If I processed my memories a little bit better, anytime he said that or anything else, his gaze was always empty, neutral, even though his smile was always there. I thought it was all in my head, thatsomeoneinside me was interfering with my reality. This behaviour usually made me ignore any imperfection I saw.
Today, he is not here when we reach the same spot I have been to a month ago, near to the waterfall’s origin. But my gaze and Lucas’s stop somewhere lower, close to the water. It looks like a normal place, with a cliff from where the water flows on its natural course, but the flowers next to the water aren’t so innocent.
“Something tells me we’re in the right place,” Lucas says, thinking about the flowers of 10.000 pounds presented by the florist.
Blake looks confused at both of us, not knowing what this is about, but we don’t have time to explain, because I feel like the ground under my feet is moving. I would’ve fallen off my feet if it weren’t for Lucas.
I push the protective feeling and his warmth aside the moment I see the opening in the cliff. The water that was falling over it moved to one side, somehow keeping its course on the bottom. A thick white smoke surrounds us, and behind the cliff, a grizzled man, around 50 years old, comes to approach us, smiling, his hands behind his back. He is dressed in a grey suit with a white shirt and black shoes, all of which nicely complements his age. I can feel Lucas squeezing my arms and getting me behind him.
From the way he is acting and protecting me, I realise who is the massive man with a head taller than Lucas addressing us.
Cathal.
“I was waiting for you," he says in a calm voice, but gruesome enough to make me tremble while he is analysing me.
His gaze becomes harsher when he looks over to Lucas.
“Cat got your tongue, Lucas? Our last talk didn’t seem to finish. You had so much to say," he says with a derisive laugh.
His glare gets to Blake, and his smile disappears from his face. The only thing remaining is pure rage.
“And you… I didn’t trust you from the beginning, but I trusted Lucas. You both betrayed me, and there will be consequences to your actions," he says in a strong voice, which has a trace of sadness in it. “Take them!” He shouts abruptly.
Behind him, a lot of masked men appear. We don’t get a chance to move, all of us being thrown to the ground. A thick, black smoke quickly spreads around us, obscuring our surroundings. My gaze becomes foggy. I feel my eyes close, my thoughts drifting to an obscure universe.
Chapter 13
Back to the dark side
LUCAS
My eyes open abruptly after I feel my face going to one side. For a moment there, my vision is blurry, and I’m not able to really see the shadows around me, but when I feel a slap on my other cheek, my gaze illuminates instantly.
In front of me is Cathal, smiling, amused.
“I guess the princess woke up.”
His biting tone fills me with pure rage.
I try to reach for him, but I realise that I can’t move my hands. All of my limbs are tied in chains on the lower part of the wall, so I can’t move my legs to kick him in the face either.
“You will only get them off with a tank,doll,” Cathal says while I am nervously agitating.
Ugh, how much I want to erase that stupid smile off his face.
I can’t believe how many years I trusted this shithead. I fell into the trap of a man who lost his family. I don’t get why the hell I haven’t discovered earlier what kind of a psychopath he was. Ijust had to see with my own eyes how much I wanted to get away from him once I found out how he tortured his victims.
The things done by his own hands didn’t even compare to the ones made by me or even fucking Marshall.
Usually, he wasn’t staining his hydrated and full-of-rings hands with others’ blood. He was doing it through us, the ones who weren’t allowed to leave and who were motivated to stay put for good reasons.
One of them included the fact that he did stain his hands with blood, but only if someone betrayed him. No one wanted that treatment, especially since I saw what he was capable of. I was present at many dark acts, but I somehow gained the courage to run.
I was stupid, because I knew what would happen. I will be traumatised for life if I survive his torture.
“If you like the pain so much, let me help you,” the devil says, breaking my long flow of thoughts after a moment of silence.
I think he is getting too bored.
