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Have I been so oblivious to what’s happening here the last couple of days?Great job being observant, Mia!My mind shouts at me. How did I not see that Raegan and Raven are obviously attracted to each other and that something is going on with Isabella and Diego?
All my waking thoughts have been on Theo and how to help him. When my thoughts and fears aren’t on Theo, they are stuck worrying about the fact that we haven’t been able to locate his menacing father yet. I don’t know whether to hope we find him or hope we never find his sorry, miserable demon ass.
“We should try this morning. I honestly don’t think it’s going to go very well, but we can’t continue to leave him up there like that.” Finn sighs, his large hands rubbing down his face.
“How do y’all propose we do this?” Raegan moves to my side and squeezes my hand in silent support.
I watch as my sister bends down to pick up the mess of shards of the broken coffee cup and wipe up the spilled coffee. Her body is rigid; I know Issy. When she’s hiding something from me, she won’t look at me. I need to keep an eye on her.
“I think it will take three or four of us to drag him out of there. He’s going to fight back like a rabid animal.” Mateo sighs, dragging his hands through his long hair, his face filled with concern. Mateo looks like he hasn’t slept in days, the dark shadows under his eyes a deep purple. What’s happening with Theo is doing a number on him. He’s barely keeping it together, especially since Theo tries to attack him any time he ventures into the room.
“Ok, so Mat, Finn, and I will try to grab and pull him out of the room,” Carter states.
“Like fuck you will, bro; your arm is still in a sling. We don’t need you to end up with more damage. Mat, Raven, fuck-head Diego, and I will pull him out of the room. The rest of you need to ensure the area is clear and that he can’t grab anything to hurt himself with.” Finn glares at Carter.
“Fine. Let’s get shit ready. I think we should move as many things out of the living room as possible and get Theo in there. We can cover all the exits, and it’s the space with the largest windows; maybe some daylight will do him good.” I place my cup down with a sigh, already missing the warm goodness, and move toward the living room to rearrange the space.
The others follow in my footsteps, and for the next hour, we remove everything from the room that Theo could use as a weapon. When we are done, the only things left in the room are the sofa, the built-in fireplace, the area rug, and two club chairs. Fuck, I hope this works and doesn’t end up making him worse.
The four guys move towards Theo’s room, Finn leading them and ready to take the brunt of Theo’s violence once they step into the room. It doesn’t take long before we hear shouting and bodies smacking into walls and doors. We hear a large crash, then a groan that sounds like it came from Diego. Theo’s animalistic screams can be heard bouncing off all the walls.
“Fuck man, relax! No one is trying to hurt you!” Raven shouts. The sound of another body hitting a wall echoes down to us in the living room.
Isabella and Raegan are on either side of me, gripping my hands in support and strength. Carter’s restlessly pacing like a caged animal. I can see he wants to sprint up the stairs to help with Theo. He raises his husky-blue eyes to mine, and the pain is there for all to see. I shake my head no to him. He needs to stay put and not get himself further injured.
Mateo pops into the room first, holding one of Theo’s thrashing legs; his hair’s a bloody mess, his shirt ripped off his shoulder, and he has a significant red mark across his face. Raven’s next, holding on to Theo’s other leg. He doesn’t look much better, the sleeve of his Henney shirt is completely torn off, and he has a gash on his forehead that’s already filling with blood.
Diego and Finn are holding on to a thrashing and snarling Theo. Each one restraining his upper body between them. Theo’s trying to bite and punch Diego, and it looks like he has already managed to punch Finn’s nose, which is bleeding. Diego pulls back from Theo’s snapping mouth, teeth bared at him like a snarling wolf. Diego’s hand and chin are bleeding, the collar of his shirt is torn, and he’s breathing hard with an attempt to restrain Theo.
“Fuck!” Raegan whisper-shouts next to me.
“Theo, please, bro, calm down. No one is going to hurt you…please.” Carter moves forward toward the five guys.
“Let me go, mother fuckers! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! Don’t fucking touch me!” Theo shouts, straining against the four holds. His face is red and filled with rage, his body tense and thrashing; spittle is making its way down his whiskered face.
“Theo! Please, you’re going to hurt yourself. Please stop fighting. You’re safe.” I approach his thrashing body, but he snarls in my direction, and Carter pulls me back behind his body. Everything in me tenses. I am not some weak damsel in distress waiting to be saved by the white night. I immediately move away from Carter’s grasp.
“Theo, we are going to release you. Please don’t try to run. Be calm; no one here is going to hurt you.” Finn nods to Mateo and Raven, who release their hold on Theo’s legs, and then he and Diego remove their hold and move back from Theo’s thrashing arms.
Theo drops to the ground on his knees, looking like an angry wolf, teeth bared and eyes crazed as he stares at each of us. He tries to make his way to the entrance to the kitchen, but Mateo and Raven block his exit. He backs up and tries to move towards the door to the outdoor patio, but Raegan, Isabella, and I block that exit. His frightened eyes move from one part of the room to the other, trying to find an escape. When he finally realizes that every exit is blocked by one or more of us, he falls back to his knees—Tears cascade down his face, and his body trembles. The cut on his forehead is bleeding again, and his shirt has been ripped almost entirely off of him. All the cuts, bruises, and wounds his father inflicted on him are visible. The large dirty white bandage from his splenectomy barely hangs onto his abdomen, and it looks like fresh blood is seeping from the wound.
“Theo, please stop fighting us. We are trying to help you. No one here is going to hurt you.” I move towards him slowly, my hands in front of me in a soothing manner and tears sliding down my face.
“You want to help me?” He lets out in deep gasping sobs, not raising his eyes to look at me. “Let me fucking die then.”
My chest fills with heaviness at his anguished, pain-filled words. My gaze travels over the inhabitants of the room. Each with fear and pain etched on their faces. I can see that they all are afraid of him and pity him. My gaze lands on Mateo’s, and I witness the pain and defeat in his eyes. Mateo, who stayed with him, never leaving his side until we knew he would live. The same Mateo who now is already mourning him, even though he is still alive. Rage fills my blood, like hot molten lava running along my veins. I am so angry at how he wants to give up, how he wants to let Vincent win and how he wants to leave me, leave us. I clench my hands to stop myself from touching him, from shaking him so that he wakes up.
“I will never let you go, Theo Saint-Lambert. You. Are. Fucking. Mine. Do you hear me? You are mine, and I will never let you go. You don’t get to leave us!” I scream at him as I move closer to his hunched frame. The anger inside of me is all-consuming, some of it directed at the wrong place. I want to torture and rip apart Vincent Saint-Lambert for what he’s done to his strong and powerful son. To punish him and hear him fucking scream, beg for his miserable life for what he’s reduced my Theo too. How he managed to finally break the strongest person I know. I will end his miserable life if it’s the last thing I do on this earth.
My body deflates, and I fall to my knees in front of him, begging him with my eyes and body to look at me. To snap out of the hell, he’s trapped himself in, to fight for us. I raise my eyes to Finn, Carter, and Mateo and see nothing but anger and terror staring back at me.Are we too late? Is Theo wholly broken?
Chapter 14
Theo
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” H. P. Lovecraft
“You.Are.Fucking.Mine!”Mia screams at me. The sound hitting me like sharp blades stabbing my skin. “I will never let you go!” her voice breaks, and my heart throbs painfully in my chest.
