Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 129

ROWAN’S P.O.V

The barn was filled to the brim with people, but at least there was enough space for everyone to sleep.

People huddled in groups, whispering under their breaths. I could almost taste the fear and confusion that filled the barn, but I ignored long enough to look for Nadine.

I found her huddled to the corner. She sat with Jen and Amy. They weren’t speaking, but they seemed to be okay.

Camden stood on the other end of the same corner, his eyes trained on the three girls.

Joshua’s warning flashed through my mind and I immediately made my way over to them.

"Did you find anything?" Jen asked but I shook my head.

"Nothing useful."

She cursed. "We never should have done this. We have nothing to show for it."

"We have over seventy people who are alive," Amy hissed. "My son is alive."

Jenifer scoffed. "And yet Trent is gone. Disappeared," her face became scrunched up with displeasure.

"It’s as if that man is mocking us. I can almost hear him laughing."

Nadine pinched her nose, her brows scrunched up in frustration.

"There was no way he could have known that we were coming. No way. Unless..."

"There’s a snitch among us, obviously. Who do you think it is, Nadine?" Camden’s voice floated over, and I turned around to see him standing a few feet away. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

His hands were curled into fists, and there was a weird expression on his face as he stared at Nadine.

My entire body became tense immediately. I stiffened as I stepped up to him, my eyes blazing with warning.

"Back off, man."

I didn’t need to raise my voice, but my intentions were clear enough. If he did as lay a hand on my woman, I would not hesitate to fuck him off.

I heard Nadine stand up behind me, as well as Jennifer and Amy.

Jenifer crossed her arms across her chest. "Don’t be stupid, Cam. There is no way on earth Nadine is working for that man. He almost killed her."

Rather than backing down, his gaze only turned harder. More accusing. He didn’t even look at me. His expression remained trained on Nadine. There was a crazy gleam in his eyes that only intensified with each second that passed.

"Did he? Was there any proof of that, or did she actually make that up? We have absolutely no reason they believe her, and she has the perfect cover, she is the most perfect spy. Pretty little spoilt princess. Who wouldn’t believe her? Especially when she was fucking his son, a scary ass guard who was too pussy whipped to see the truth right in from of him!"

I don’t know when I moved. All I knew that one moment, my fists were at my side, and before I could stop myself, I was slamming into him. Hard.

We both crashed to the floor, and even though Camden tried to bring his hands up to protect his face, he was unable to.

I rammed my fists into his face, rage blinding me as I lost my shit.

"You will not talk about her like that!" I snapped, my voice turning into sharp edges.

"She left Ezekiel to die! He was like a brother to me and she just left him there to die like he was disposable," he yelled.

Tense, thick silence wafted in the barn that I could almost taste it. No one spoke, and it was as though everyone was holding their breath as they watched us both.

I didn’t know how long I remained on him, my knuckles bruised from hitting him repeatedly.

"Rowan. Leave him alone."

Nadine’s voice broke through the silence, and it snapped me out of my angry reverie.

"Stay the fuck away from Nadine," I spat at Camden, stood up, grabbed Nadine’s wrist, and stormed right out of the barn, away from the shocked stares and uncomfortable silence.

When we were well away from the barn, I stopped walking and let go of her wrist, running a hand through my hair as frustration coursed through my bones.

Jennifer, Amy and Joshua, who had apparently followed us out of the barn, stopped walking too.

Nobody spoke for a moment, but the silence wasn’t as uncomfortable as the one in the barn.

"Nadine. I am so sor..." Amy started to say, but was immediately interrupted by Nadine’s shaking head.

"Stop. Just...stop. I do not want I hear it. Camden is obviously upset, and even though his words were like knives to my heart, he is hurting. Ezekiel was his friend. He has every right to be angry."

I took a step forward. "That doesn’t give him the right to call you a traitor. You have risked your life more times than I can count and he..."

She placed a hand on my cheek, a sad small smile on her face.

"It’s okay, love. Really. We cannot afford to let ourselves get distracted by Camden and his anger. We have work to do."

Jennifer nodded. "She’s right. We cannot stay here for long As soon as the cars are charged, we are getting the hell out of here."

Nadine stepped away from me and turned to face the rest of the crew. Amy’s son was now asleep in her arms, but she still wasn’t letting go.

"These people aren’t safe yet. We have to get them to the community. Once the cars are back up and running, it will be a race between us and Trent. We need to get there first before he finds us."

Everyone nodded at her words, but there was a slightly bitter atmosphere filled with words that was definitely on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

"I still can’t believe that bastard got away though. I was looking forward to tearing him into pieces," Jennifer mused.

"He’s not getting away with this. Trent will pay for his crimes."

I turned a surprised expression to stare at Nadine.

"What do you mean?"

And she smiled at me. The smile was wide, and it splited her face into two. But it wasn’t warm. There was no warmth in it.

It was cold. Devious. Cruel.

Cunning.

"We are going to go after him," she stated, and as if on cue, we heard a loud explosion.

Despite how far away we were, my ears rang from the force, and I winced as I covered my ears.

The bunker had exploded, and everyone we were unable to save were now...

dead.