Page 25 of Haunted Prey

You're broken.

I’ll heal. And the pain won’t stop me, nothing will.

She smiled—a solemn smile.No, baby, she said.You're broken. She pointed to Leslie’s bottle of pills still sitting on the table.You gotta help yourself first. Or you’ll never save me.

I stared at the pills, horrified.

“Tomorrow, we look over the maps of Severfalls so we can memorize the layout.” Micheal’s sharp voice rang clear in my ears. “We get to work on the final stage.”

They dispersed, and I was left alone. Micheal didn’t say goodbye as he left the building for the night. Cassidy and Leslie went out too. Dom stuck to his computer, and Andrea disappeared into another room.

I stared at the pills. All that time I suffered. I never considered myself a coward but here, I was. Because of what had happened.

You’ll never change, Emery, Nina whispered.You’ll always be unstable. You hurt everyone you touch.

I couldn’t afford to be afraid any longer.

If not for my own benefit than for Eve’s.

Andrea was restocking her medical supplies in the little exam room. When she saw me, she flinched. I came toward her, showing her Leslie’s bottle.

“Can you get some of this for me?”

She took the bottle and studied it, then glanced at me wide-eyed. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I am.”

She pursed her lips and then nodded. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks.” I turned for the door.

“Emery?”

I looked at her.

“Are you…are you really going to hurt that girl?” she asked. “I know she’s Roman Martel’s daughter but…don’t you think she’s paid enough? She looked dead inside in that video. Don’t you think you killed her already? Why not just let her go?”

I locked eyes with hers and saw her go red in the face.

“I can’t.” And for once, I spoke the truth.

CHAPTER SIX

I needed to get the fuck out of here.

More than a week ago, I could have cared less about being brought to Severfalls. At one small point in time, I let myself accept this place, even allowed myself to feel a sliver of comfort, whether from the sessions with Leo or the five women who supported each other.

I wish I could have been like them. So blissfully unaware.

Something was deeply off about this place. I didn’t have to guess why it took me so long to figure out.

Because at the time, I hadn’t cared.

All my thoughts had been looping over and over. To Emery. To the last day I saw him.

Since then, he had been haunting me.

He still is.

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