AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Does he have a hard time deciding? Is he weighting his options?
He must know that ultimately he will have to make a choice, regardless of what Michele has planned. That was the entire purpose of this spectacle.
"Let's get this over with," Raf grits his teeth.
"Wonderful," Michele exclaims. "This last trial is a little more tricky though. Or, should I say life and death?" he chuckles to himself.
Raf stiffens at his words, but I can see he's doing his best to not betray too much.
But I know. Ialwaysknow. I see every slightly move, every twitch in his jaw, every eye motion and Iknow.
He's fighting himself.
"What did you have in mind?"
His eyes rove over the wall in front of him, and I have to wonder if he can still see us—if he can see the anguish on my face at the thought that he would forsake me for another.
"Rather simple. You see, each one of those ladies partook in the meals I supplied. That in turn means they are currently in the digestion stage of a very potent poison that will reach their bloodstream and kill them in about…" he pauses for dramatic effect. "Fifteen minutes. Unless you administer the antidote, of course. But there is only one."
I breathe out lightly. I hadn't expected that and I should have. Of course Michele wouldn't just take a gun and shoot us, or do anything of that nature. Since his objective is psychological torture, what better way to stretch Raf to his limit than by offering the simplest choice.
He'll decide who dies and who survives—by his own hand.
Raf's mouth opens and closes as his fists clench in anger. He's trying to control himself, but I can see he's on the verge of exploding.
Choose me.
"On the table before you, you'll find a syringe with the antidote in it. Once you've decided who you'll save and who you'll damn, simply go through the door to your right. You'll find there everything you need," Michele laughs before his transmission ends. But not before the screen also flickers shut.
Panic unlike any other erupts in my gut at not being able to see him—to gauge his feelings. I'm now totally blind in this and I don't like it.
I try to control my breathing, but nothing works.
He doesn't know. He doesn't know anything. And now…
Andreas removes Lucero's blindfold and ear mufflers before leaving the room as well.
I turn my head, my gaze making contact with Lucero's. There's regret in her eyes, and something more. But I can't dwell on that. Not when it's me or her. And this isnotjust survival. No, this is about who gets Raf.
No one else can get him.
A sharp pain develops in my left side, and I belatedly realize it's my heart seizing in the face of these implications—in the face of the fact that I may lose him forever.
And that's simply out of the question.
I struggle to breathe and my body starts spasming, the hum of errant electricity clogging my ears and drowning me in a sea of what-ifs.
But as my senses shut down on me, as my sight and hearing cease to function, it's to see things through my mind's eye, listen to sounds long forgotten.
Another succession of images appears before me, all showing me one thing—the me before, thetrueme.
I see the love and the passion. But I also see something else.
Destruction. So much destruction.
All in the name of love.
All in the name of thateternal love.
