Finally, they turned to us. Dom moved first. He took my hand and made me look at him. His face was grim, black eyes shining as he signed to me. “Sorry.”
I shook my head, mouth twisted as I tried to hold back more tears. He was betraying me too. He cupped my face and kissed my head before moving to Andrea and picking her up.
I immediately reached for her. “Where are you taking her?”
“The hospital.”
It was Leslie who’d spoken.
I turned to look at him in surprise. Then practically growled at them as Dom carried Andrea down the hall. I tried to slide across the floor but my legs were killing me. “I don’t fucking believe you, you’re a liar. You’re—”
He moved so swiftly he made me gasp.
“Just stay away from me! S-tay away!” I shouted at him.
He crouched beside me and I didn’t want to look at him, but I forced myself to meet his gaze.
“I hate you,” I whispered.
His sharp green eyes searched my face and he nodded. “I know.”
“I fucking hate you. You asshole. I hate you. I h-hate—” The words broke into a sob. I covered my face in my hands. “How could you do this,” I said so softly I didn’t think he’d hear me.
Then I felt his hand on my arm and I flinched away. “Don’t touch me!” As I uncovered my face, I saw Dom had returned. He was standing just a few feet away.
“We have to go,” he signed when Lez looked around.
I noticed something in Dom’s other hand. A ripped piece of paper. Leslie took it and turned back to me.
My lips trembled as he forced the paper into my hand, gripping it tight. As I tried to tug free, he leaned in, his face close to mine.
“Your hate is all I deserve. But at least it’s something.” I could no longer look him in the eye, his gaze so intense it scared me.
Before I could process his words, he released me and rose. “They’ll come for you.”
Dom moved around him and set me on the couch. Before I could fight or protest, they were gone.
And I was alone. Alone in the dark, with blood on the floor and my cries in the silence.
It wasn’t until later when Eve came back that I remembered that slip of paper. It took another day for me to even read it.
I stared down at the words now, written in crude, childish writing.
Our little secret…
Our little secret. Yeah, don’t tell anyone what happened, or we’ll come after you. That’s how I interpreted it anyway. It made me want to rip the paper into pieces the first time. But I fought against it.
Under the words was a number. I could only assume it was one of theirs.
Why they thought they needed to leave a number was beyond me. After everything they had done, why would I ever want to call them?
My hands shook as the urge to crumple the paper tempted me, but I let it pass. Guess it was good they gave me the number after all because I was going to make them answer me now and I wouldn’t stop till they did.
The number on the paper was different than the one that had left the messages a month or so back. Since there was no name for either, I couldn’t tell which number was whose.
I opened my phone and plugged in the number from the piece of paper. My finger hovered over the call button before I opened messenger instead. If it was Dom’s, I wouldn’t be able to talk to him over the call anyway. If it was Lez…I feared I’d hang up instantly if I heard his voice.
I glared down at the white text box for a moment before carefully starting to type.