•James Beaufort•

•Present•

"James, take her shoes off," Winston instructs me.

Crawling away, I grab Nora's feet, yanking away her drenched shoes, the cold air lingering on my face. I rub her both feet as Winston begins giving her compressions.

We all stink, chemicals beading our skin with Nora's body being too cold. I almost lose my hope and sanity as minutes keep passing in the most brutal way and only when Nora breaks into fits of cough, do my lungs feel like breathing again, no matter how rancid it is.

I rush back to her, holding her by the shoulders, the dim light of the moon offering nothing more than a silvery shadow. Nora almost smiles and whispers. "You came for me?."

Nodding, I run my eyes over her face, reminiscing the same features of a woman who resembles her in every fucking way possible. God, why do I want to cry and break down once more?

I put away the fringes of hair claiming her face as she passes out once again, all exhaustion and torture overriding her senses. Winston is on her phone right now and while I hug Nora to me, a couple of footsteps approach us.

"What the fuck!" Kenji mutters and kneels down next to me. "Is she okay?"

I nod.

"They're gone," Tristan says, surrounding us as well. "Long gone I think."

"No too long," Winston appears back. "They can't escape with any of the routes here. My people have all the road blocked and we will have them by night. This is—"

"Fucking shit!" Alistair exclaims and when I look up, it's clear what has him this amazed. "James this girl—"

"Not now," Kenji speaks first, and the distant sirens of ambulance booms around us.

Alistair stares at him before flicking his keen eyes at me, all confused and probably hurt that I did let him on with such big key detail while Kenji does.

"Come on, let's take her," Winston tells me and I swoop Nora in my arms, carrying her all the way out of the building and approach the ambulance. A nurse instantly checks her pulse.

"Are you family?" She asks when I decide to get in as well.

"No," I say. "But I almost got drowned as well."

"Oh, alright," she says, scanning me up and down."Get in,"

I glance back at my friends and Kenji helping Winston clean up as well who's declining every medical help so she can catch everyone behind this. We both exchange an approving look and I head in, the door shutting behind us.

In full light with Nora lying right in front of me, I can now notice the signs of the ordeal she went through. Another nurse checks me and hands me some pills to swallow as I look at the bruise on Nora's wrists, the cuts and gash on her face and arms.

The nurse inspects her eyes before studying her body probably looking for any other injuries on her head, hands, arms, and feet and finally, she flips her t-shirt to check her stomach.

My eyes narrow at that. The medicine in my hand doesn't even reach my mouth as I notice a small faint scar right over her belly button. The nurse even brushes her thumb, feeling it for a second.

"Do you know how she got hurt?" she asks me and I shake my head. "Oh, okay...alright!"

"How old do you think this scar is?" I inquire instead, feeling something heavy in my heart, a loud drumming sound reverberating in my ear.

"It's not that old. A couple of years maybe," she answers, getting busy as the ambulance halts in front of the hospital and everybody starts getting down but my eyes are fixed on Nora as they take her away. "Take your pills." the other nurse says. "They help you not get sick. We still need to run some tests on you just to be sure."

Everything vanishes before my eyes, and it even blurs out at one point that I can see nothing. It's the same time, the same moment as I remember the blackest night of my life, the things that happened that day.

It can't be. That's impossible.

I grab my head, pressing my fingers deep, remembering any detail I can find to convince me that I might be being delusional. There's no way what I'm thinking is true. Nora and Maeve's timelines clash with each other but how can Nora have a scar at the same place Maeve got hurt?

Fucking no. I'm tripping. It can be a coincidence and I might be missing something. After all, what do I know about Nora anyway?

I put a stop to my thoughts and dash inside until I find Nora in one of the rooms, getting treated. Her blood is drawn for a test and an IV is being prepared for her.

Settling down in a chair outside the room, I lower my head in my hands. My thoughts race with each other, shuffling between past and present and there's no dot I can't connect. Maeve died. Her body was found and her funeral took place. She's buried back there and this person is Nora Godfrey, possible heir to the Godfrey Estate. In what world can Maeve possibly become her?

.......

An hour later when I was checked and further medicine was handed to me, I had to rush to the police station after a call from Kenji came to me.

Winston did it and the culprits are found since they failed to leave the town. It gives me a chance to have a couple of minutes with the scientist before I decide to charge a case against him, however, a surprising piece of news has reached me. One that I can't pass.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, I find myself in front of my destination.

The police station is full of officers in their cabin but none of them can help and meet my eyes, solidifying my thoughts that many of them may be aware of what is going on and that maybe it's only a matter of a couple of hours before everything is on the news. I don't want that. Neither my name and never Nora's name.

"James, in here," Kenji waves at me from across the room and I head to the investigation room, ignoring my surroundings. Tristan and Alistair have taken my place at the hospital to keep an eye on Nora. "You look worse than before."

"And so do you," I comment, overlooking his shoulder at the room. "It seems like everyone here knows about everything."

"Yes and no," Kenji replies and I pinch my brows.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"They all know about him, yes but nothing about you so no," he says but I can't grasp it so he goes on. "See, this guy we caught is one of the most wanted criminals for the last three decades. His name is Kevin Flemming and he escaped an asylum when he was fourteen. We're not sure when but he left the country and judging by his accent, we know where he went. Every few years, he enters this country under a false name, causes drug rackets and so much more and then disappears."

"So what's going to happen to him now?" I query, training my eyes on him through the glass as Winston keeps urging him, baiting him with insults to get him talking.

"Police have too much evidence against him. He can't escape law." Kenji answers. "Including murder charges of his nurse in charge. They never had any biometric record of him other than the records from the asylum. But now we do. All his other false identities and nationality won't work for him."

"He tried to blow us all up. For that alone, he'll rot for the rest of his life." I say and move ahead toward the door. "But first let's find out why he wants to talk to me."

"He hasn't spoken a word since he was brought here, James. The only time he opened his mouth was asking for you. " Kenji narrows his eyes, lost in thought. "What do you think he's going to talk to you?"

"I don't care unless he answers me first," I say, determined to get what I wanted to get here.

"What answers?"

"Just about something he said back at the mill,"

"What did he say?"

I hold the door and turn to him. "You'll know," and I get in. Winston straightens up as she registers my presence.

Looking around, a bunch of papers and photographs are lying on the table in front of him but the guy looks fucking unaffected. He merely rolls his eyes before they land on me and he smirks, waving his cuffed hands at me.

Winston looks enraged as she should. She walks over to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. "I give you five minutes and then we are wrapping him up to where he belongs."

As she leaves, the scientist, Kevin whistles at her, scanning his eyes up and down. I screech the chair a little and settle down, keeping my fist to my side so I can't punch him before my work is done here.
"So?" I prompt. "Kevin, isn't it?"

At that, his smile disappears and he looks at me. "My friends and enemies call me K."

"What do you want from me?" I ask although I have a distinct idea about it.

"I want out of here," he says, coolly. "Why else do you think I needed to see your fucking face?"

I scoff. "You attempted to murder us and you think I'll help you?"

"If you don't want me to babble about your family's name to the public then yes, you'll have to help me."

"Go on," I loop my fingers, steadying my arms on the table. "Tell it or sing it. Now that I know what insane asylum you've escaped from, good luck trying to convince people of things coming out of a murderer's mouth."

He inhales a sharp breath, staring at me intently. "I have proof. Videos I secretly took when I made a deal with your father. I've got plenty."

I smile instead. "Sure," I tell him and his confidence falters. "If only you can prove its authenticity. You think you can only play with the law and get away with it. It's your time to get a taste of your own medicine, you fucking psycho."

Kevin flares his nose and leans toward the table as well. "The moment I'm out of here, you'll be my first target and then I'll move over to your nosy girlfriend. She escaped me twice but not again. No more playing with her ropes and gear or waiting for her to die slowly. This time I'll go for one neat swipe with my knife."

I think that's my chance. "You mentioned at the mill that you tried to handle Nora once. What did you try to do back then?"

Kevin looks me up and down and tilts his head. "Oh, it seems like you want something from me, too."

"What did you try to do before?" my voice goes up.

"Umm, did I say something like that?" He muses. "I don't know. I'm psycho. I'll just say anything."

"You tried to kill her before, didn't you?" I say, keeping my eyes fixed on his face. "That's where she got that scar on her stomach from."

He glances at me, attempting his best to hide his confusion but that tiniest change in his expression with his slightly narrowed eyes is enough to confirm my suspicion. That girl at the hospital may not be Nora after all. If not, then is she really Maeve?

As the realization dawns on me, I think of all the five years that I spent without her, thinking of her dead state while she was here, living a completely different life. Did she pretend to not know me this whole time? Or am I still wrong and hoping for something that only sounds true and logical in my mind?

But if it's indeed her, then the bigger question arises how did she cover her journey from Maeve Grey to Nora Godfrey? And who the hell was buried at the cemetery five years back?

........

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