A sob tore from me, and Forge’s head snapped around, his eyes landing on me.The empty blackness only made me cry harder.Where was the man who had been in that room with me just minutes ago?The one I had fallen in love with.
He lowered the blade from Calvin’s neck, and Oz was behind him, locking his arms back and pulling him away.Calvin’s feet hit the ground with a thud as Forge let him go.
“Take her and go,” Oz told Calvin.
“NO!”Forge roared, fighting against his brother’s hold.
“Now,” Oz added.
Calvin’s gaze swung from Oz to me.The terror in his gaze as he waited for me to do something hurt my heart.I’d put him here.He’d gone through that because of me.But leaving meant …
I turned my tear-filled eyes to Forge.The brutal, disturbing gleam was gone.I could see the silent plea and the distress.I knew that I would fall apart over and over again as I replayed this moment in my head.It would haunt me for the rest of my life.
But I also knew I couldn’t stay.Not with a man who was going to kill my best friend.His own cousin.The level of deranged that took would destroy us both in the end.He didn’t love me.I was the one who would suffer the most because even now, I was still in love with him.I’d become a possession for him.Something he wanted to keep until he no longer wanted it.
I was too broken already.I couldn’t fix him too.We were two wounded souls who would never work.
Dropping my gaze to the floor, I walked toward Calvin.I couldn’t look at Forge while I left.
“Elsie, no,” Forge pleaded.
Another sob shook me, but I kept walking.I had to.He wasn’t mentally well.Something had to be wrong with him.
When I reached Calvin, he took my arm, and a roar rattled the walls.I jumped, and Calvin almost broke into a run.
“NOOOO!”Forge’s voice tore through me, shredding all that was left of my heart.
“Hurry,” Calvin told me, and I had to jog to keep from being dragged behind him.
I could hear Oz talking to Forge, and I hoped he would be okay.One of us needed to be, and it would never be me.
Forge Savelle had been the cause of my greatest joy and the reason for my complete shattering.
Forty-Seven
Forge
I could hear the sound of someone putting in the code to the door above the ground where I was currently being held.It must be Kash with food.He was the one I saw the most.I’d lost track of time or even the day.I dozed off some, but I didn’t know how long I slept, and I didn’t fucking care.The stupid ass mattress they’d hauled down here for me to use didn’t get much use.
The heavy footsteps drew closer, and I laid my head against the concrete wall and turned it to see who was coming for a visit.The sight of Oz wasn’t welcome, and I snarled angrily.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”I asked, not caring if I ever saw his goddamn face again.Traitorous bastard.
He sighed.“Mom found out that we had you locked up down here and is not happy.”
“So, they sent you to free me?”I asked, surprised.
He cut his eyes at me as he went to get the key to the locks around my wrists.“Yeah, what?You think you can hurt me?You need to grow a little more first.”
I hated him.Motherfucker had let her go.I didn’t even get to talk to her.Explain, apologize.She’d have stayed with me.
“Your order is to go to the house, stay with Mom.Dad is in charge of making sure you don’t take off and go kill Mom’s only nephew.”
That was what had gotten me here, wasn’t it?Trying to kill the fucker because he’d touched her.Rage simmered under my skin, and I tried to tamp it down.I had to if I was ever going to get her back.
“You can seethe and hate me all you want, but if you’d killed him, you’d have not only lost her, but destroyed her.He’s her best friend.Her parents were fucking murdered, Forge.And she almost witnessed you murder the only family she has left.He is all she has,” Oz said and shook his head.“But you fall in love and turn into a lunatic psychopath who has to be locked up underground to keep you from going on a damn killing spree.”
The sound of her sobbing sliced through me like a constant torture device I couldn’t stop.It was relentless.I didn’t need a goddamn reminder of it.I would never forgive myself for what I had done to her.
