Page 37 of I Will Mend You

The question knocks me sideways. “We called his spirit from another realm.”

His hand slips down to my breast, his fingers closing in around my nipple. Revulsion ripples through my chest, making my stomach lurch.

“Are you telling me the truth, girl?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what’s real.”

“Who were you talking to in your cell?”

“Xero.”

His fingers squeezing my nipple loosen. “Do you hallucinate him often?”

“Yes.”

He sighs. “Your mother damaged you more than I anticipated. Tell me what happened to the men we sent to your house.”

“I think they’re dead,” I murmur. “It’s hard to tell. Men keep popping up at the worst times.”

“More hallucinations?”

I nod.

“And you killed them?”

“I didn’t mean to. Not really. It was self-defense.”

He laughs, a maniacal sound that penetrates the marrow of my bones. “Maybe you aren’t so useless after all. Dolly wants you to remember her, so cast your mind back to the last time you saw your sister.”

“She was holding the camera,” I say, my breath hitching. “Filming me while Locke did all those horrible things.”

He slaps my cheek so hard that my vision bursts into white-hot sparks, my head snapping to the side with a sickening crack. “Can one person really be so stupid? You’re like a child, stumbling into dangers you’re too feeble-minded to comprehend.”

The words would sting if I gave a shit about what he thought, but I remain silent.

He pulls out a pair of scissors and snips through the neckline of my straitjacket, exposing my collarbone and the tops of my breasts. “Melonie did a marvelous job, keeping you hidden from the outside world. We couldn’t find either of you, anywhere, until you went viral with your Xero fanclub.”

A riot breaks out across my brain, but my senses are too muffled to react. I concentrate on his words, trying to commit them to memory.

The scissors glide down my skin, the cold metal making me squirm.

“Melonie coddled you so much that you have no function in the world. I researched your past extensively, hoping to find something of value, but there was nothing but a string of failures.”

My breath quickens as his fingers slide over my bandaged belly and toward my crotch. Alarm snakes through my veins, freezing me from the inside. I throw every ounce of energy into my limbs, but they refuse to move.

“Tell me something. Has any man touched you since that teacher?”

“Mr. Lawson,” I whisper.

“That’s right. Have you taken any cocks since then?” He parts my legs, his thick fingers rubbing over my genitals. Everything down there is numb.

“No.” My voice catches. “I can’t. Don’t.”

“Isn’t that precious,” he says. “Such innocence. No man who ever touched you is still alive.”

When he pulls away his hand, the tightness in my chest unravels, and I release a shuddering breath.

“Shall we try again? Next time you fail to give me a satisfactory answer, I won’t hold back.”

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