Page 64 of Hidden Echoes

He lets out a short laugh, spitting blood onto the floor. "See, Mia? Look at you... you're just a fucking freak."

My head spins. His words coil inside me like a snake tightening around my ribs. Because I never… I never thought Zane didn’t want it. He never said that. He said it was a surprise, that he was confused. He never said he didn’t want me.

My head hurts.

I try to make sense of this world, but some parts always blur, always twist in ways I can’t control.

Carter’s voice breaks through my haze. “You don’t understand anything, do you? Not people. Not feelings. Not right from wrong. Because you’re not made for this. You’re just a broken toy someone decided to keep because they felt sorry for you, too afraid to throw you away.”

The silence between us is suffocating. My hands shake. I could break him apart.Tear that smug look off his face.

Carter wipes his mouth, amusement glinting in his bloodied smile. He should be afraid, but instead, his eyes gleam with anger.

“Look at that,” he taunts. “I must have hit a nerve, huh?”

My fingers tingle. My chest rises and falls unevenly. I should leave. Get away before—

“That’s what you do, isn’t it?” Carter takes a step forward. “You lash out when words get too hard. Because that’s all you know—hurt and kill. You’re not a wife, Mia. You’re amonster.”

The word cuts through me like a blade.

Monster.

My heart hammers against my ribs. The apartment warps around me. The floor shifts like quicksand beneath my feet. My fingers tremble, but not from fear.

The whispers start. Low, insistent. A chuckle in the corner of the room.

Shadows flicker in my peripheral vision, shifting, waiting. Waiting for me.

“Do you think I took advantage of him?” My voice is low, dark, something hollow curling at the edges.

Carter crosses his arms.

I pull the knife from my waistband.

Time slows. My grip tightens on the hilt, the metal gleaming under the dim light. Carter tenses, but that smirk remains.

Kill the demons.

Silence the voices.

“I knew it,” he breathes. “I knew you were just an animal. Are you going to kill me, Mia?”

I step forward. He steps back.

The whispers grow louder. The shadows close in.

“Do it, Mia,” they urge. “Finish him.”

I raise the knife—

“Mia!”

Zane’s voice cracks through the tension, freezing me in place. My eyes snap to him. He’s standing in the doorway, panting, his face pale with shock.

His gaze flickers to the knife. To Carter. To me.

And then, when he looks at me, I see it.

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