Why the fuck can’t anyone tell me anything? I’m getting fucking tired of being the only one in this house who doesn’t get told anything. Nothing at all, and that’s bullshit.
I grab Carson by the shoulder, and he turns back around, his eyebrows drawn downward.
“I’m five seconds away from losing my shit. I need to know what the hell is going on. Why can’t anyone be honest with me? I’m kept in the dark about everything, Carson. Emris told me he wanted to let me know what’s going on so I had a better chance at keeping myself safe if the situation arises like it did at the hotel, but I can’t fucking do that if everyone still refuses to clue me in.” My chest is rising and falling, and right now I’m considering stealing Carson’s fucking car and leaving because I don’t want to be somewhere I feel as if I’m walking on eggshells.
“Brielle, please just give him time?—”
I don’t stand there and wait for him to keep coming up with excuses. I storm to the basement door and try to push it open, but it doesn’t budge the first time. I bring my foot up and kick the white wood as hard as I can, and the door slams open and hits whatever is on the other side. Carson yells at me to stop, but I don’t listen. I run down the stairs and almost lose my footing as I get to the bottom.
My eyes land on Emris, and bile rises in my throat.
Before me, Emris is covered in blood, and a man is chained to a metal chair, sobbing uncontrollably.
Emris has a knife in his hand as he cuts into his skin over and over again, not even noticing I’m here.
The sound of my name leaving someone’s mouth, who’s hidden in the shadows, is what breaks Emris’s concentration, and his eyes snap to mine.
He looks fucking wild. He?—
“Brielle. I told you not to come down here,” Emris growls, setting the knife down on a table a few feet away from where he was standing before taking a step closer to me.
I take one back, and that’s when that familiar voice sounds from the back of the room again.
“Brielle. Help me. P-please.”
No. No. It can’t be. Emris wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t.
I shake my head, looking at Emris and toward the voice.
“Susie?” I ask, my words barely a whisper, but the whole room is dead quiet, so I know everyone heard me.
“Emris? Why is Susie here, and this man?” I ask him, my chest pounding so hard that my vision blurs. My back hits the wall, and I steady myself.
“Brielle, go back upstairs. We can talk later,” Emris pleads, but I’m fucking over everyone telling me what to do.
“No. I will not go upstairs, Emris. It’s been two damn days since I’ve even had a conversation with you. Is this what you’ve been doing? Torturing people? Susie?”
His nostrils flare with anger, and I don’t care if I’m pushing him right now. I need answers, and if he won’t give them to me, I’ll get them myself. Emris only stares at me until I push off the wall and try to pass by him, needing to see Susie with my own eyes. But he doesn’t let me get far enough. His arm wraps around my waist and he pulls me back.
“Let me go, you fucking asshole!” I scream, kicking my legs, hoping to hit any part of him. But he’s too fucking tall and strong for someone my size to hurt him at all. He keeps me in a tight grip, my back to his chest as he stomps up the steps and then slams the basement door behind him. Carson is leaning against the kitchen island, drinking a beer as he watches the show.
“Put me down right fucking now, or I’ll find your gun, and this time I swear to God, I won’t miss!”
Emris grunts when I land a blow with my elbow into his ribs, but he doesn’t lessen his hold. If anything, it gets tighter. The second we pass through the room he first had me in, he tosses me on the bed and heads back toward the door, keeping the knob in his hand but not closing it yet. He looks over his shoulder at me, shooting me a venomous look.
“You’ll pay for the shit you just pulled, Brielle. I fucking told you to stay out of the basement for a fucking reason.” His eyes somehow darken even more. “You don’t understand what’s going on. But you don’t care, do you? It doesn’t fucking matter if I tell you something because it’s not like you’ll listen anyway,” he seethes in my direction. Tears build behind my eyes, and it takes everything in me not to let them fall.
“You’ve been ignoring me for days, Emris. Every time we’re in the same room, you find some reason to leave. After telling me you wanted to fill me in on everything going on. How can I trust you if you can’t tell me?” I meet his stare from across the room. “Why the hell are Susie and some man tied up in the basement?”
He’s not going to tell me shit. Not with the mood he’s currently in.
Emris runs a hand down his face and sighs, but his anger doesn’t lessen as he glances at me once more before walking to the door and closing it behind him. The lock engages, and I jump up from the bed and run to the door.
I try the doorknob and nothing. He fucking locked me in here. Again. No, he can’t do this. I bang my hand against the door with a yell.
“Emris, don’t fucking do this!” The tears I was desperately trying to hold back come rushing down my cheeks as I slide down the back of the door, a sob leaving my chest.
35
