I don't bother to respond. I'm beyond caring at this point.
When Nicholas barges in, his eyes ablaze with fury, I brace myself for the onslaught. “What the fuck have you done?”
Glancing down at my arms, I finally notice the angry red marks covering them, spreading like a venomous rash across my skin. My shoulders, neck, even my breasts, are marked with evidence of my feeble attempt to wash away the shame. “You told me to clean up,” I retort, my voice hollow. “So I did.”
“You worthless bitch!” Nicholas grabs a fistful of my hair and wrenches me out of the shower. “I won't lose money because of you.”
“The coke isn't cheap,” I mutter bitterly, earning a stinging slap across my face that sends me reeling. I drop to my knees, but he forces me back onto my feet, a wild look in his eyes. I struggle, clawing at his arm, but his grip only tightens as he slams me forcefully against the mirror.
The impact echoes through the room, my vision blurring as the glass cracks under the force. “You'll regret this, you fucking bitch!” he growls, his voice dripping with venom.
Despite the pain radiating through my skull, I can't help but giggle, a twisted mix of hysteria and defiance bubbling up within me. Nicholas bangs my head against the mirror again, each blow a perverse relief from the suffocating despair.
“Wrong night to push my buttons,” he snarls, his hands trembling as he produces a mound of coke on the counter. “You owe me your life.”
He forces my face down into the powder, my nostrils burning as blood mixes with the rest, choking me as I cough and gasp for air. “Good girl,” he sneers, a sickening smile twisting his lips. “Now get ready, they're waiting for you.”
My heart pounds in my ears, drowning out all other sounds. My vision flickers, coming and going like a distant memory. I shake my head in a futile attempt to clear the fog that clouds my mind, but it clings to me like a suffocating blanket.
Gripping the edge of the sink for support, I cast a frantic glance around the room, searching for an escape route. But with each step I take, the shards of broken mirror scattered at my feet remind me of the prison I'm trapped in. I let out a cry of pain as one cuts into my skin. Taking a deep breath, I try to push through the agony pulsating through my body. Slowly, the pain begins to ebb away, leaving behind a numbness that chills me to the bone. Peering into the fractured mirror, I'm greeted by a distorted reflection, a grotesque mockery of the person I once was.
The cracked images jeer at me, their laughter echoing in the empty room. “Poor little one, so desperate,” one taunts.
“Fallo!” Do it! another urges, a twisted grin stretching across its face.
The voices swirl around me, their mocking tones suffocating me. “You're too much of a coward to even save yourself,” they sneer.
“Wait till Marco finds out about tonight,” another voice chimes in, sending a fresh wave of panic coursing through me.
“Zitta!” Shut up! I scream, my fist connecting with the mirror in a desperate attempt to silence them.
“What was that?” the voices taunt, their laughter growing louder with each passing moment.
“Courage?” one mocks.
“You're too weak,” another sneers.
“I'm not!” I protest, but my words are drowned out by their relentless laughter.
I want them to stop.
I want them to disappear.
But no matter how hard I try, they're always there, haunting me, mocking me, reminding me of the person I've become.
Grabbing a jagged shard of broken mirror, I hold it up to my face, the metallic tang of blood staining its surface as it drips from my cut fingers. With a bitter laugh, I drag the edge along my forearm, the pain a welcome distraction from the turmoil inside me. I repeat the motion on the other arm before letting the shard fall from my grasp.
I'm done.
Even death seems preferable to this endless torment.
I'm coming, Mom.A crimson river flows down my legs, pooling on the tiles at my feet, a tangible reminder of the pain that courses through me.
CHAPTER 6
CHRIS
The atmosphere crackles with an electric tension as I lurk in the shadows, my anticipation tightening into a knot, ready to unleash chaos. With Zack and the alpha team as my backup, I'm moments away from detonating Nicholas' shipment. It's more than an attack; it's a declaration, a stark reminder of who truly holds the power. But something's off— an intuition that makes me signal Zack and the team to pause. Nicholas, for all his predictability, isn't a complete fool. He'd have his henchmen lurking, ready to safeguard his cargo with their lives.
