Trigger warning: violence 

“We’re going out today?” Isabella asked Thomas, with a slight quiver in her voice.

“Yes,” Thomas sighed. “And Isa, I need to talk to you. Would you mind just walking a few steps behind us Darlin’?”

Violet-Rose nodded and waited for the two to lead the way. She put about 12 feet between herself and her companions.

“Isa, I am so sorry.” Thomas sighed as he looked over his shoulder to ensure Sophia was out of earshot. “I did everything that I could, but Jared is insisting that he meet Sophia and Jace has been breathing down my back about finding this Violet-Rose.”

“It’s okay, Thomas, I know that you did everything that you could.” Isabella couldn’t hide her nerves. She was practically shaking.

“Why did we need to keep Sophia a secret anyways? You found her, and she is an absolutely wonderful person.” Thomas was practically head-over-heels in love with the person he knew as Sophia. He wanted the world, especially his co-workers to know what a wonderful person she was.

“Well,” Isa gulped, “The thing is, I do not trust Jared. Or maybe it’s Jace? Or both? I couldn’t really tell them apart, so I don’t know who I should mistrust.”

Thomas’ face went from nervous to concerned. He was starting to sweat. Jared and Jace were his bosses, and in charge of security for the whole building. If they couldn’t be trusted, literally no one could. “Why wouldn’t you be able to trust them?”

“Well, you know the bruises on Sophia’s wrists and neck?” Isabella was pale.

“Yes.” Thomas just about squeaked. He was going to kill someone. He could feel it.

“When I grabbed Sophia’s wrist, I found some information about who did it.” She practically whispered. It was hard for her to see, and reliving it was not helping. Even though she did not want to continue, Thomas’ eyes begged her to keep going. “I saw it happen. Sophia was hand-cuffed and suddenly someone was on top of her, choking her. As she was choking, she strained against the cuffs. But, I couldn’t tell if it was Jared or Jace. The next thing I saw was her passing out. Then, nothing. It was like her memory was actively blocking me from seeing the details.”

Isabella couldn’t help it: she shed the tears she had held from the moment she found this information. She had found both Jared and Jace and couldn’t believe that one of them would hurt the red-headed angel that she called Sophia.

The news was enough to shock Thomas into stillness. He too couldn’t believe that Jared or Jace would try to kill anyone, unless they were an active threat. And there was no way that his Sophia was an active threat. To prove that to himself, he peaked over his shoulder to where he knew she would be walking.

“GET HELP!” Thomas screamed.

“Wha-” Isa turned to see what had caused Thomas to scream and run off. Violet-Rose was on the floor, straddled by Jace, with his hands once more around her neck. As Thomas ran towards them, Isabella ran away, in search of help.

------

“What the actual fuck, Jace?” Thomas screamed as he tackled him off his Sophia. He was incredibly glad that he had looked back, if not, Jace could have killed her. Isabella was right to not trust him. But he still could not believe his eyes. Jace had trained him. Jace had been a friend. How could he go after someone like Sophia?

“Out of the way, Banks,” Jace growled. “I need to finish what I started.”

Jace flipped Thomas off of him and made his way back to where Violet-Rose was lying unconscious on the floor.

“And why would I let you do that?” Thomas grabbed Jace’s shoulder and threw him back. Before he knew it, Jace was wrestling to get away from him. “Why would you want to hurt Sophia? You don’t even know her?”

Jace let out a grunted chuckle. “Is that what the bitch had you believing? I can assure you. Her name is NOT Sophia.”

“Well, then, is she an active threat?” Thomas was trying to get Jace into a modified choke hold, where his head and an arm were held, effectively immobilizing him. But, Jace was a supervisor for a reason: he was strong and sleek. Thomas hoped distracting him would give him a leg up.

“YES. Of course she is!” Jace screeched. “This is the bitch who I have been looking for all over the compound.”

“Violet-Rose? I thought that she was a missing HERO?” Hearing the word hero was enough of a distraction for Thomas to get Jace into the choke hold.

“Yes. I mean no. She is no HERO. She is a villain. I had her in my hands. But she is a tricky little whore. She got away from me. And now I have her again.” Jace was laughing like a madman. “I am not going to let your weak-ass bitch of a self stop me.”

Jace managed to bite Thomas’ arm, causing him to loosen his hold. The second he did, Jace punched Thomas straight in the nose. With a sickening crunch, Thomas knew that it was broken.

In seconds, Jace’s hands were back around Violet-Rose’s throat in a vice grip, shaking her stilled body. “I won’t let you slip away from me this time. I know that you played dead last time.”

Thomas was scrabbling to get Jace off of Sophia -no wait, Violet-Rose- when a blur flashed past his eyes, knocking Jace off of the limp girl and onto the ground by his feet.

“Well, are you going to stand there, or are you going to help me detain him?”

TBC.