AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Well, like Dante said himself, it’s what he does, and there’s no way he would ever pick me over his brothers.
Would he?
I know the answer to that one. And yet, when Dante sighs and straightens up without killing me, when he adjusts my cuffed hands so that my shoulders don’t ache quite as much and then presses a warm kiss to my forehead before silently returning to the chair by the wall… I can’t help but wonder if I’m wrong.
The tears I can’t fight anymore start to slowly leak down my cheeks as I stare into the darkness.
Despite everything, I stillwantto be wrong.
And that traitorous feeling is probably the biggest betrayal of all.
4
RILEY
“Shit,”I whisper when I open my eyes. My throat is as dry as dust. That’s my first thought. My second is that Chloe’s been out there on her own all night.
I want to cry. Or scream. But I look around the room, and there’s no one to scream at.
Dante was here most of the night, but now I’m alone.
“Of course I am,” I mumble, fighting back emotions I really don’t want to deal with.
Not right now, and not ever.
It’s not like Iwanthis company, or any of the Reapers’ company, but the part of me that felt… not alone for a while, the part that was starting to believe I actually had people who gave a shit about me for once in my life, people who’d have my back, I guess that part still hasn’t gotten the full memo that none of it was real.
Probably just a shitty side effect of the broken sleep I got.
I don’t even remember dozing off, but I do remember waking up over and over throughout the night, as my worries about Chloe tore me out of nightmares that were even worse. The low-key headache from those drugs Logan gave me didn’t help either, and no matter what the room flooded with daylight is telling me about how long I’ve been lying in this bed, it feels like I didn’t get any actual rest. Not any that counts, at least.
It doesn’t matter. I can tell I’m not going to fall back asleep this time. For better or worse, I’m awake now… and I’d kill for some water.
For somemorewater.
I do my best to push away the vague memories of Dante bringing me some during the night. Holding the cup for me while I drank. Brushing stray drops from my lips when he pulled it away.
Keeping his promise to keep me locked in these cuffs the whole time.
“Goddammit,” I hiss, yanking on them as desperation and hopelessness well up inside me in an unstoppable wave. It figures that the one thing that asshole didn’t lie to me about would be this. That there’s no way for me to get free.
But I have to.
Baring my teeth, I twist my body enough to gain some leverage and then jerk my wrists against the warm metal until it bites into my flesh like twin bands of bloody razor blades.
And I’ve got no doubt they really are bloody. I can’t bear to look, but it feels like the only thing I’m accomplishing is scraping my skin raw. Dante’s not here to tell me to stop this time though, and it’s literally the only way for me to get free, so fuck it.
I pant through the pain, happy to rip my own hands off if that’s what it takes. I won’t let them win, and no matter how empty this room is, after what they told me about the surveillance system in this place, I know that being alone in here means jack shit. They can still see me.
And I refuse to let them see me give up.
I can’t give up. Chloe may have my phone and a little money, but we had no time to make a plan. She knows just enough to know she’s in danger, to know that there’s nowhere safe for her to go, but the only other thing she’s got is my promise that I’ll find her.
And the brutal reality that there’s no way for her to reach me if I don’t.
Not without coming back here.
I squeeze my eyes closed and pull against the cuffs even harder. Pull until I really do feel a warm trickle of blood snaking down my arms.
