Page 19 of Brutal Empire

Laughter rang in my ears, and I had to remind myself that it wasn’t real—thathewasn’t here.

“Shit,” Roman cursed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it could be a trigger.”

His words snapped me out of it. I blinked furiously, realizing that tears had welled up in my eyes. I was angry at myself. Why was I so weak? Was I just pretending like I could shoulder my burdens when in reality, they dragged me down with every step?

“What did you say?” I asked. Had Daphne gone behind my back, too, and told him about me?

“How about we save Bastian’s life first?”

Right.

I tried not to think of the smell that engulfed me. I could wash it off later. Instead, I added pressure on one side of where the bullet hole had gone in.

“He was using one of the guards as a shield,” I told him as my finger got coated in blood.

This didn’t bother me. Blood wasn’t a trigger. I never really saw much of it in my captivity. My master had other ways he liked to torture me. Small cuts all over my inner thighs and then making me take salt baths was one way he liked to end our sessions.

Out of all the girls he ever had, I had been his favorite.

Lucky me, right? The fact that he was obsessed with me was the only reason I was alive and he had not discarded me after the one-to-two-year longevity most of his girls lasted.

He didn’t bleed me out to dry like the rest. So blood didn’t scare me.

A grunt slipped from Bastian’s lips as my finger hooked inside his flesh, trying to pull out the bullet.

“You have steady hands,” Roman told me.

My sharp inhale was loud.

“Don’t move, pet.”

My master’s voice haunted me at all times. No matter how much time or distance I got from him, it was never enough.

“You’re doing great.”

Roman’s voice cut through my thoughts, and I was grateful. I took a deep breath and continued with my task. Something about this wasn’t as scary as I had made it out to be in my mind. It was the little steps in progress that made all the difference. I was with two men, and so far, I didn’t feel like peeling my skin off when they looked at me.

Once the bullet was out, Roman poured alcohol into the wound and stitched it up. I went all the way to the other side of the room so I wouldn’t smell it.

“You can take the spare room. I’ll stay with Bas,” Roman told me without looking at me.

My heart began to speed up. Sleeping in a house with two men was not something I had mentally prepared for. Almost as if reading my thoughts, Roman spoke again.

“It has a lock.”

My lips trembled, and I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. While I was removing the bullet, he stayed far enough from me. He only stepped by Bastian once I was a few feet away. He didn’t make direct eye contact with me.

“She told you guys?” I hissed.

Shame. I felt shame for them knowing. Sick because I was still weak and was not able to move past it.

Roman’s head lifted slightly, his green eyes almost glowing.

“I’m a doctor, the only one Daphne kind of trusts. You’ve come a long way since I first met you.”

My head throbbed, and I turned around without another word. I needed to lie down. I stumbled into the room, locked the door, and then drowned in flashbacks of the past.

I needed to leave. My world was crumbling right before my eyes. My perfect boyfriend wasn’t so perfect, after all, and it hurt. I made excuses for him, and if there was a slight chance my parents would have accepted him, it was all gone now.

---