This was pure and utter torture, far worse than any I’d ever experienced. My vision blurred red for a split second as something violent and uncontrollable snapped tight in my chest.
Mine.
“No.” The word came out low.
Final.
He didn’t get to step into my place, making me disposable. The thought alone made my hands clench into fists, my knuckles cracking. He knew what she was to me. It was why he did this in the first place. She was carrying my baby, needing me now more than ever before.
This wasn’t just about taking me down, it was about takingeverythingfrom me.
My freedom.
My control.
My future.
Her.
Specifically,mybaby.
“Fuck…” I shoved away from the wall, pacing faster now, energy spiking sharp and erratic under my skin.
I didn’t think he had it in him, I didn’t think he’d go that far, and that was my mistake. I underestimated him, thinking blood and loyalty meant something.
It didn’t.
Not to him. Now I was suffering the consequences for every last one. I dragged in a breath, deep and steady, forcing my thoughts to slow. Panicking didn’t help. I was losing control, and that was what he craved. He wanted me to sit in here and unravel, finally break, so when I got out,ifI got out, I wouldn’t be the same.
A slow, dangerous calm settled over me. I refused to give him the satisfaction. Every second in here, every one of my thoughts and questions, every ounce of rage, fueled something useful inside me.
My gaze dropped to my hands, and they were steady now. I wanted him to understand exactly what he did to me. Exactly what it cost him. A flicker of something darker moved through me.
This wasn’t just about him anymore.
It was about her too.
My chest tightened again, but I didn’t push it away this time. I let it sit until it became a part of me. I needed to feel it, having to remember what was truly at stake.
“Why haven’t you visited me?” I asked the empty space, voice lower now, rougher.
I thought an answer might actually appear, like she might step through my cell at any second and look at me the way she always did. Like she was still mine and I was still hers, but the cell stayed closed. I could fight a lot of things, including my little brother. It was the silence that I couldn’t fight.
If she was choosing him… If she was with him right now… If she was letting him stand where I should be… If he was touching her, comforting her, being there for her…
My hands suddenly gripped the steel bars, wishing I could pry them open.
If I started believing all of this, allowing it to make itself home inside my mind, there wouldn’t be anything left of me that wasn’t rage. And anger alone wasn’t enough to hold on to her.
She was pregnant and vulnerable, looking for some stability, and if I wasn’t there, he definitely was. I had no doubt that he had only turned me in to get more time with her. It was the only way he could win, or so he thought…
Fuck him.
A dark, bitter taste filled my mouth. He’d play her protector, the steady one, the one who stayed, the one who would use whatever he could to his advantage while I wasn’t there to defend myself. She wouldn’t replace me. She couldn’t. Not after everything we’d been through.
Not after us.
The doubt never left me, becoming my only companion.
