Page 89 of Estranged Heart
Thirty
Elijah
My eyes hurt when I open them. Lights flicker on and off around me while a horrible stench assaults my nose—blood and death. I’m sitting against a cement wall with my hands tied behind my back and ropes secured around my ankles. I spread my wrists apart as far as I can but the knot won’t budge. Looking up, I spot a narrow staircase leading to a door with light shining around it. The bottom gap is wide enough for me to spot sets of feet.
Two raised voices cut through the door and it isn’t until it’s cracked open that I can make out what they’re saying.
“I need you to finish running all your tests and tell me if he meets any of the matches I gave you,” a familiar female voice says.
“I can’t do that all in one night. I need at least two.” The man sighs, sounding agitated with a tinge of fear in his voice. “Thesethings can’t be rushed. Usually these donors are chosen over time. Where did this guy even come from?”
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t get to ask those questions, and this isn’t our typical donor. This is a man who’s putting all our lives in jeopardy. I need him to disappear as soon as possible, and I also need him to suffer before he does.”
“My life is already in jeopardy. Either they come for me or y’all do. There’s no winning in this for me no matter what I choose. You think I want to be doing this? Working for a bunch of monsters? Killing innocent people?”
“You’re going to do what I ask of you or you’ll be down there with him. Right after you watch me cut the eyes from your little sister’s pretty head.” Her words twist in my chest like a sharp knife. The voice is familiar because I’ve heard it many times, at my restaurant and in Silas’s home. Stacey.
“Okay, but if something goes wrong, don’t say I didn’t tell you so,” he says with trembling words.
“You better hope on your family’s life it doesn’t then,” she threatens. Who is this vile woman? The same one Silas fell in love with? The person I felt sorry for all those times he was sick and she couldn’t make it in to work? It can’t be. She’s nearly unrecognizable.
More light invades the room as she pulls open the door. Her steps are fast and heavy as she makes her way toward me, holding a gun. “Time to get your clothes off and into a gown. You better not try anything or I will make this more painful than it needs to be.”
“Do your worst,” I spit and the gun slams hard against my face, knocking the wind out of me.
“Oh, I plan to. And after this is all over, I’ll tell Silas how you tried to kill him. How you switched his meds to placebos after finding out he had your husband’s heart. I’ll tell him you knewall along and only kept seeing him as part of some sick revenge plan.”
Blood rushes to my ears. “You . . . You’re insane,” I say, my head pounding. “You almost killed your own husband. He could have fucking died. And for what? So you could trick him into loving you again?”
Her nostrils flare, eyes wild. “He does love me. He will always love me. I’ve been there with him from the beginning. You’re nothing but a new hobby for him to explore. Just like the rest, he’s bound to get bored of you eventually.”
“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.” I grit my teeth.
Kneeling down while keeping her eyes on me, she plucks a knife from her pocket and cuts the rope around my ankles, slicing my skin in the process. Wincing, I tilt my head back and clench through the pain. What she does to the outside of me is nothing compared to what she’s destroyed on the inside. She’s taken so much from me and yet it isn’t enough, she wants my life too. And I consider letting her have it . . . that is, until Silas lying in the hospital bed flashes in my mind.
I can’t let her poison his mind further. She’ll continue holding him as a prisoner in any way she can, even if that means keeping him unconscious for the rest of his life. He’s a victim as much as Landon was, and she’s been determining his life this whole time. He’s better on her terms and sick again when she needs him to be.
“Stand up, asshole.” She looks down at me, eyes full of spite.
I blink up at her and stay exactly where I am. She kicks my feet and then my legs before slamming the gun to my forehead. “I said get up.”
“I can’t,” I say, resting my head on the concrete with my eyes half closed.
“Try.”
“My head was hit pretty hard. Surely whoever dragged me down here can drag me back up.”
“I don’t have time for your silly games. Get up now or else I’ll—”
“What? Kill me?” I laugh, shaking my head. “Oh, wait, you’re going to do that anyway. What can you possibly threaten me with now? You have nothing. You’ve already taken it all,” I grind out.
“Dan, some help, please. Looks like we’re going to have to take him back up the hard way.” She turns around, looking at the open doorway. “Dan.”
“I’m coming. Give me a minute. I’m still trying to make calls to try and clean up the damn mess you made.”
Sighing, she places her hands on her hips and glances back at me. “Looks like I might have to try and drag your ass up there myself. I won’t make it very pleasant for you either.” She slips the gun into the back of her pants and walks around me, looping an arm under one of mine to spin me around. Once my back is facing the stairs, she leans over me, grabbing both of my arms and drags me back with a loud grunt.
With a grin on my face, I go slack against her, becoming dead weight. She struggles to get me up the steps with my hands tied, and as soon as she frees me from the ropes, I hook my arms around her legs, tugging her down with me, and we roll around on the ground, my weight overpowering hers. She tries to scream and I elbow her hard in the throat, causing her to choke on her own words.
