Page 95 of Twisted Addiction
My boots slid over something slick, and then the metallic tang hit—blood, fresh and thick, laced with the sour edge of urine.
My stomach turned cold.
I crouched, reaching blindly until my hand met skin—fever-hot, trembling, slick with sweat and blood. “Penelope...” I whispered, my voice shaking despite myself.
She flinched beneath my touch. “Please... forgive me,” she murmured, a broken mantra spilling from her lips.
Then came the sound—dull, rhythmic.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
It took me a second to realize what it was.
Not her hand. Her forehead.
She was slamming it into the concrete, again and again, each impact punctuating her desperate plea.
“Forgive me...” Thud.
“Forgive me...” Thud.
“Forgive me...” Thud.
My heart seized—the sound of her skull striking concrete again and again carved through me like a serrated blade.
“Penelope, stop!” I roared, my voice cracking as I lunged forward, hands fumbling through the dark until they found her.
Her skin burned under my palms, her body frail and shaking. She was kneeling, her breath ragged, her voice a whisper torn from hell itself.
“I’ll obey you, master... I’ll do everything you want... please... free me from the dark... I’m dying... save me, master...”
Each word landed like a lash.
Guilt and rage warred inside me, both feeding on each other until I could barely breathe.
I scooped her up, her weight terrifyingly light, her body limp and slick with fever sweat.
I stumbled through the dark, one arm bracing us against the wall, the other cradling her close, her blood smearing across my shirt.
My pulse roared in my ears—the same sound I’d heard the night I found my mother’s body. That same cold panic crawling up my throat.
“Master... don’t punish me again... please...” she whispered, voice slurring, her eyes rolling shut as if the world had finally abandoned her.
The door slammed open beneath my shoulder.
Light exploded across the hall, harsh and sterile.
She flinched against it, and I froze at the sight—her forehead split, blood streaking down her face, her lips cracked and gray, her body shivering despite the heat blazing through her.
God... what have I done?
I’d gone too far. Broken something I could never repair. Hatred and love tangled so deep I couldn’t tell one from the other anymore.
I carried her down the grand staircase, my boots striking marble like gunfire.
