“What the hell, man? She’s bleeding all over my car.”
“I don’t care. Just get her out of here before the cops arrive. You know what’s at stake.”
Jimmy grumbles. “Fine, whatever. Where do you want me to take her?”
“Doesn’t matter. Anywhere. Just get rid of her.”
The door slammed shut, and I have no clue what happens, because my brain is still too messed up to register the passing of time. My consciousness is fleeting, and I can smell the scent of my own blood perforating the air, suffocating me.
The drive seems endless, even when it only lasts a few minutes.
The tires screech as the car comes to a halt somewhere off the beaten track. My door is opened, and I’m tugged out of the car by my feet. The driver drags me into the woods, but I know this place by heart. Priory Forest.
If only the trees could whisper, they would tell him how many bodies our family has left strewn all around these roots. His will be next.
My eyes burst open, and he immediately releases me, nearly falling over his own feet as he backtracks.
“Listen, it was just a job. I don’t know what’s going on, don’t blame me. You’ll be alright. I gotta go.”
He darts off, and I can briefly hear footsteps among the fallen leaves, and then the loud roaring of his car’s motor before he rushes off.
Silence.
My hands slowly come back to life, and I touch my skin to graze the wounds left behind, none so violent as the one between my legs. The aching makes me pull my fingers back, and I look at the blood spread all over my hands, turning my eyes red with rage.
I scream, the loudest scream I’ve ever released into these woods, before I turn around and crawl through the mud, inch by inch, toward the one thing I’m owed…
Revenge.
Atreus
Present
Her words echoin my mind.
The horror she’s gone through is beyond what anyone would be able to cope with.
Her body, her organ, her choice was stolen away from her.
Nothing—and I mean nothing—could ever compare to that kind of anguish.
It would drive anyone mad.
Even me.
And maybe now … I finally understand how one could become a killer like her.
I caress her cheek with my thumb. “You’re safe here. No one’s going to hurt you.”
It pains me to my core that she’s had to live with this pain in solitude for so long. No one should have to suffer like that.
Her eyes twitch as her tears have all dried up again. “They already did.” Her voice is full of disdain and mistrust toward the system I helped maintain.
I avert my gaze.
How could I even look at her when her misery is partly caused by my inability to protect this city?
The system failed her.
