“I’m not done,” the doctor adds, already moving again. “He’s not stable. He’s alive, but he’s critical.”
Alive.
The word lands and my lungs finally pull in air.
I look at Travis. Pale and unconscious but still breathing.
“Hold on,” I whisper through tears. “Seth is going to finish this. And you’re going to be here when we get you out of this.”
My phone vibrates again.
This time I notice. The screen is smeared with blood where I touched it earlier. My fingers don’t cooperate at first, but I swipe it anyway.
“Seth?”
“I’ve got Grant,” Seth says.
The pressure in my chest eases just enough that I can think again.
I sink onto the ground beside the tarp, close to Travis’s shoulder, eyes locked on the monitor.
“Is he alive?”
There’s a pause on the line.
“Yeah,” Seth replies. “For now.”
My grip tightens around the phone. My jaw clenches so hard it aches.
“Good.” My voice is colder now. The shock hasn’t left me, not really, but something sharper has slid underneath it. Something focused. “Because I’m not done with him.”
The doctor moves past me again, adjusting lines, checking vitals. Travis doesn’t wake. He’s still pale. Still fragile. But he’s here. He’s alive.
“As soon as he’s stable,” I continue, eyes never leaving Travis’s face, “I’m coming back to the house.”
Seth doesn’t interrupt me.
“And when I get there,” I add, “I’m going to make it as painful as possible.”
“I’ll wait.”
The call ends.
I lower the phone slowly and set it on the ground beside me. My hands go back to Travis, one resting over his, the other lightly against his arm like I’m afraid he’ll disappear if I let go.
If Travis dies from this, I don’t know how I will survive what comes after.
But I know exactly what I will do.
I will make Grant suffer until his last breath.
Chapter 74
Seth
Grant is strapped to the table, wrists and ankles locked down so tight the circulation in his hands is already compromised. His fingers are tinged purple. It will slow the bleeding later. His chest rises fast and shallow, panic starting to chew through whatever arrogance he walked in with.
He still smiles at me.
