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I have no doubt Xavier meant what he said about keeping me chained in here forever unless, I give up Ivette's location. But what am I supposed to tell him? I don't know where she went, I don't know even know the names of her children. Even though we were quite close, we never shared identifying details about ourselves with each other. After all, Ivette knew I could be tortured and forced to give up the information about her whereabouts. We were careful. But even though I'm not sure whether I'm strong enough to keep her secrets, everything she's told me is in the back of my mind, silently warning me that even with the smallest amount of pain I could be forced to give up everything I know.
Time passes excruciatingly slowly, like molasses dripping from one second to the next. I stopped counting long ago, and there is no way for me to tell how long I've been in here. I assume it's been a few hours when I finally sit down on the floor, dirtying my dress even more.
The once pretty yellow cotton fabric is soon stained with the grime of the underground dungeons.
Later, a person appears wearing a hood and a mask underneath it. I don't know who it is, and they don't speak a word to me. They just shove a plate with a sloppily put together sandwich towards me. There's a water bottle too.
Before I can speak a single word to the stranger, he's already leaving.
I'm hungry, so I attack the food ravenously. I take a bite of the sandwich, relishing the taste of it on my mouth. The bread is fresh, but there's nothing on it except a thin layer of butter. The water feels good sliding down my parched, raspy throat.
I have a feeling I'm going to start screaming soon. Not because I'm hoping to get somebody's attention, but because it's so quiet in here, it's messing with my head. Now I know what Xavier meant when he said people go mad in solitary confinement. Once I finish eating, I fall back on the ground and stare up at the grimy ceiling where mold is growing. I try to force myself to sleep, but the rest doesn't come and my eyes stay open. Even more time passes, but I have no way of telling whether it's minutes, hours or days. I can only discern the time by the growing pains of hunger in my stomach. I don't know how often they're going to feed me, but the butter sandwich I had wasn't enough to sate my hunger.
My mind races with too many thoughts to count as I wait for the next meal to come, preparing myself to speak to the guard. But somehow, in the middle of it all, I managed to fall asleep, nightmares stealing me away from the real world.
When I wake up, there is another water bottle and another piece of bread waiting for me. With tears running from my eyes, I have some more to drink and eat. I don't know how long Xavier is going to keep this up, but we both know I'm not going to last long. Even though I was trained to be an assassin, I'm used to the luxuries of life that many people never get to experience. Taking those away from me will ensure my demise. If not in my body, then at least in my mind, I can already feel myself breaking, and I have no idea how long it's been. I think about two days, maybe three, have been spent locked in here. With no way of escaping in no way of speaking to anybody, I decide to pass the time by talking to myself.
I don't know if Xavier has any filming or recording devices in here, so I pretend I'm talking to Matilda, my little sister, instead of Ivette. I don't want him getting any information out of me that I don't give him voluntarily.
I talk to my little sister as if she's sitting right in front of me, and when I start imagining her cross legged on the floor next to me, I know my mind is truly going. The torture keeps going.
Hours turn into days, and I think I get food once per day. After six meals, I'm ready to leave, I'm ready to die. But there is no way to kill myself in this room. Even though even that would be a welcome reprieve from the confines of my mind with no one to speak to... The fragments of my mind are slowly breaking, rendering me uterly useless.
By the sixth meal, I stop eating. I just lie on the floor with my eyes closed, begging for sleep that never comes. After the tenth meal, five of which have gone ignored, Xavier enters the dungeons. He sees me lying in the grime on the floor, unable to react to his presence.
He walks up to me with a dark expression and asks, "Are you ready to talk, angel?"
I want to say no, I want to say strong. But there is no way for me to do that. Not when I know what's on the other side of these walls. I could still have a normal life, if only I was ready to give up Ivette My heart burns and my head hurts from the pain he's inflicted upon me by forcing me to give him this information. Slowly, I crawl towards the bars separating me from Xavier, and look deep into his eyes.
"Please, Xavier. Get me out of here. I can't take another moment."
"You know what you have to do to get out of here," Xavier reminds me. "Do you want me to leave again? Because now I've left you alone for ten days, the next time it will be twenty."
The thought of twenty days alone in this dungeon scares me. I don't know if I can last than another hour, let alone three weeks. I have no doubt Xavier will keep me in here for as long as necessary, even if just to play his wicked games with my mind. God knows what's going to happen to me. Once I finally give up the information about Ivette, I have a feeling he's going to kill me. But even that would be better than what's happening now.
"I'll speak," I say softly. "I'll tell you everything I know."
My heart breaks over the silent betrayal of Ivette. I can imagine her face in my mind, scoffing, disappointed at what I've just promised to do.
But Xavier smirks, pleased with himself and knowing how fast he broke me.
"Then sing, little bird," he says. "Tell me everything you know, in exchange for your freedom. Go on, Tallulah. Tell me about Ivette..."
Chapter 15
Icanseethelife draining out of my angel as she finally admits truth about Ivette.
After she tells me everything about her new friend, every single detail that she found out while she was with her, she soon realizes I'll have no mercy. When she's done talking, I nod and call over a guard. I whisper something in his ear and send him on his way. Tallulah follows me like a lost puppy, her eyes begging for mercy that I'm not about to give her.
"What did you just tell him?" she asks timidly. "What did you just tell him to do? Please don't hurt Ivette. She's my best friend."
"She won't be your best friend for much longer," I tell her darkly. "Because soon enough, she'll be dead."
"Did you send a hitman after her?" she demands, the old remnants of rage I remember so well boiling up inside her.
This is her bratty side, coming out to play again. Whether or not it was fake when we first met is yet for me to discover. But right now I can tell just how angry she is about my actions. It's not like she has any impact on what I do, anyway. And she doesn't know who Ivette is. She doesn't know if it is the wife and mother of Xander's children.
My brother did some horrible things to the girl, and I understand why she ran away. Unfortunately for her, dragging her down will also bring me closer to my brother's lair. And it means I'll be able to punish him for everything he's done to me.
