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Because she wasn’t waking at her baby’s cries, I thought for a moment she had overdosed. Then I saw her fingers twitch. A very small part of me was relieved. It was the tiny part that was grateful she had interrupted Buck and, unfortunately, pulled his wrath toward her instead of my back.
Why did she help me?
The baby continued to cry, pushing that question to the back of my mind. If he kept crying like that, he’d probably wake Buck. I wasn’t ready to take him on again and I didn’t care to see what he’d do to Amelia for not tending to his spawn.
“Hey,” I whispered and got no response. I spotted my shoe, the one Buck had ripped off, near the radiator. Hissing and grunting through the pain, I crawled as far as the chains would let me, which was about three feet at most but was enough to easily reach my shoe. I scooped it up and tossed it at her. It landed on her chest. She twitched a little but didn’t wake up.
I glanced at the basket and noticed a plastic grocery bag of supplies next to it. I let out an irritated sigh through flared nostrils.I have no fucking choice!
I reached and I was able to grab the lip of the flimsy basket and pull it closer. I stared down at the crying baby. The very sight of him made me want to roar down at him.
I can’t do this.
You have no choice.
It took more strength to reach into the basket and scoop him up than it had to not scream as Buck had whipped me repeatedly.
I was surprised for a moment at how light he felt. I bounced my arms a little to soothe him, all while ignoring the barking pain from my back. His cries lessened but didn’t stop. He kept turning his face toward my chest or sucking on his little fist. He was clearly hungry.
I eyed Amelia with disdain. I was grateful for what she had done, but at that moment I would have strangled her if I’d been able to reach her.
I reached for the grocery bag. Inside, I found five diapers, a package of wipes, and four premade formula bottles. I grabbed one of the tiny bottles. I ripped off the plastic seal, then the lid covering the bottle’s nipple. The moment I put the nipple to the baby’s lips, he latched on and began sucking like he was starved.
I sighed, relieved to finally get him to shut up. I didn’t want to look down at him as he fed, but the tiny noises he made tempted me. Biting my lip, I gave in and glanced down. He was staring up at me, fixated, as if he found me fascinating. Even in the darkened room, I could see his eyes were an icy blue like his mother’s.
I released my lip and the taste of copper leaked into my mouth. “I’ve debated killing you,” I whispered to him and licked my lip clean. “So this means nothing. Doing this is beneficial to me. Nothing more.”
Once the baby was done feeding, I changed his diaper and wrapped him up in his pale blue blanket like a burrito. With his needs met, I didn’t have to rock him in my arms for long. He fell asleep quickly. After placing him back in his basket, I returned him to his mother’s side as if nothing had ever happened.
Scooting back, I made the mistake of leaning against the post. Hissing, I screamed every curse word I knew in my head. For a good minute, I had to just focus on breathing. As I did, I stared down at my bare thighs. My pants and underwear were still hanging on by one ankle. Moving stiffly, I began to put them back on. Once I got my pants up, I noticed the phone I’d lifted off the Aryan I’d killed in the bathroom was still in the back pocket.
I pulled it out, shaking my head.What fucking idiots.Intelligence apparently was not a requirement to join the Aryans. Staring at the phone, I was looking at my second opportunity to escape. Only a fool wouldn’t use it.
I began dialing a phone number and my finger hesitated over the call button. I was as terrified as I was desperate to push it. With the release of a breath, I hit it and brought the phone to my ear. It rang and rang until the voicemail picked up.
“Hey, you’ve reached Louie…”
The sound of his carefree and joyful voice made my eyes burn. I hung up quickly and squeezed the phone in my hand to help me keep it together. I grabbed hold of my rage like a lifeline and used it to push back the need to fall apart. Only one tear escaped, and I quickly wiped away the evidence. I dialed another number and brought it back to my ear.
It rang three times before a tired voice answered. “Hello.”
“Stefan,” I said in a low voice.
The exhaustion in my father’s voice evaporated instantly. “Maura?”
“I’ve killed two of them. I have two left.”
“Do you know where you are?” he asked.
“No.”
“Stay on the phone,” he ordered, and I could hear him moving. By his breathing, he was moving fast.
“I can’t let you trace the call.” I sounded worn out even to my own ears.
“Why?” he demanded before I heard him tell someone in the background that I was on the phone.
“Because there’s two left,” I answered.
