Still, his mentioning her, provingshewas all what he had in mind whileIgave him pleasure, hurt. How invisible could I be? What could I have done more to make me him seemeeven for one moment in time?
“On and on
I galloped, racing with the setting sun,
And ere the crimson after-glow was passed,
I stood within Ravenna’s walls at last.”
My heart thudded in my chest. I hadn’t heard that poem in years, not since high school.
“I always wondered if he did.” He smirked.
I froze for a moment then I blinked. “Who?”
“You know who. Mr. Isaac chose that poem for sophomore year because he had athingfor you. So did he, Ravenna?”
My eyes widened in terror. How could he remember? Had Leo known who I was all this time?
“Did he take you like I should have taken Lina? Did you not say a word and let him stand within your walls after the crimson after-glow was passed? Did you just spread your legs for him and let him take your virginity, let him fuck you, let him use you to satisfy his sickness?”
Tears clouded my vision against my will. Tears of shame and pain and fear.
“You did, didn’t you? Just like you spread your legs for me and who knows who else?”
I knew he was projecting his traumatizing experience with his ex on me, but I was far from finding my psychiatrist self now. I wanted to silence him, not to bide my time until I figured out how to get out of here since he now knew who I was and my life was in serious danger, but because all my feelings had gathered and turned into one big bubble of rage.
Without so much of a blink, I stabbed the sedative syringe in his neck.
CHAPTER 11
Ravenna
“What the fuck happened here?”Lina’ssister came rushing in. She dropped the clothes in her grip and inspected Leo’s unmoving body and pale face in panic. “What did you do to him?”
Her sudden concern about his condition perplexed me. She didn’t seem to care about him earlier. Why the sudden change?
“He needs to stay alive. What the fuck did you do to him?!” she yelled at me.
“Why does he need to stay alive? Why are you so eager to save him?” Perhaps I’d misinterpreted her rejection to touch him earlier. Perhaps she had forbidden feelings for him that compelled her to risk everything to save his life. “Are you in love with him?”
She stared at me as if I was psychotic. Was it out of disbelief or denial? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in love with Leo. His charms were undeniable, and all the girls that had ever been close to him fell under his spell. What did surprise me was Leo being obsessed with this woman’s sister and not her. Unlike Angelina Bellomo, she was his type, just like Anastasia was.
“Love?” she almost sobbed. “Loving a man is the worst thing you could do to yourself, Doctor. The only person that deserves your love is your blood.” She darted a glance at him. “It’s just my fucking luck that makes thismanmy last hope at saving my family. That’s why I need him alive.”
Okay. Now, it was clear. She hated Leo and was indeed in love with someone else. Someone who hurt her deep enough to side with a man she considered a threat to say the least.
“Now, tell me why the fuck does he look like a fucking corpse?” She glared at me. “What did you do to him?”
What did I do to him? Other than having sentenced him to a year of misery and pain? Nothing. What could be more awful to do to him? How could I find it in me to hurt him again even if he was hurting me? Even if it was to save myself?
I grabbed the clothes and made them into a pile to put under his leg. Keeping it elevated would help a faster and better healing, minimizing the risks. “I took out the bullet, stitched the wound closed and gave him something for the pain and antibiotics. He’ll be fine, considering.”
“Then why does he look so pale? He looked better before.”
“He’d lost a lot of blood. A man in his condition is lucky to be alive in the first place. I have no idea where he gets his strength. It must be something huge tethering him to life so he’d endure all this to survive for it.” Was it his love for the girl who chose his father over him? Or the revenge he yearned to pour on them? “He’ll be better with proper nutrition and enough rest.”
“And what is that,” she sniffed, “smell?”
