Leaning forward, she gives us a serious look.
“Augustus is going to use your men to lure you out of hiding,” she states bluntly. “And to get them back, we’re going to have to let him.”
Chapter 26
As I continue staringinto the unyielding darkness, time seems to stretch and warp, slipping through my grasp like water through clenched fists. The echoes of my past mistakes haunt me in this inky abyss, and I findmyself drowning in the choices I've made, particularly in underestimating the depth of my father's malevolence.
His insanity.
How could we have been so stupid? Of course, he’d make a move when we least expected it. I just don’t understand why.
Beneath the never-ending questions and self-loathing is worry. I’m so fucking terrified for my family.
My thoughts are consumed by my brothers. Are they alive? Are they okay? Are they here? God, I hope they aren’t fucking here. Nothing good comes from this hell. And Maddox. How bad was the gunshot?
I groan, shaking my head, the only body part I can move.
The guilt of not being able to protect them gnaws at me, a relentless reminder of my failure.
You did this.
It’s your fault.
Your fault.
I grit my teeth, shaking the thoughts away.
My mind doesn’t clear for long, because under all that shit is what I’m really hiding from. Under all that, it's Ella who occupies my mind the most. Her gorgeous freckled face. Her sweet, husky voice. The warmth of her soft touch. All of it flashes before my eyes, taunting me with the unknown.
Is she okay?
Is she hurt?
Cold?
Sad?
Is she alive?
I’m tormented by thoughts of her. Consumed by them. I’ve survived this place before, but I’ve always done it alone. Now, I have so much to live for. I have a family. A future.Fuck.
A beautiful future with a beautiful girl—one I never thought I’d be lucky enough to deserve.
I've been in this darkness before, but this time it's different. This time she's outside these walls and I can't reach her. The realization of my helplessness claws at my chest. I feel like half of my soul is fucking missing.
I have no doubt that’s why he’s had me shackled to the wall, naked and unable to move, not even to take a piss. He did it because he knows I’d pull this cell apart, brick by fucking brick to get to them, to her. He knows there’s nothing that would kill me more than feeling so damn stripped of myself and the fragile control I hold on to.
Each agonizing moment spent in this inescapable situation intensifies my need to find her, to hold her close, to make sure she's safe. To never let her out of my sight again. But for now, all I can do is hope and pray to a god I don’t believe in that she's unharmed and somehow, against all odds, we'll find a way back to each other.
I can feel the gnawing hunger clawing at my stomach, demanding attention, but I ignore it. My focus is elsewhere, locked on the haunting memories of those final moments when I last saw my brother and Ella, covered in blood, her screams echoing in the air as she was mercilessly torn away from us.
Time blurs as I slide in and out of fitful sleep, each time thrusting me back into the nightmares that replay those traumatic scenes. They mix with my childhood, memories of Madd tied to chairs while being forced to watch me take a beating for him. I see him crying. I see my mother crying. And then I’m tossed into a memory that doesn’t even belong to me.
Ella’s.
Hunter’s.
The horror show they shared with us just the other night. I wasn’t there, but fuck, I feel like I was. I’ve heard her screams when the nightmares have woken her up. I’ve held her whileshe’s been thrown into the past. And Hunter, God, I’ve seen the poor fucker ask to be killed because he’s so wrecked over it.
