Page 124 of Heart Sick Hate

“You had your chance to play your part, and like the selfish bitch you are, you refused.”

I can’t help but flinch at his words—the delivery. How he’s nothing like the man I sat with at the hospital.

“I don’t trust you anymore, Echo. You broke your promise.”

I almost laugh at the irony of his comment, but I manage to hold it back.

“You told me you understood what had to be done. I even let you play out your little forbidden desires with my brother. I gave you everything you could ask for. And you betrayed me by deciding to not follow through with your commitments. You’re worse than a fucking dog because at least they’re loyal.”

My heart is racing. We’re back to the dog references, and I can’t help the nerves that prickle with whatever that might mean to him.

“You remind me of her.” His teeth grit.

“Who?”

“My mother,” he spits the words out. “I thought my brother was stronger than that. But he’s just like my father. Letting a worthless woman ruin him. I should have seen through it.”

“Please let’s just talk about this. I care about you, Rhett. Even if we aren’t together, I can still help.”

Rhett lets out a terrible laugh. Walking the line between untethered and wicked. It rises like bile from his stomach and spills out into this dark room.

I’m in a basement maybe?

It’s cold, and I don’t see any windows.

“You still don’t get it.” Rhett shakes his head, walking closer to me. “Youwillhelp me, regardless. That’s why you’re here. You’ll be the catalyst of it all.”

“All what?”

Rhett once more crouches down in front of me. “Power. Control. Devotion. Them bowing down.”

“That’s not faith.” Even if mine falters, I know a false prophet doesn’t make a God, and that’s what he wants to be.

“I’ve spent the past eight years studying faith. And do you want to know what I learned?”

I don’t move or answer, knowing he’ll tell me anyway.

Rhett leans in close. “Desperate people will believe in anything.”

“You’re sick.”

Of all the times I’ve called Crew the same thing, this is the first time I’ve actually meant it. There is something wrong with Rhett. Something I don’t think can be fixed as he smirks in response to my comment. A darkness that isn’t playful.

“If you’ve already brought me here and made up your mind, what are you going to do?”

Growing up the way I did, I’ve seen bad situations. But this one is inescapable. I’m stuck. Caged. At the mercy of a madman.

“At least now you’re asking the more important questions.” Rhett scans me over, reaching for my ankle.

When I try to kick him, he grabs my foot and holds it down, striking me across the face with the back of his other hand.

So hard my head spins, and for a second, I’m her. I’m my mother, as I watched her dealer beat her for not having the money to pay him for the drugs she’d already used. For a moment I’m my past, and there’s never really any escaping that.

“Don’t fight me when I know you can be so compliant.” Rhett pulls my ankle, and I’m having a hard time seeing straight as he grabs me between the legs. “What’s wrong, Echo? You can be my brother’s toy, but I’m not allowed to touch my fiancée?”

I try to kick at him again, but he pulls back laughing.

“I’m not your fiancée.”

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