Page 8 of Catch My Fall

“Despite what you might think, I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but you can blame your brothers for that. They stole away my only family, I’m just returning the favour.”

“Why don’t you just kill me?” My voice is hoarse, barely a whisper that passes my dry, cracked lips.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste? No, I don’t want to kill you, Sierra. I have a much better plan in store for you.” The tone of his voice sends tremors wracking through me, the thought of what these plans entail shaking me to my core.

“Please just kill me,” I mumble.

“I can’t do that. You’re much too beautiful to end up a corpse.” He trails his fingers down my cheek and I flinch from his touch. “I know you hate me, Sierra, and despite what you may believe, I don’t want to hurt you…”

Yeah, right, you sadistic bastard.

“I want your piece of shit brothers to be the ones to suffer, and you’re my sure-fire way of making that happen.”

“But… Why?” Since I’ve been here, he’s never once spoken to me. Not unless you count all the derogatory, disgusting things he grunts when he…

I can’t even bring myself to say it.

Austin rises to his feet and drags a metal chair from the other side of the room, the feet scraping across the rough cement floor and places it in front of me. He takes a seat and leans forward, resting his forearms on his knees.

“Let me tell you a little story,” he begins, clearing his throat. “I once had a brother. A half-brother, but a brother all the same. We had the same drugged-up, two-bit whore of a mother who cared more about a hit than her own children. When my brother and I were kids we were taken into care. We were torn apart and we never saw each other again until I tracked him down nine years ago.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see his fists clench as he speaks.

“My foster family weren’t much of an improvement. He was an abusive piece of shit who used me as his personal punching bag, and she was weak and worthless, never once raised a finger to help me. When I turned eighteen I was out of there, and I changed my name legally. The old me no longer existed. I didn’t want to be connected to that fucking bitch of a mother or my foster parents. There’s nothing now to tie me to that life, except for my brother, the only person who mattered to me. And then your fucking brothers murdered him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Sierra. You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

Oh my God… “B—Bryce?”

“Bingo.”

“W—Why me?”

“I was there at your birthday party, and you looked good enough to eat in that pretty white dress you had on. But you were too heavily guarded, always being watched, so instead I turned my focus on Rafe’s girl, the redhead. But it got boring, so then I figured, why fuck with just one brother when I could fuck with them both? That’s where you come in Sierra. You are my way to make them both pay.”

“What makes you think they’ll care?” I ask.

“If there’s one thing I know about your fucking family, is that loyalty is president. You stick together, and to some degree I admire that, but it provides me with the perfect way to enact revenge.”

He stands and drags the chair back to where it was and heads for the door, but stops and turns back to me.

“I don’t plan on killing you, Sierra, that was never my intention. You will see your brothers again, but you won’t be the same girl they remember before you left. They will see exactly what I’m capable of and they’ll have to live with that guilt every time they look at you. But you know, it’s almost a pity, I would’ve loved to keep you all for myself. Under different circumstances, I could’ve grow to care for you, shame you bear a name that I despise.” And with that, the thick heavy door slams closed and I’m left with silence once again as the echo of the door closing fades into nothing.

I curl into myself and cry, but there’s no tears, no moisture left in my spent body to produce even a single one.

I lie and wonder what they’re all going through. I know they’re searching for me, it’s like I can feel it. I think about Gage, wracked with worry, spiralling as every lead turns up nothing. Not a trace. I worry about Rafe doing something stupid and reckless without thinking it through. I think of Della and Reese, my best friends, and my heart clenches at the thought of them hurting.

And then there’s Alec… A small smile pulls at my dry lips as I picture him in my mind. My friend. My protector.

My whole heart.

I can imagine he’s somehow blaming himself for my kidnapping. He has this unhealthy habit of taking responsibility for things that are out of his control, and this is no exception. He must be out of his mind, and all I want to do is hold him, comfort him and reassure him that I’m okay.

Well, maybe not okay. But I’m alive, at least—For now.

Bold. Brave. Beautiful… I repeat my father’s words, hoping I can be all of those things and stay strong enough to get through this.

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