Page 7 of His Witness

I cross the room with my eyes locked on it. My hand trembles as I reach out for the doorknob. I turn it and sigh when it turns easily.

I open it all the way and step through. As soon as I do, I realize that I just made one really bad mistake.

A man is tied to the chair and he’s bloody. His eyes are fixed and I can’t see anything left in them. They’re empty. Dead. His face is blue and I can’t see his chest moving at all.

I back up and my mouth opens to scream the damn place down. Which is when I realize that I’m in even more trouble than I thought I was.

A man moves from behind the chair, his dark eyes cruel and calculating. His hands are bloody and his knuckles are cracked, split open like he’s been fighting.

Or beating another man bloody until he dies.

“What have we here?” he says, his eyes locked on me like a wolf eyeing its next meal.

Something tells me that this man enjoys the hell out of his job. I close my mouth and back away, reaching out for the door.

I barely get a step in before he moves like lightning and his arm wraps around my throat, cutting off my air.

Black dots dance in front of my eyes when he whispers, “I’m not sure where you came from, lady, but you’ve got a big problem now. And I don’t like problems.”

I struggle wildly in his arms, my fingers clenched like talons, trying to rake through the skin on his arm, his face. Anything I can reach.

But he just wraps his arm around me tighter and the black spots in my vision get bigger. My chest feels like I’ve got a one hundred fifty pound weight strapped to it, keeping me from breathing. It hurts so damn bad. My throat burns and everything sounds like I’m hearing it through a cup filled with water.

I’m sinking into warmth and the pain is receding when I hear something behind me and then the iron band around my throat is off and I fall to the ground, gasping, desperately struggling to suck in oxygen.

Coughing and choking, spit flying out of my mouth as I lie there, curled up in a ball, not sure what the hell happened but grateful that I’m not dead.

I hurt too much to be dead.

Strong arms slip under me and I whimper, struggling to pull away, my voice so hoarse that it barely sounds human.

“It’s alright, baby. I’ve got you. You just breathe.” I close my eyes. I know that voice. At least I think I do. This voice is soft and gentle. Not biting and sarcastic like Victor.

He sets me down outside the door and when I reach out for his arm and try to grab him and hold on like a clinging vine, he just gently touches my cheek and reaches over to kiss it. I close my eyes. Maybe I have died and this man is my guide to another realm.

“I need to take care of this guy. You stay put, baby girl.”

I don’t even open my eyes. It’s too much effort.

“I swear I didn’t know that she was with you, Victor!”

“Who the hell thinks that you can hurt any woman on this property? Hell, any woman at all! We do not hurt women in this family,” Every word he says is spaced out and curt. Cutting.

I wince when I hear a fist hitting something that sounds like a body. “You better count yourself lucky that you didn’t kill her, asshole. If you had, you’d be dead and buried. Or I’d make sure you lived and cut your fucking heart out one tiny little piece at a time. One hour at a time until you begged me to kill you.”

The man screams and I hear something snap. Like a twig. Then there’s silence.

Those same gentle hands pick me up and hold me close. “There we go, baby. I’ve got you. Nobody else is gonna hurt you. Even if I have to take you out of this god-damned place.”

He carries me out of the room and then up the stairs. We reach the top and he shuts the door and bolts it. Then he walks down the hall and stops by where I hear two men talking.

They break off with a gasp when they see us and I really want to open my eyes to see what we look like.

I have a feeling it’s best that I don’t know.

“DeRey is down in the basement. His leg is broken. Maybe something else, I don’t know. Don’t care. I’ll be sending Xavier a message about it. For now, get that mess cleaned up down there.”

Then he stalks away and I force my heavy eyes open. I’m still struggling to breathe and it fucking hurts. My hand reaches up to touch my throat and I clear it harshly, coughing.

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