Page 37 of Charity's Torment

“What is?”

Two dark figures ran towards my car, and I knew I needed to raise my gun, but the power just wasn’t there. Max and Nico’s faces cleared up as they came closer, and I let my heavy lids bob.

“What is, Charity?” Luca yelled across the phone.

I clicked the unlock button so they could get in.

“The traitor.”

My phone slid from my shoulder and fell onto the floor beside my feet with a thump as my door swung open. Muffled voices called my name, my ears rang, and hands touched my deadened skin. They were here. I was safe now. I slumped forward, letting the darkness invade my mind—ending my pain.

Chapter 12

“Charity, lie back,please.” Luca’s voice was in a far off distance, garbled by blood pumping in my ears and the shouting of others. My body was so tired, yet I felt I had someplace to be. Hands wrapped around my arms, preventing me from my unknown mission. My thoughts became muddled, which made it difficult to concentrate. Each jerk of my arm or movement of my legs sent searing pain through my rib cage and side.

My hands. They are coated and dripping with thick crimson blood. Time seemed to stand still as the drops dropped to the floor. Luca’s rug would never recover. The copper taste in my mouth was as though I had sucked on a penny, causing my mouth to thirst for water.

“It’s okay, Charity. We have you now. You are safe.”

Nico was here. I would recognize his husky voice anywhere. There was this thing he had about him that had a calming effect on me. He was my voice of reason—my calm in a wild storm of death and destruction.

“I’m sorry…” I cried. Sorry I failed. I couldn’t protect him.

My tightened muscles released, and my head fell back onto a soft pillow. I peered around and witnessed their worry, concern, and fear flicking across their expressions. It was my fault they felt this way. I brought this upon them. If it weren’t for my failure, they wouldn’t be fearful. It must be worse than I thought. My body melted into the table. My strength to fight vanished.

“They are here,” Max said, announcing an aging man with silvery hair and a team of women in scrubs.

Nico’s hand left my shoulder, and he stepped back. I shot my bloody hand out and wrapped it around his, and squeezed it. “Please, don’t leave,” I begged. I needed his calm. Panic seized me, and my insides quivered. I wasn’t ready to die. I still needed to protect my brother. What would happen to him? No one cared about him but me. If I died, he’d disappear to the vast abyss of the world.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He pulled a chair over and sat beside me, never breaking contact with my hand.

The doctor dropped a large red medical bag on the counter and hovered over me, assessing the situation while cutting off my top. He exposed my bra-covered breasts and crimson-soaked skin.

“I think she may have a lacerated liver,” he said.

Blood streamed freely down my hypersensitive skin. My essence of life raced to leave my body.

“Don’t… let me die.” Tears joined the mixture of fluid on the table.

“Hush now. We won’t let you die,” Luca said.

A sharp pain struck my arm. I didn’t even notice he left my side. He hung a bag, and the taste of dirt filled my mouth, covering up the copper. “Close your eyes and relax now. I’ll take good care…” his voice trailed off as the drugs took me, and the darkness took me once again.

Chapter 13

“Didyou hear what I said?” Nico asked as he kneeled before me and placed his hands on my knees.

“I heard you.” I swayed side to side. “If I don’t go to dinner, they are going to want to know why.”

Luca brought in a medical team to patch me up. By patch up, I mean surgery that took a while to repair the two knife wounds the ICF enforcer inflicted. Thankfully, only one hit my liver, the other missing vital organs.

“If you don’t rest, they will wonder why their daughter suddenly died at the dinner table.”

He had a point. This would be tougher to explain than the simple stomach bug or something. “Fine.” I caved in too easily.

Truth be told, I didn’t want to see my parents. I didn’t want my mom to remind me about Christopher. I have killed countless people, and their faces have never haunted me because I knew they deserved it. I may not have liked him, but he didn’t deserve to die and not like that either. Whenever I closed my eyes, I would see him. His eyes wide with shock, his mouth open in a silent scream.Fuck. I tried not to let it break me.

“Charity, you broke your stitches. Now I have to call the doctor back.”

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