Page 141 of His Juliet

I nodded.

“That’s my girl. I love you. More than you could ever know.”

Before I could respond, she shut the door, leaving me in the dark.

“Mama,” I whimpered. I crawled to the door and pressed my ear against it. “Baba.”

A loud shriek followed by a bang made me cry out. I pressed my hands against the door, tears dripping down my cheeks. Time passed and I waited for mama to come and get me.

She didn’t.

I floated above the nightmare, watching as my child self started to cry. I wanted to comfort her, to save her from what was about to happen, but I was helpless.

Another loud bang rang out. The bullet that killed my father.

Child Juliet scooted back between the boxes, wrapping her arms around her legs.

I wished I could tell her it would all be okay. But that would be a cruel lie.

My dreams and reality blended together until I couldn’t tell them apart as I was battered in a sea of repressed memories. Being trapped in this room brought back the days I spent in that closet as a child. I was just as weak and hopeless as I was then.

Although... I barely felt anything right now. Not my body, with its limbs numb from being tightly bound, and not my emotions, which seemed to have shut off completely. The numbness was familiar, almost welcome. It was how I’d handled all the trauma in my life—the days I spent frozen on the bed in my foster homes staring blankly at the wall, the months I lost after I was raped, disappearing into a blank void in my mind.

Sometimes, I had cut myself to stop from feeling. Other times, I’d done it to see if I still could.

The only thing that sparked any emotion was thinking of Romeo. His voice whispered sweet words about how much he loved me and how he would rescue me, but a second voice poisoned them, cruelly saying he had betrayed me. Abandoned me.

I blinked, but no tears came. Maybe I would have cried if I weren’t so dehydrated and empty inside.

I’d seen no one since the Butcher left except for one guard who had come in, removed my gag, and given me a swallow of warm water before leaving. It could have been hours ago. Or minutes. Or years.

A strange scratching sound intruded on my hazy nightmares. My head lolled on my chest, and my mind played a horror movie of rats crawling over me.

Something landed on my lap, and I screamed. I struggled against my bonds, trying to shake the thing off, but sharp claws and a softmeowbroke through my panic.

I squinted through the darkness and was met with two glowing, gold eyes. A broken, relieved breath escaped me, my heart still pounding.

“Hi, kitty,” I whispered. “Where did you come from?”

The kitten head-butted my stomach, her purrs growing louder. She was a tiny little thing with black fur—at least as far as I could tell in the darkness.

“I wish I could pet you.”

She settled on my lap, her slight weight the only thing keeping me tethered to reality.

I slipped in and out of consciousness. The next time I came to, the cat was curled up on my shoulder. She was sowarmandalive.I shuddered at the feeling, especially when I felt so close to death.

“Do you have a name?” A rough tongue licked my neck. “You like sitting there on your little throne?” She purred and licked me again before settling in with a little squeaky noise and falling asleep.

“Okay, little Queen. You sleep as much as you want.” I rubbed my chin against her soft fur until my exhaustion and hunger made me drift away once more.

68

JULIET

The creakingcell door dragged me from another nightmare. Every muscle in my body ached from the horrible position I was tied in and from the never-ending tension in my muscles.

The bare bulb ceiling light switched on. I squinted against the brightness and braced myself for the Butcher. Instead, two women entered the room, dragging a metal bath behind them. The guard in the hall said something in a harsh growl before slamming the door, shutting us in together.

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