Page 99 of Dreadful
“Sever, please don’t do this…”
The ache in her voice makes my heart twinge. “Answers, Talia. Why were you going after Claudio? Why did you go after his men, and why did you use me to do it?”
“I didn’t use—” She groans. “You should know!” Pain drips from her voice, and her eyes are watery, but she rages against the chains holding her up.
“What, Tallie? Tell me, what should I know.” I can’t stop my voice from softening with concern. Her head hangs low now, and she refuses to look at me.
I don’t want this, but my emotions have made me weak with her before. I’ve given her options, and she can’t take more than what I’ve given her already. Her body is slack in the chains, but she’s still refusing to say her safe word.
“Just fucking answer me, Talia.”
She shakes her head and glares hateful daggers that pierce my heart. “If you haven’t already figured it out, you don’t deserve to know. Be prepared to kill me, Severino, but I’ll die before I explain anything toyou.”
“You stubborn little viper.” I finally rip the razor through the neckline of her sweater dress. As I move down to the chain she’s wearing like a belt, angry, growling accusations spill from me as I go. “What is it about Claudio, hmm? What could we all have done to ‘deserve’ your wrath? You went after his butler. His maids. His gardener…” I pause as the words play over my mind like a memory. I shake my head before continuing. “The driver…and apparently the capo was on your list—”
The razor’s blade clinks against a chain and the fabric falls to the side, revealing her soft belly. She blanks her face and slams her eyes shut, stopping me from seeing any emotion on her face. When she starts to hum, my brow furrows, but I keep going.
“The…the priest.”
I rip the fabric over her shoulders. My eyes widen at the mottled skin, and I jolt away as if it’s burned me.
Dark red indentions tear across the right side of her chest and neck and disappear under makeup. That upper half of her was torn open, with some areas more purple than others, as if she’d been punctured and those wounds were deeper than others.
“Goddammit,dolcezza, who did this to you?” Heat flares over my face and down my neck. Every muscle in my body wants to fight who—or what—did this to her so long ago, but my fingers are gentle as they hover over the painful-looking scars. “You’re not getting out of it this time.”
Her humming gets louder the closer I get, and as soon as I realize that fact, I stop mid-air. The tune that’s ravaged my dreams for years floods to the forefront of my mind.
“That song…”
Tears glisten at the corners of her eyes, and she sinks deeper on her knees, pulling the chain. Her sleeve falls down to her bicep, and a flash of deep purple catches my gaze.
My eyes widen at the tattoo she’s hidden so carefully. I brush my fingers along her inked forearm, where Medusa hisses at me from a bed of purple tulips. Her stunning stone face looks remarkably like Tallie’s, and her piercing yellow-green eyes feel like she’s watching me even at this angle. Snakes writhe in the lighting, five are filled in with color, while the others are empty outlines on either side of one white snake. The design is beautiful, and I have no doubt she drew it up…
My heart stops when I finally realize what I’m looking at, and Raze’s voice echoes in my mind.
“The client has a Medusa tattoo…lots of sexual assault victims get them as a symbol of their survival.”
“A Medusa tattoo? Tallie…why do you have this?”
She’s rigid in front of me, but she doesn’t jolt her arm away.
“It sounds like you already know.” She’s challenging me, daring me to say something wrong. There’s only one thought raging through my mind, and I barely recognize my own voice as I ground out my question.
“Who?”
“Youknowwho. You found out the other night at dinner.”
The judge.
“Talia?”
She shakes her head and begins to whisper the song again. Every verse rises in volume, but I still have to strain to hear it, until suddenly, I don’t need to hear the words. Iknowthem.
I’ve heard only one other person use this song like a lifeline, a shield when things were unbearable. But that little girl is dead. Isn’t she?
Fuck. What if—
“Tallie, sweetheart, answer me. Who did this to you?” I already know the answer. The implications are howling and screaming inside my skull. “Why…why did you stop at that girl’s grave yesterday?”
