Page 16 of Mine, Forever

“I don’t want to see you go down the wrong path. That’s why you’re here at Serenity Asylum.”

This couldn’t be the same person I’d openly talked to at his cabin. This couldn’t be the man who’d saved me from my uncle.

The door to the asylum opened, and two men in white coats stepped out grimly looking at me.

“Mr. Black,” an older woman came over to shake his hand. “We’re glad you called us. Are they fresh cuts?”

“Yes, she’s become quite a liability to herself, Matron. I don’t want her to die because of a stupid action she’s caused to herself.”

“Of course not,” the Matron replied.

This couldn’t be happening.

“I didn’t do this!” I screamed at them with the last bit of energy I had. “He did it! He cut me!”

They weren’t listening to me, and I could sense they were about to knock me out with a sedative. I tried to calm myself down before I passed out. The white coats hauled me inside and strapped me to a gurney so I couldn’t move at all. Tears sprung from my eyes making it hard to see. The bandage on my arm was slipping off. I’d reopened a wound that had half-healed, and the bandage was soaked in red.

Jett smiled at me when no one was watching. He smiled at my angst, at my anger against him. He smiled knowing he was causing me pain by putting me through this. I spat at him, but he was too far away to be hit.

“Please make sure she receives all the necessary treatment.”

The Matron nodded, and I realized what he meant.

No, they wouldn’t do that to me.

They wouldn’t make me go through electro-shock just for cutting my arm, would they?

Wait… I didn’t cut it. He did!

Jesus, why was this room so bloody white?

I looked around me waiting for them to stick the needle into my skin to calm me down. They needn’t bother, I was about to pass out. My head was swimming around like fish in a feeding frenzy.

“Oh, absolutely, Mr. Black. We’re here to help.”

He kneeled down next to me brushing errant strands of hair out of my face so I could see him. “I’ll come by to visit, Eb. You were right when you said I had no soul, and by the end of your stay here, neither will you. I can’t wait to see what you look like broken.”

He kissed my cheek, and I tried to bite him. He moved away too quickly, chuckling before standing.

“Careful of this one, she’s a fiery one.”

With one final grin, he walked away, leaving me strapped to a gurney with a needle in my neck.

JETT

York pulled up outside my building in the city after we dropped Ebony off. After I’d taken ownership of the asylum once my father had died, I’d turned it into a functional institution. Many of the people I’d deemed death to be an easy out for now resided within those walls with no way out. It was their personal hell for what they had made me go through over the years.

Police cars were everywhere outside my apartment building with cops on the stairs leading up to the doors.

This was just perfect.

“Want to head to the cabin?” York asked me, slowly edging past the building.

“No, I have to meet the guys soon. We have nothing to hide. Go to the club, I’ll meet you there.”

York pulled up, and I stepped outside the car heading toward the mass of cops that had accumulated waiting for me to arrive. As I walked past them, many of the rookies seized in fear knowing how easy it would be for me to hurt them. Some of the older guys, who I’d dealt with before, watched me as I proceeded past them but did nothing.

“Mr. Black,” one of the older ones came up to me. “We have a warrant to search your premises.”

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