. Abe can try to hide them anywhere he likes, but I have my necklace. It's a part of my weapon. Once, I have the weapons back in my procession again, the plan is put into motion.

Hayes was wrong when he said I could live a without him. If he were no longer apart of this world, I wouldn't be able to survive. I couldn't lose another person who means so much to me.

He promised me he would stay beside me until the very end and I'm making sure he keeps that promise. The only way he is leaving this world, is if I'm right beside him.