Page 97 of The Harbinger
“Why did you choose to live so far away from the city?”
Ivan opened the door, thunder reverberating in the distance. I sidestepped him, making sure not to brush against him as Sacha rounded the back of the car.
“Because I enjoy my privacy.” He buttoned his suit jacket and opened the house door. “And so no one can hear the screams.”
My muscles tightened as I slipped the heels from my feet.
Whose screams was he referring to?
Mine? My skin flushed.
Or were they Nina’s?
“You’re thinking too much.” He gripped my sides, low on my hips, and squeezed. His warm breath tickled the baby hairs on my neck, sending shivers racing down my electrified skin. “This was my mother’s house, and I made a promise.”
That would explain the feminine touch of filigree and yellows, which were in stark contrast to everything Sacha was to his very core.
His breath whispered against my neck as he pressed his hardness against my backside. My breathing faltered for a fraction of a second before I swiped his hands off my hips and stalked into the kitchen. A pain stabbed at my throat as it constricted.
I’m disgusting.
Having his hands on me should send revulsion swirling in my belly like bile waiting to spew.
So why did I have to shake off the mania that encompassed me when his hands caressed my skin or when his voice lowered to that epicurean pitch. Why did he stir something inside of me other than vile hatred?
The aromatic scent of beef and pepper drove my nose in the air as I opened the fridge and rifled through it despite Francesco working over the stove to create dinner.
You have to eat.Lexi lectured me as though she stood checking out the fridge’s contents beside me.I can’t, Lexi. It hurts too much.
I stilled, my breath freezing in my lungs, not recognizing my own voice for a moment. “Lexi.”
“Who?” Sacha asked, standing beside me.
I tipped my gaze up his tall frame, his shaped brows furrowing.
Tell them, Lex.A sharp buzz lashed out against my eardrum, causing my knees to buckle. My hand wrapped around the fridge door, the only thing stopping me from crashing onto the floor.Don’t let them do this.
“Mia?” Sacha’s fingers clasped over my shoulder as a bolt of lightning struck my temporal lobe.
A wretched scream poured from my throat, clashing with the startling clang of pots and pans.
You need help, mimi.
“No.” I shook my head as the ice pick dug around inside my brain. “I’m better. He made me better.”
“Who did,milaya. What are you saying? Who’s Lexi?”
I slammed the heels of my palms against my ears as the incessant buzzing drowned out the humming voices assaulting me.
Two strong hands hold down my upper arms as they force a strap across my chest. “Mom, please. It was an accident. Daddy…”
Mom stands at the hospital door, watching as the men strap me to the stretcher, her face buried in her hands as she cries. My father stands beside her, his arms wrapped around her shaking shoulders.
Despite my pleas, the men move down my body and strap me to the bed for transport. My parents are sending me away. They’ve given up on me.
Lexi’s small frame peers between my father’s and mother’s side, and tears pour down my face. How could they let her witness this—their betrayal?
“I hate you,” I seethe as they wheel me past them and through the hospital room door. I scream. Panic strikes my chest, the strap hinders my lungs from expanding. Yet I still rage at my parents, flinging curses their way. Poison seeps from my tongue, lashing out around the hospital hall and through the ambulance doors. I scream and thrash until my voice grows hoarse, and blood seeps into the fresh bandages binding my wrists.