AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They shift to Wells, commending his strides in the trial, his years as a SEAL, and his erasing business. Since the Cabrini chair handles data mining, my husband’s expertise is well suited. He fields their inquiries with the resolute poise he always conveys as I look on with pride.
He’s mine.
Gradually, their voices whir to a muffled din. I feel myself slipping. Drifting. Unable to hold on. There’s nothing to grip. The edges are black and smoky. It’s cold. So cold that my limbs don’t work.
Frozen. Limp. Indolent.
I have to get out of here.
The air tastes like gray clouds and rusty snow and loss.
It’s slippery and …
My neck is heavy. Why is it so heavy?
I’m not there. I’m not there.
My father.No.He’s gone.Gone.I was too late.
They killed him. The stress killed him.
That monster.
His face explodes. Brains and bone and flesh.
Gore.
In my hair.
Skin stained. Crimson and purple.
My breaths are so loud, so drowning.
Click. Clack.
The shower and incessant squeak of windshield wipers.
I’m supposed to choose. To prove myself. To kill them.
They hunted me.
I can’t hear Wells or find him.
Four of them hold me down. Biting and kicking and spitting. But they win.
No.They don’t. They’re wrong.
Wells should be here. Why isn’t he here? Or real?
My ring hurts, pinches.
The collar. My fingers scrape against it, the jewels and iciness andskin.
And the voice,a ripple in a pond.
Wells.
“… have to forgive me. Ivanna may be your impressive O’Reilly chair, but she’s my queen, and I can’t seem to hide my obsession.” His chair is beside me now, fingers clasping mine as another hand subtly pinches the back of my neck.
