AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know, I know.” I wave it away. “There are just some things you have to deal with alone.”
“I can understand that.” He nods.
“What about you?” I ask, tilting my head. His eyebrow arches, and I laugh. “Oh, come on, this can’t only be affecting me, so how are you, Isaac?”
“I, um, I don’t think anyone has ever asked that,” he says quickly.
“Then I’ll ask every day. Come on, you have all seen my deep, dark secrets,” I joke.
“Truly, it’s not easy,” he admits as if he’s ashamed to share it. “It reminds me of my own . . . imprisonment,” he hedges.
“In France, correct?” I ask. He still has a slight accent.
He nods. “Not that I saw the place. Maybe I will go back and visit one day just to see the beauty I knew lived above my prison.” He sips his tea, his eyes going far away. “My cell wasn’t quite as grandiose as yours. It was in the basement of a house on the outskirts of the city. It was surrounded by land, though I never saw the sun much. I was kept in a room bigger than that one, with a bed, a toilet, and a shower. That was it.” I reach for his hand, and he takes mine with a sad smile. “I spent so many years there, I thought I would go mad, but I didn’t. Instead, I filled the time by learning everything about medicine I could. I thought maybe it would impress him, but I would also be able to look after myself.”
“And did you?”
He nods, squeezing my hand before he stands and pulls his shirt up. I inhale when I see the healed marks on his chest, and then he peels back the sleeves, where there are scars raised around both wrists. “For years, he was obsessed with capture, with chains restricting my movement to see if it would help my brain grow if I couldn’t focus on my body.” Sitting, he takes my hand again. “To this day, I hate them . . . when I see them on the table.” He looks away in shame, so I force his face back to me. “The only reason I didn’t sink into my own memories was because I needed to be there for you.”
“Isaac.” I swallow. “I’m sorry. These words feel inadequate, but they are true. I’m sorry for what he put you through, but I’m not sorry it brought you to me.”
“No?” he asks. “You might be soon.”
“Nah.” I squeeze his hand with a wink. “All families are dysfunctional. No matter what, though, he cannot take away your achievements, your good heart, and how you take care of everyone else. When do you look after yourself?”
He swallows, and I smile sadly. “Exactly what I thought.” Standing, I round the table, take his tea, and put it down as I sit on the table before him. “You need to look after yourself and give yourself that chance to heal. You do not have to bear the brunt of all the weight alone. That’s why we are together. Right now, I’m betting you are in here worrying about them all out there”—I jerk my head towards the other room—“and how they are handling it, while coming up with plans to reduce their stress without even considering your own.”
He’s silent, but he knows I’m right.
Leaning forward, I capture his chin and force his eyes to mine so he can’t look away from me this time. “You can’t save anyone if you don’t save yourself first,” I tell him before I stand. “I mean it. I will ask how you are every day, and I want the truth. Now get some rest. As a doctor, you should know how sleep deprivation works on the brain.”
“Is that an order?” He laughs as I put the mugs in the sink.
“You bet.” I grin at him and smack his ass as he walks past. “Go sleep, doc. I’ll keep watch.”
Once I’ve cleaned up, I move through the house, seeing them all resting except for Louis. I find him at the computer, and I sit at his side. He meets my gaze with a grateful smile.
“Thank you for getting them to rest.”
“Any way I can help.” I shrug it off, but he turns my face back to his.
“It’s a big deal, Nova, thank you.” I hate the kindness in his tone, so I clear my throat and look at the screen, blinking. “What is that?”
“That,” he begins, and he seems pained. “Is something that would destroy Dimitri.”
I flinch, and he nods.
“That is Bassel, Bass for short. He was one of us.”
“The one Isaac spoke of,” I mutter. “He . . . He killed himself, didn’t he?”
“Yes, when the pain became too much.” The young boy on the screen looks so lost and sad, my heart aches for him. “Your—the doctor didn’t just do mental experiments, but physical. He wanted to see how life-long chronic pain could affect you. He carved up his insides so badly, there wasn’t a day when he wasn’t in agony. We supplied him with morphine as much as we could, and he was constantly high on it just to be able to sleep or breathe. It’s why we got caught in the end, but before we could help him too much, he walked in front of a bus. He left us a note that said he couldn’t do it anymore, couldn’t fight the pain, and that he was sorry.”
“Fucking hell,” I murmur softly. “Dimitri—”
“And he were lovers.” Louis smiles. “They were so close, they were inseparable. It hit Dimitri hard when he died. He buried himself further into his love of machines, losing himself in them and pulling away from all of us. He had no drive for anything but revenge, and then you came, and you reminded him of friendship, love, and a future. I cannot thank you enough for that. We were going to lose him like we lost Bass, but you are saving him.”
“I’m not doing anything,” I reply worriedly.
