My shaky lungs struggle for a deep breath.
I’m fine.
No one has touched me like that. Just don’t take anything they give—
The crescendo of thoughts are silenced at the sound of metal scraping against metal, a key rattling in the lock as the door creeps open, the once white light leaking beneath the door now blinding me as the door groans against the hinges.
My eyes blink rapidly as they adjust to the burn behind my lids, my body scrambling backwards until my spine collides with the wall.
They broke my phone, took my gun.
I didn’t even have time to grab a knife on the way out from the Pit, but they’d have probably confiscated that too.
I’m utterly defenceless against them.
Again.
The only benefit I have is that drugs aren’t weakening my system.
Two shadows break the blinding light, and my hands palm the wall as I push to standing, my vision blurring with the motion from the head injury. A familiar voice has my jaw clamping.
“That’s not Regina?” Louisa asks, her voice merely above a whisper as she turns to face whoever has accompanied her.
Only their silhouettes are visible, but between her voice, and the same snicker that rattled my eardrum within their home, it fills in what my senses are catching up with. And he makes sure his voice is loud enough for me to hear.
Fucking Barry.
“No, it’s not, Louisa. Apparently, your sister doesn’t know how to follow simple instructions. I’m sure after her time here, she’ll learn.”
“Barry—”
His voice rises, shaking the entire room as the notes ricochet off all four walls. “She’s been fucking protecting her, Louisa! Both of them. Running around playing childish fucking games!” He snaps his head from her to me, hand reaching outside the door, and the light in my cell comes to life with a stuttered hum. “I warned you though, didn’t I, Indie?”
There’s no point lying about this now. It’s about time I cleared my best friend’s name. Show them they’ve won the real prize. “I don’t listen to men who scream like little fucking pussies.”
Now that I can see her perfectly, I see the moment something dark washes over Louisa, like a mask sliding into place. The sister I’ve seen on TV debates comes into play, shoulders back, spine as straight as a beam of steel.
She slips into her multiple personalities so easily, and now I wonder how I didn’t see them for what they were before. No one needs to hide behind that many faces, unless they have a dark secret.
Her voice drops low, threatening, and it’s a tone I’ve never heard from her before. “We know Regina is in Kingstone. She murdered a very important member of our society that she needs to answer for, Indie. We need her to be held accountable.”
When I don’t answer, she continues when Barry glares at her, stepping further into the cell. “You see, it took me a while to put it all together, and then things just started making sense. I saw her in the rental car we were looking for in the city. Right next to your old office. Saint justmagicallyappears back in the picture after years of you two being apart.”
She leans against the wall, all sharp suits and a gaze that feels like it’s slicing through my heart. “I set up the fake hit, hoping those two idiots would do us a favour and take each other out. But then you spun a cover story that you were in England withthem both not long after, when all along they had you hiding with them.”
“Nice to see you all tried to protect each other. Shame it’s not gonna work,” Barry mocks, mirroring Louisa’s position on the other end of the room.
They’re trying to play a psychological game with me here.
Both in a threatening stance, leaving the door wide open as if I have an opportunity at freedom, but vipers are known for their speed on latching onto their prey.
I won’t be lured into it.
My bite force is still to be shown.
“You’re my sister, Indie. I don’t want you getting hurt in this, but you can’t protect Regina forever. You have no idea what you’re up against. If you help us get both of them, you can walk away from this.”
I scoff, biting down the anxiety that’s threatening to drag me into a dark place I never want to visit again. Instead, I force everything inside me to channel the one that’s my old friend.
