“Thanks, Daddy, for telling me Zioh was here,” Cindy said with pointed emphasis. Her sparkling eyes locked on Zioh. “The moment you told me, I came straight here.” Her smile stretched wider.
A shiver tore down my spine.
Her smile was a nightmare, and her following words made it worse.
“Because Zioh promised me he would take responsibility.”
47
Zioh
Cindy.
Her voice sent a surge of terror crawling under my skin.
I couldn’t breathe.
I fought with everything in me so my body wouldn’t become numb, but it had nothing left to give.
Everything about Cindy spun through my brain, but her words were louder than anything else. I remembered it clearly: how my heart had threatened to stop, or how the nausea had kept crawling up to my throat. Every time I had opened the door, she had been there. At my door, sometimes in my living room.In my bedroom.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I spoke with a tremor in my voice, as if I were staring at a corpse instead of a human being. “I’m your girlfriend! I need to know where you live!” I glared at her, disgust rising in my throat. “You’re not just a whore.” I snapped, my voice cold. “You’re crazy, too.” “How dare you, Zioh?! You promised me everything! You’ll take responsibility—” I gulped. “I never said that to you!” And in the blink of an eye, she surged toward me, pulling my head in her hand to whisper something before claiming my lips and forcing my shirt open.
Alongside Dad, she was one of the devils—a demon who never stopped shadowing us. Even my little brother—because of me, because of this cursed woman, Zeraiah was dragged into my darkness. He had to suffer, fell into the pitbecause of me.
My chest knotted whenever the memory surfaced.
Every word Dad ever spat was right…
I was defective.
When her brown eyes met mine, I wanted to end it right then and there. My fingers curled into a tight fist. I became that crazy person again, openingthe CCTV app, checking whether her face would show up, whether she’d find me again. I could still feel the heat burning behind my eyes, how my cheeks were wet, and my head spun. How alcohol littered the floor—because the moment Cindy was gone, I finally woke up to it. To what had happened,to what I had done.
Whenever I even considered not listening to Zaeem, to wait until he found the ‘right’ way to fix everything, her damn voice would echo in my head.“You wouldn’t dare try to get rid of me, again, Zioh! Don’t even think about reporting me again! You remember what I have, don’t you? It won’t just be you who will ruin, babe. Your little brother, too!”
One, two, three, four—breathed in. One, two, three, four—I exhaled my shaky breath, though it felt like nothing. My head was stuffed. It was so full and so noisy—one, two, three—“hhh.” Four.
I made myself glance around. Cars. Cars. Tsabinu. Zaeem. And… Tshabina.
I couldn’t feel my hands, but there was warmth.
Her touch.
I glanced at Tshabina; she was frozen at my side. She looked unsteady, but she was there, holding me tight. Her face tautened with tension, but her eyes… were speaking to me, carrying meanings so deep they settled my chaos.
At least… you, me, our past and our present… This was real.We were real.
She was the traitor. She started it all. She and your dad.
I swallowed hard, a heavy lump clawing down my throat. Sweat drenched my palms, pain prickled there, and the pain almost soothed me. I focused on Tshabina’s grip; it was warm and firm.She is here.She is beside me.
My eyes clamped shut. What did Ihave to say to her?
When I opened my eyes, I glared at Cindy, then my dad.To hell with all of you.And with a sudden pull, I seized Tshabina’s arm.
I had to get her out. I had to drag us both away from this hell. I headed for my car, ignoring the chaos around me. My name was shouted, there were curses, snarls, and even Tshabina’s voice calling after me. “Zioh, wait—”
She couldn’t be here.
