Kylie knelt beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder in support.
Faelan let the pain release. The unbearable rage and sorrow he’d held in for so long. One moment of carelessness had cost both of them their youth.
When he was emotionally spent, he sat there in silence listening to the birds chirping as a light breeze moved through the trees.
It took some time, but there came a peace.
It was almost disconcerting in its intensity when it hit. Whether it came from Trevor, himself, God, or the Mother Earth he was unsure, but there was a profound power in it.
He looked at Kylie through swollen eyes and smiled.
“Better?”
He nodded, getting up on his feet and holding out his hand to her. “Thank you for this.”
She shook her head as she took his hand and lifted herself up. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Not so. For the first time, I can appreciate that I survived—that I was given a chance to live—and I will not waste another second.”
He turned back to the gravestone. “Trevor, I will not be back, but know you will never be forgotten.”
Faelan put his arm around Kylie’s waist and started walking away. He still carried the heavy weight of all those lives that had been altered because of Trevor’s death, but it was balanced by the inner peace he now felt.
Taking in a deep breath, Faelan looked up at the sky and was overcome by a liberating sense of freedom.
It was exhilarating.
Now he could face Russia with nothing to hold him back.
He could finally embrace the future with no regrets—and that made him unstoppable.
Accidental Hero
(Ten Years Before)
Visions of how the events would play out made Trevor smile as he drove into town to get the last of his supplies. First, he would take out Chuck, the fucking asshole who’d tormented him since elementary school. Oh, to see the look of shock when the bastard realized he was about to die would be priceless.
Maybe I should snap a pic, he thought.
Trevor could just hear his whimpering voice as he begged for his life… It made Trevor laugh out loud to imagine Chuck’s face exploding like a ripe pumpkin.
“Oh yeah…”
Next, he would head to geography class where all the jocks were gathered. Funny that the school had a remedial class designed solely to ensure their star athletes got passing grades no matter how fucking stupid they were.
He would take out as many as he could with his machine gun and if there were any left standing, he would finish them off by throwing a grenade and shutting the door.
Finally, justice would be served after years of being slammed into lockers and mocked relentlessly for being smart.
Then there was Tina… The bitch would pay dearly for humiliating him when he asked her to the dance. The sting of her laughter still rung in his ears to this day. Well, he’d be the one laughing as he picked off each of her cheerleader friends before aiming his gun at her stupid face.
Trevor was forced out of his reverie when car lights blinded his vision. There was no time to react as he watched in terror when the blinding headlights of a car veered into his lane and headed straight toward him.
“You shouldn’t have to do this alone.”
“I can handle it, June,” Cliff insisted.
She put her trembling hand in his arm as he reached for the door handle. “We’re both his parents. We should share this burden together.”
“I just wanted to protect you, hon.”
June stiffened her back and stated, “Together.”
He frowned in concern, but opened the door that led down to the basement—Trevor’s refuge. The boy had spent countless hours down there in the months leading up to the accident.
Cliff had put this off, focusing all his energies on getting Todd Wallace to leave their town. It pained him too much to be confronted with the sight of his son’s murderer walking down the streets while Trevor lay dead in the cemetery.
The time had come to pack up his son’s things and attempt to move on from this tragedy. As much as he knew it would hurt, Cliff hoped it would also help the two of them feel closer to their son once it was done.
But as they descended the stairs, despite June’s assurances, her tears began to flow. Each step down was a step toward confronting the horrible loss of their only child.
It seemed an impossible task to take that very last step—one no parent should ever have to face.
“Are you sure?” Cliff asked again before they stepped off into the abyss of emotion that waited for them.
June wiped her many tears and nodded.
He flicked on the light.
June gasped.
The sight before them was too shocking to believe.
Cliff was the first to move toward the table laden with military weapons.
“What is this?” June cried as she slowly crept up behind him.
“I have no clue.”
A cold chill ran down Cliff’s spine. He started sifting through the stockpile of weapons, shocked that his son had been able to amass so many on his own.
“Was he…a gun collector?” June asked naively.
Cliff’s gaze landed on the bag of grenades and he shook his head.
June couldn’t bear to touch any of the weapons and moved toward a wall plastered with blueprints of Trevor’s school. The blueprints themselves were framed in notes he’d handwritten in the margins.
“This doesn’t make sense,” she insisted, unwilling to get closer to read the words.
Cliff glanced over the blueprints, knowing exactly what it meant. To verify, he read one of the notes printed in Trevor’s meticulous handwriting. A numbness crept over him as he recognized the significance of what he was seeing.
“Look at the date.”
“What about it?” June asked, refusing to move any closer.
Pointing to it, Cliff found he couldn’t stop his hand from shaking. “Trevor was planning an attack on his school the Monday after the crash.”
June shook her head. “No… Our son would never—”
“Look around here, June. All of this is his handiwork, all of it.”
He picked up a notebook from the table and opened it. “Hell, he even listed the times of execution along with the names of the kids he was planning to kill.”
“My son is not a murderer! Trevor would never kill anyone!” she cried.
Cliff flipped through the pages. Something caught his eye, and as he read further he felt the numbness take over his entire body.
“What is it?” June asked when she saw the horrified look on his face.
Cliff snapped the notebook closed, his mouth a hard line. “It’s better you don’t know.”
“Don’t hide anything from me. I’ll go crazy if you do.”
“June, I’m telling you, there are things best left in the dark.”
She tried to grab the notebook from him, yelling, “I have to know!”
Cliff put the book behind his back. “I’ll tell you the gist of it, but only if you promise not to read it for yourself.”
“Oh my God…what did he write in that notebook?” she whimpered.
Cliff had to force out the words, the numbness finding its way into his heart. “Those kids were not the only ones he planned to kill that day.”
She turned white as a sheet. “Who else?”
Cliff shook his head.
“Who else…”
When he remained silent, she stated with fearful resolve, “You promised.”
“We were to be his first casualties.”
June’s chin trembled. She breathed out in a bare whisper, “Why? What did we do to him that he wanted us dead?”
Cliff grabbed her by the shoulders. “Nothing. Not a goddamn thing! The boy was delusional. Wipe it from your mind. Wipe all of it,” he commanded with a sweeping motion of his hand.
June looked up at her husband, the devastation of this new revelati
on adding to the overwhelming loss she was suffering.
“He had some kind of psychotic break,” he asserted. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Cliffie…” June whimpered. “Our lives will be ruined when everyone finds out.”
“Nobody knows.”
“But when they do—”
Cliff stated in a cold voice, “Nobody knows, and no one ever will.”
Faelan never knew he was an accidental hero.
Now the time has come for him, and the entire Submissive Training Center gang, to come together as one.
A sacrifice will have to be made if Rytsar Durov is to survive…
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the 14th book in the Brie’s Submission series. The journey continues in Her Russian Returns.
Click here to read the next in series.
My dear fans,
I have been working double-time so you will not have to wait long to find out what happens in Russia. ~Red
Preorder Her Russian Returns Now!
(Release Date – August 27, 2017)
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Brie’s Submission series:
Teach Me #1
Love Me #2
Catch Me #3
Try Me #4
Protect Me #5
Hold Me #6
Surprise Me #7
Trust Me #8
Claim Me #9
Enchant Me #10
A Cowboy’s Heart #11
Breathe with Me #12
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Under His Protection #14
Her Russian Returns #15
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Red Phoenix, Under His Protection (Brie's Submission Book 14)
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