Page 49 of Break Me
She casts her eyes up at me, and they’re full of a soul-shattering sorrow that goes straight to my heart and cuts deep into it. I wonder if she has regretted her choice. I need to ask her—find out if she still wants to be mine. I need to know. No matter if I can keep her or not. But first, I need to know that Dorin hasn’t harmed her.
“Say something. Can you speak? Does your voice work?” There’s no cut in her throat or anything to indicate it wouldn’t, but this fear that keeps slamming my heart against my chest knows no logic.
A frown etches between her brows. “Of course,” she mutters in a low voice. “Why wouldn’t it work?”
I heave a loud sigh and sink to my haunches, burying my head in my hands.
“Is everything okay?” she asks tentatively, pushing up to sit.
Usually, I wouldn’t tell her what’s going on. I wouldn’t show her that I’m afraid. Or relieved. I’d hide all those emotions far behind my well-practiced façade. But as I sit there, reeling from all the anger, hurt, and fear of the last two days—about to lose her—I find that I don’t want to hide from her.
“Dorin might come after you.” I drop my arms to my thighs. “He’s furious with me. And rightly so. But I’ve found a buyer for you. He’ll come get you tomorrow. I just have to keep you away from Dorin for the next twenty-four hours or so and you’ll be safe.”Away from me, but safe.
“Why is he mad?”
I scoff. “Not mad. Murderously livid.”
“Why?”
I move to sit beside her on the mattress and carefully slide my hand onto the bandaged wound on her stomach. “I made that girl pay for cutting you.”
She freezes beside me, and her throat bobs with a gulp as she turns her head to face me with wide eyes. “What did you do to her?”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” I say, lifting my hand to caress her cheek.
She pulls away from my touch, eyes filling with horror. “Did you kill her?”
“No.” I try to pull her into me, badly needing to feel her, but she pushes out of my grip.
“What did you do to her?”
“Calm down, the girl is alive. I just clipped her vocal cords.” I’ve had quite a few orders for that lately, so it’s a perfectly safe procedure for me to perform—at least, so it has become through trial and error.
She freezes, staring at me like I just killed her puppy. Or more like I sliced it up and gutted it in cold blood right in front of her.
“No, no, no,” she finally says. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
“She hurt what’s most precious to me, so I hurt what’s most precious to her.”
She keeps moving farther away, onto the stone floor, as she shakes her head.
“She... You took her voice.” Accusation fills her voice and morphs into something that looks a great deal like hatred. An emotion that’s entirely misplaced in her vulnerable, innocent face as it twists her features. “She can’t sing anymore?”
“No, she can’t,” I reply with irritation, reaching for her.
She slaps my hand away—she fucking slaps my hand. Rage crackles inside me, but I shove it down, knowing it will only make everything worse. She’s in shock, and my anger will only aggravate it.
I grab her by the waist and haul her into my lap, wrapping my arms tight around her as I trap her arms between us.
“Let me go!” She writhes against me, chafing her heels on the rough ground as she kicks her feet to get free.
“Calm down, you’re in shock. Just let me hold you and help you take a few deep breaths and you’ll feel better.”
“Fuck you and your deep breaths.” She digs her nails into me so hard I think my skin breaks beneath my T-shirt. “I don’t want you to hold me. You’re a monster. I don’t know how I could ever be so weak and let you get under my skin. You fucking disgust me!” She spits the words into my face with a vehemence I haven’t seen for years.
I lean back in shock, staring at the furious beast of a woman who watches me like I’m the devil himself. No, even worse. Like I’m scum. Disgusting and vile. Like she truly means those words.
“You don’t mean that,” I say, though it’s very fucking hard to believe with the way she’s glaring knives and daggers at me.