Page 8 of Ink Deep Devotion

Then I remember what Jared told me,“Do you know your father arranged your marriage to Mila when you were only sixyears old?” He lets out a whistle. “My dad told me one evening. I haven’t told anyone that, not evenhim.” He sneers.

Who was Jared referring to?

I’ve tried not to think about it because no matter how many nights it keeps me awake, I can do absolute nothing about it. I can’t get out of here or get word to someone on the outside. I just have to stay alive long enough to graduate, then I can start to dig further.

“You got a look in your eyes,” Leo notes.

I swallow,“I can’t help but feel like my entire life, I’ve been eating the breadcrumbs someone’s dropping, and I’m wondering if something else or, rather, someone else did the same to Jared.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” I reply, but as soon as I leave here, I’ll find out.

???

Nine months later.

A blood-curdling scream rips through my lungs, burning the very cells of my throat. I jerk and coil my body, swatting at the pain in a futile effort. Hands grab me, holding me down.

“He has to get the bullet out, Dash!” Titan says in my ear. He holds my face in his hands, preventing my struggle. Despite knowing it was an ambush, we had no other option but to divide and battle until our assailants were defeated.

“Stop fighting. Please, brother.” Damian adds, his voice full of alarm.

The individual who shot me was good, one of the best. I exposed my location by taking a shot to protect Anders, who foolishly approached the enemies with just his stupid ax.

That clinically insane fucker!

So, guess who had to save him? Me.

Which allowed the guy below me to see my position and fire hitting me in the stomach. To make matters worse, I was thirty feet up in a tree. The bullet hit me, causing me to fall all the way down; only the branches caught me.

Thanks, Mother Nature. Not!

Then I had to fight hand to hand until Anders showed up and ended the guy with his ax.

Bloody fucking Anders and his bloodlust!

I see where Anders is looking and scream once more. My armor has been ripped off; only the moonlight highlights the horror as Anders jabs his index finger into my ripped flesh, spinning it around like he’s trying to stir my intestines into soup.

“He has to get the bullet out!” Dante stresses. Leo hovers over him, his gun raised high, protecting us.

The latest game had us dropped off on a half-frozen mountain as the last five teams hunted us down. Our objective is to navigate through all the dangerous obstacles. We’ve been surviving off the land for a week, struggling to witness each sunrise that never warms us.

We’re so close yet…

I roar again as Anders shoves his finger deeper.“I feel it.” He grins.

My vision blurs, seeing the stars twinkle above me. Those flickering lights turn into the sparkle of Mila’s eyes when she comes. Heaven. Ecstasy.

I hate that it’s always her I see. In a world devoid of hope, she serves as a constant reminder.

I wish I could forget her.

Has she forgotten me?

Titan slaps my face,“Stay with us.” He orders me.

“Fuck you!” I seethe, but Damian shoves a branch between my teeth as Anders grabs his knife and lowers it to the gunshot wound.

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