I’m next.
I bet the three of them don’t even understand the weight of what they’ve just done. They probably just stepped over the body as though it’s nothing and are now sitting down to a nice, refreshing whiskey, using the doctor’s body as a footrest. Fucking bastards.
He had children, and now those children are going to grow up never knowing their father, all because I had to go and open my mouth about the girl they knocked up. How am I supposed to live with myself now? He was trying to warn me, trying to protect me from this vile evil and I couldn’t help myself.
I was reckless. Foolish. What was I thinking? I could have waited until the doctor was safely out of here, but even if I had, they would have just tracked him down. I should have kept quiet. I should have protected him like he protected me, but I never imagined that it would come to this. How could I have known?
His blood is on my hands.
Bile rises in my throat and I slap a hand over my mouth as I hit the top step and race down the long hallway, desperately trying to remember which of these rooms was a bathroom.
I start kicking in doors, and by the time I hit the third one, I find what I’m looking for and immediately drop to my knees in front of the toilet. I heave, throwing up what little remains in the pit of my stomach. Over and over again until a cold sweat takes over and I’m left shivering on the bathroom floor.
Tears sting my eyes, and before I know it, I’m tearing off my clothes and crawling across the cold tiles to the shower. I reach up to turn on the taps and expect to have cold water, but there’s nothing cold about it. I press my back against the wall and curl my knees into my chest as the water rushes down over me, drenching my hair and sailing over my skin like some kind of security blanket.
I see my reflection in the shower glass and I realize that it’s the first time I’ve seen myself since being taken from my apartment. I look like a fucking mess. There are deep bags under my eyes and my long brunette hair is dry and uncared for, but it’s the fear in my blue eyes that makes it nearly impossible to recognize myself.
My eyes are usually bright and full of life because no matter what, I’m a fighter. I’ve always searched for the positive, but now, I’ve never seen them so bleak, so unfamiliar and dull. I’m a stranger to myself.
What is this place doing to me?
It isn’t until a shadow falls over me that I realize I never shut the bathroom door, but glancing up to see Roman standing over me, it dawns on me that I don’t even care. What does it matter at this point? I’m dead inside, and it’s not like he’s not going to see my naked body at some point. Hell, he’s been stalking me for the past few months, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already seen it.
My gaze shifts over his face and my stomach churns at the sight of the doctor’s blood splattered all over his body, but what’s worse is the way Roman seems to wear it like a trophy.
My eyes drop away and I go right back to staring at the marble pattern in the tiles, hoping that if I don’t say a word, that he might just go away.
A silent moment passes before he lets out a sigh, and for a fleeting second, it almost seems as though he gives a shit, but I know that’s not right. “We had no choice,” he tells me, his tone factual and straight to the point. “Marcus went in unprotected. It was either that or meet just how brutal my father’s gun can be, and we’re not nearly done with you yet.”
My head snaps up and I look him right in the eye. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You think I’m up here having a tantrum over the fact that you forced birth control on me, rather than what you just did to the doctor? You shot him. You just took his life like it was nothing.”
His brows furrow and he glances to the side, deep thought crossing his face. “That’s … what your problem is? That I killed that little snitch?”
I gape at him. There’s no saving them when they don’t even understand just how wrong they are. “You’re fucking kidding me, right? You murdered him in cold blood. You stole his life because he tried to warn me about you three. You’re a fucking monster. He didn’t deserve that. He had family at home.”