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I stood up in the bathtub and whirled around, seeking out Marcus.
He stood outside of the circle with his arms down at his sides, his hands fisted tightly. He refused to meet my eyes and I knew things were about to take a turn for the worse, and I also knew I was not ready or prepared for it in the slightest.
And I would find out I was not wrong.
Chapter Seventeen
Because She Was Dead
"Marcus," I called out sharply. He still wouldn't look at me, so I swung my gaze to Adrian who no longer appeared jovial and happy, but was instead staring at my crotch hungrily. "What is she doing here?"
He didn't meet my eyes, but that was because he was too focused on my crotch. I wanted to punch the little pervert right in the face.
Romero,I thought. He needed me to not get violent on these people until after I'd rescued him from his cage.
Adrian finally looked at my face and there was that expression of crazed possession again. "Sit down, Ariel," he commanded, and licked his plump lips.
I shivered in disgust, but did as he said. Only because I thought it might be the best way to get him to stop staring at my private girl parts. It worked and his eyes roamed over my face, searching for something, but I didn't know what. I didn't want to know what, if I was being honest, because it would have likely scared the shit out of me and there was only so much a girl could take before she lost her freaking mind, and I was closing in on my limit here.
"She's here for you," Adrian explained, which was really no explanation at all, because I still had no idea what the hell it was supposed to mean.
I didn't want her to be here for me. I wanted her to go back to her bedroom and sleep off whatever the hell they'd used to sedate her with.
I never, ever thought there would come a time where I'd find myself standing in Annabell's corner, but here we were. I wanted to fight for her. I wanted to pick her up and carry her out of here and far, far away from this wretched place.
Ignoring Adrian, I shuffled forward in the tub, also trying to ignore the blood swishing around my feet and ankles. The blood was harder to ignore than Adrian, I was sad to say.
I reached out and palmed the side of Annabell's face. Her scars were rough against my hand and she flinched slightly at my touch, letting me know she was still in there somewhere, fighting to get out. No way if she was in her right mind would she allow me to touch her like this, especially on this side of her face. She was the exact opposite of me when it came to our scars.
"Honey," I whispered in a raw voice. Something flickered to life in her eyes and started moving. She was in there, damn it. I just needed to draw her out. "You shouldn't be here. You should go back to your room and forget you were ever here. Please, Annabell, go back to your room."
Adrian grabbed hold of my wrist and dragged me backwards. I didn't even try to fight him. Marcus had been right, I shouldn't have even tried.
The pressure on my wrist increased to the point of unbearable pain as Adrian yanked it down. With a small cry, my legs buckled and I followed my arm down into the bathtub. My knees hit the porcelain and blood sloshed all around me. My wrist would be bruised later, but I no longer felt it after my knees hit the bottom of the tub.
There would be no rescuing anyone from this. I had started it, and everything that happened from here on out would be on my shoulders and be my burden to bear. Annabell was so far from innocent, but she didn't deserve whatever was going to happen here, this I knew for certain.
"What happens next?" I asked Adrian in a calm, confident voice that I absolutely did not feel. Adrian watched me shrewdly, the lust finally gone from his eyes, thank Christ. "Why is she here? I think you should know by now that she and I aren't exactly friends, and I don't want her here for this if it can be helped. This doesn't exactly fill me up with joy on the inside, ya know?"
He knew. They all knew.
God damn it.
In that moment, I hated them all more than I ever thought possible.
"What happens next?" Adrian questioned me in a hushed voice. "Why don't I show you as opposed to telling you? Wouldn't that work better? I know it would for me."
The knife from earlier, the one he'd used to slice his arm open, came into view, and my eyes about bugged out of my head. The bleeding part appeared to be over, there was no longer a need for any kind of sharp object.
Annabell stood unmoving at the foot of the tub, her eyes never leaving me, and a sick feeling filled my gut.
Adrian stepped up close to her side, raised his arm up high, and slashed the knife across Annabell's throat. She didn't so much as flinch as the blade dug in deep and slashed her throat open wide. Her eyes stayed glued to me, and I swear I saw her mouth the words, "Do right by all of us girls, we're counting on you."
Adrian grabbed her by her hair at the back of her head and bent her forward, holding her up and over the foot of the tub. She didn't fight him and her arms hung limply at her sides. Blood gushed out of her throat and sprayed the insides of the bathtub and me inside of it.
Hooded figures stepped up beside Annabell on either side of her. Her arms were lifted straight in front of her and sliced open, much the same as everyone else's had been.
The only difference was, to my horror, Annabell's wounds weren’t healing.
