Chapter 241

Joseph’s POV

As soon as my arms wrapped around her, it was like a dam had broken inside of her. All the fears, the pain, the emotions she had felt throughout these last couple of weeks came pouring out of her.

Tessa sobbed in my arms, burying her face in my chest; her entire body shook as she cried and her hold on me tightened. I breathed her in, basking in her scent and allowing it to calm my wound-up body. I was still in shock that she was in my arms again.

I buried my face in the nape of her neck, breathing her in.

I knew we didn’t have long before we had to get moving, but I couldn’t will my body to move. I just wanted to be in the moment and never let her go again.

“Tessa,” I whispered, my voice low and raspy, her face still buried in my chest and mine in the nape of her neck. “Did they hurt you?”

Her body shivered and a small whimper escaped her lips as she tightened her hold on me. She didn’t answer me; not at first. She just cried and held me. I knew she was still in shock, as was I. But I needed to know.

“Tessa, answer me. Did they hurt you?”

In a shaky breath, she whispered, “No.”

She finally looked up at me through her tear-soaked eyes and I was able to get a good look at her face. She was pale with dark circles under her eyes, so I knew she hadn’t been sleeping well. But for the most part, she seemed physically unharmed.

“I…I thought…” she stammered, her tone quivering.

“I’m here now; it’s going to be okay,” I whispered, trying to soothe her. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to get here.”

“Joseph…” she whispered; her voice hoarse. “I don’t feel comfortable here. I can feel it in my gut. Something is wrong. They… they are keeping stuff from me… they know stuff they won’t tell me. I don’t trust them. I can’t explain it. But we need to get out of here.”

I nodded, wiping her tear-stained cheeks with my thumbs and trying to push the hair away from her features.

“I need you to listen to me,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “We are leaving here through the window. My car is parked on the other side of the wooden fence. There’s a hole burned on the bottom of the fence just big enough for us to fit through…”

Her eyes showed questions, but she remained quiet, waiting for me to continue.

“Do you trust me?” I found myself asking.

Her eyes widened at my question.

“Of course,” she said without hesitation.

I smiled.

“Good,” I said, grabbing the potion out of my pocket and handing it to her. “Take a sip of this.”

She stared at it with wide eyes. I knew she wanted to ask me so many more questions, but she didn’t. She opened the top of the potion and took a small and steady sip. She winced at the taste and crinkled her nose as she handed it back to me.

Her tears had dried, and she gave a curt nod.

I put it back into my pocket and then grabbed her hand to pull her along with me. I felt her body tensing and she stopped her movements just before we reached the window. I paused when I felt her resistance and turned back to her.

“What is it?” I asked her, furrowing my brows together.

“My ring,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes again. “He took it from me when I first got here.”

Anger filled me when she said those words. It took everything I had not to go downstairs and beat the living shit out of that asshole.

“Lucias?”

She nodded.

“Where’d he put it?” I asked through a tight jaw.

She swallowed.

“He said he was going to get rid of it. I convinced him not to and he told me it was in his office for the time being. That was a couple of weeks ago and I don’t know if it’s still there… but I don’t want to leave without it…”

I sighed.

We really didn’t have time for this, and I could always buy her a new ring. But from the look in her eyes, I could tell how broken she was over it.

“Where’s his office?”

“The end of the hallway on the left,” she answered.

I nodded and pulled her into my arms, hugging her so tight I wasn’t so sure she was able to breathe. She didn’t resist me though or put up a fight. Instead, she buried her face in my chest, and I felt her body relaxing.

I pulled away from her and held her at arm's length.

“Listen to me. I’m going to search his office for your ring. But I need you to run to my car. Okay?”

Her eyes widened.

“I’m not leaving without you,” she said in a harsh whisper, sounding way more like herself than she had only moments ago.

“I need to know that you are out of this building and safe, Tessa. I need to make sure you get out,” I told her, firmly. I was leaving no room for arguments. I reached into my pocket to grab my keys. “If I’m not at the car in 5 minutes, you need to take it and get out of here. Go to your father’s house, get inside and wait for me there. Okay?”

“What?!” She gasped; her eyes wide with alarm. “I can’t—”

“Tessa, this isn’t up for debate. You need to go,” I told her, keeping my eyes on hers so she could see the seriousness of my words. “5 minutes. Promise me.”

She looked like she was about to protest.

“Promise me,” I said again through my teeth.

Her brows furrowed together as she studied my face and then she reluctantly nodded.

I closed the gap between us and kissed her hard. I just needed to feel her and taste her for myself. I needed to remind her that she was mine and I was hers. She parted her lips, and my tongue flew into her mouth, swirling around with her tongue and exploring every inch of her mouth.

Neither of us wanted that kiss to end, but it had to. We needed to be quick. I pulled away from her; her eyes were still closed, and she was breathless.

“Go,” I ordered her, giving her a gentle push toward the window.

She stumbled toward it and then looked back at me with tears falling rapidly out of her eyes. With a look of worry, she reluctantly turned toward the window and climbed through. Once she was outside, I turned away and ran toward the door. The house was still fairly quiet besides Esme talking to Lucias downstairs. It was obvious he was growing impatient and wanting to come upstairs to see what was taking so long. But Esme was quick to distract him.

Letting out a breath, I quickly and quietly went down the hallway and into Lucias’ office. The last door on the left.

His office was kept fairly clean and there wasn’t a lot of stuff in it. I could tell he doesn’t use his office often. If he had kept the ring, it wouldn’t take me long to find it. I walked over to his desk and saw how spotless it was. Not a speck of dust in sight and not one single paper was left out.

I started with the top drawers. They mainly consisted of office supplies such as pens, pencils, sticky notes, paperclips, staples, and extra erasers. But no ring.

Then I started to rummage through the bigger drawers which consisted of files. I paused when I saw Tessa’s name on one of the files. I grabbed the file and opened it, scanning the paper my brows furrowed together.

The files consisted of basically everything about Tessa. From her first tooth being lost to her graduation date. It even had pictures of her; a lot of pictures of her. Some recent and some not so recent.

My heart thudded violently in my chest when I continued to read the documents about Tessa.

Tessa Marie Campbell. Daughter of Rick and Alison Campbell.

23 years old.

Heavenly Heart. Must be kept a secret.

Heavenly Heart? My brows rose in confusion.

I shuffled through more papers, trying to figure out what that even meant when the ring fell out and scattered to the ground. I quickly swiped it and shoved it into my pocket. I then grabbed my phone and took as many pictures of these documents as I could before I put the papers back into the file and shut the drawer.

As I left the office, I could hear Lucias’ voice rising. He was getting angry because it was obvious Esme was stalling.

It’s been about 3 minutes since Tessa left through her window. I told her if I wasn’t out there in 5 minutes, to drive away and get to her father’s house. I knew I should have gone back into her room to climb out her window, but a part of me didn’t want to leave Esmeralda here to fend for herself. She got me here and now I was determined to get us both out.

As I reached the staircase, I heard a heavy gasp coming from one of the many doors on this floor. I froze and fixed my eyes on the person standing in the hallway.

Instantly I recognized him as the guy who shot me.

The memory came rushing back, the glasses, the frightened look, the silver gun in his shaky grip. But this time, there was no gun. Just clenched and trembling fists.

Before I could say anything, he was already yelling, “Vampire in the Coven!!!! Vampire in the Coven!!!!”

Everything happened all at once; lights were turning on in bedrooms, and I didn’t hesitate to start running down those stairs just as this guy turned and ran back into his room. Probably about to get a weapon. I heard frantic and groggy murmurs coming from each room as they made their way to their doors.

Esmeralda and Lucias were standing in the living room. Esme’s eyes were huge when she saw me running into the room and Lucias was scowling at her, red in the face and filled with fury.

“So, this was all a plan? You lied to me?” Lucias asked through gritted teeth. “You aren’t part of the council at all.”

Esmeralda’s eyes flashed to me, her face was hard to read, but I gave a small head nod, indicating that Tessa was safe, and she returned it before fixing her eyes back to Lucias.

“I’d love to stay, but we really got to go,” she said to him sharply, as she backed toward the doorway.

“Think again,” he growled as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a silver gun, similar to the one that was used to shoot me.

At first, he pointed it at her, and she looked pissed by the gesture, but then he whipped around and had it pointing straight at my head. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight an entire house of witches; they were powerful beings and even a vampire's magic was no match against the magic of a coven.

He cocked the gun and grinned.

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you take her,” he said through his teeth.

Just as he pulled the trigger, a flash of light blinded my vision and then I heard an explosion.