Levelling the Playing Field (HD&D Sequel)

Chapter 16 - Not Without You

Tessa took a deep breath before explaining. "Davina's task was to take out a member of the Musketeers,"

Silence.

Neither Tessa nor Arya were looking at the Musketeers. They didn't want to witness the inevitable betrayal of trust registering on each of the Musketeers' faces right now.

Bennett scoffed. "That's why she did it,"

They looked at him as he shook his head and rose slowly, the rest of the Musketeers following suit and getting up.

"That's why she threw me off the building," Bennett repeated, his narrow eyes boring holes into Tessa and Arya.

Tessa met his eyes, but she didn't meet his glare. Instead, her face softened as she tried to explain her friend's actions. "You have to understand, Bennett. She did that to protect you,"

"Yeah," Arya came in. "Davina was having doubts. She didn't want to hurt anyone, and in that building, when we came to know you were the Musketeers. She couldn't have gone through with it," She explained, looking at each of them.

"How could you be so sure?" Jordan asked. "How do you know she wouldn't have hurt one of us to get what she wanted?"

Arya's calm demeanour was washed away as she narrowed her eyes at Jordan. He could feel the heat of her glare boring into him. "Because this is Davina we're talking about, and I know my word or hers doesn't mean much to you guys, but integrity means everything to her,"

The silence that fell upon was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Tessa moved to open the door. Everyone braced themselves. Declan went to stand in front of Naomi, not wanting to take any risks.

The door opened, and Davina and Dominic stood there holding each other up. Both of them were bruised and covered in dust with a faraway look in their eyes.

"Honey, I'm home," Davina breathed out before collapsing into Tessa's arms.

Bennett moved immediately to steady her. He half-carried her to the couch with his arms holding both her shoulders.

Declan and Jordan moved to help Dominic into the house and onto the sofa next to Davina.

"Thanks, guys," Dominic waved the boys off. Naomi moved to begin helping him out of his leather jacket. "Oh hey, Naomi...Naomi!"

His neck snapped back to her so fast to make sure it was her. He then turned to the boys. "This is your infamous fourth?"

Naomi shrugged, a wry smile gracing her lips. "What, you never heard of a female gang member before?"

Arya laughed slightly. "She's got you there, Nic,"

"What happened in there?" Tessa crouched in front of Davina, the others surrounding the two on the couch.

Davina shook her head.

"Ahh, PointBlanc, was that a Musketeer?"

"Don't worry about him. He's as good as dead,"

"Good, let's get down to business,"

Three men had entered the room, all dawning those eerily creepy masks. Davina had to blink fast to keep herself from crying out when she heard the dull thud of Bennett's body hitting the mat. Hopefully, he's alright. She had to have some faith in him.

Get out of here alive, Bent. She thought to herself.

"Did you have to blow the place up?" She asked the leader of the Lost Boys. She hoped against hope he couldn't detect the slight quiver in her voice. Now more than ever, she needed to sound cold, cruel and reserved.