Page 77 of Stolen Love

“I need you to help me prove it,” I appeal to the crowd. “I need you to help me bring Marty’s killer to justice. I need to know why Nicole Hawthorne killed my father. I need to…”

“You need to stop this insanity,” Alec says to me in a tone full of faux compassion.

“I need…” I can’t breathe. My vision swims.

“You need professional help.” Alec addresses the crowd, “She’s not well.”

“Help me prove…” I clutch at my throat.

“Ivy?” Summer yells, her voice laced with worry. “Something is wrong with her.”

“Miss Love.” That’s Jackson, pushing Alec away from me when he raises a hand in my direction.

I clutch Jackson’s arm. “Help me. Please.”

Everything goes black.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Ivy

My tears fall thick and hot on my frozen cheeks as I cradle my knee. My tights have torn. Little flecks of crimson dot where my skin is scraped. It hurts. It hurts so much. My wrist hurts too, from where I landed on it funny. “Why’d you push me, Alec?”

“That’s what you get for being so weak and slow,” my big brother says before he runs off. His laughter is cruel.

He’s always mean to me. Our new nanny doesn’t even notice.

The last one was nice. She smelled like vanilla and had a soft hug. She tried to stop Alec when he attempted to lock me in the closet.

I hate it when Alec does that. It’s pitch black and I’m always so scared of the monsters, but it doesn’t matter how much I beg he never lets me out. It’s always a maid or our nanny that finds me.

The vanilla nanny said Alec isn’t a nice boy. She went to my mom about his behavior. After that mom said she had to leave.

I liked her a lot. I miss my old nanny. I sob harder.

“Are you okay?” A little girl crouches in front of me. She has white stockings and shiny black shoes. Her big blue eyes seem to take up most of her face. Her hair hangs around her face like a shiny waterfall. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“Mmhmm.” But it doesn’t hurt so much anymore. “Your hair is white.”

“Mom says it’s blonde.” The little girl shrugs in her puffy pink jacket. “And as bright as the sun. She calls me her sunshine.”

A woman approaches. She looks like a giant version of the little girl. Her blue eyes crinkle around the edges when they land on me. She presses a hand to her chest. “Oh.”

“Is that your mom?” I turn back to the little girl only to find Dizzy in her place.

She smiles as she gathers her bright pink locks over one shoulder. In her other hand she holds a razor blade. “Yeah. You’ll like her, I promise.”

Gasping for air, I open my eyes.

It was just another vivid dream.

“Hey, you’re back with us.” A calm voice breaks somewhere above and behind my head before a man I’ve never seen before comes into view. He has dark hair and kind eyes. “I need you to keep fighting for me, Ivy. Can you do that?”

“What?” I can barely speak between small, agonizing gasps. Lights flicker and flash somewhere close by. I’m disoriented and the pain in my head is too much. It’s blinding. “Where am I? Where is Rogue?”

“You’re in my ambulance,” the man says. “And the people who were with you… your friends… they’ll meet us at the hospital.”

“What?” I try to reach up to touch my head, but my muscles scream in protest. Electrical currents run up and down my limbs. I’m so weak I barely manage to lift my arm an inch. Something tugs at my elbow. It stings and I wince, but I’m too exhausted to keep trying. “Rogue?”

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