Page 50 of Heart of a Killer

“I didn’t. He caught me when they were force-feeding Skylar.”

Alex looks at me with soft eyes. The black in them recedes, and his demeanor relaxes. He must feel guilt over attacking me right after I was violated by them. His hand releases Brie’s neck, and she would have collapsed to the floor if it wasn’t for him catching her in his arms.

“I’m sorry, Brie. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay,” she responds, placing a hand on his cheek.

My chest warms at the sight of them. I hate to have to break this party up, but we need to get moving.

“So, about the doctor.” I point to the bed.

“I think that’s for Brie to decide.”

The finality of his words sends a shiver down my spine.

19

Brieanna

“What do you mean, for me to decide?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest and cocking my hip to the side.

My wrists burn from the restraints, but the position gives me a way to shut down and reject everything that has happened to me. My limbs still move slowly, as if I’m underwater, from whatever the doctor shot in my ass.

“I overheard him and the nurse from the hospital. The one I saw before I came here. I heard them arguing about her saying his experimental treatments were too...” Leland—or, as Skylar called him, Alex, which I will definitely have her explain to me later—waves his hand around, trying to find words. “Unconventional, and that he needed to stop. I thought he was talking about my treatments, but when I grabbed the nurse and threatened to kill her, she exposed things you need to know about.”

Leland’s mouth is set in a hard line. I’ve never seen this harsh side of him before.

I switch from ball to heel, anxious about what Leland might say next.

Instead, he says nothing, and the room remains silent.

I glance at the doctor, lying on the bed, tied up and unconscious. What the doctor did to me was extreme, but I’ve also never been to therapy besides here. He made me relive my first experience with the shadow in order to break me from it. From what I understand, we are all significant cases here and may need a heavier hand. That’s what the doctor told me when he attempted to break me of my disease first before I started to hide it.

“Okay, fucking spit it out already.”

Leland lets out a huff of air and runs his hand through his hair, and I finally notice the large gouges in his forearms and wrist. My eyes widen a bit, but it’s not something I can necessarily interrogate him about right now. We might all be going to jail soon for assaulting and holding the doctor hostage.

“He took advantage of our illnesses for his own benefit,” he finally says.

“I still don’t understand,fuck boi. He was trying to reverse-psychology my first demon encounter.”

“Don’t be naïve, Brie. And don’t make excuses for his manipulation.” Leland gets in my face with his teeth bared.

“If you make me wait any longer, I’ll cut your fucking balls off.” I press my finger hard into his chest. The fire in my veins peaks with anxiety over what he might tell me.

He strongly exhales from his nostrils as if he is a bull ready to attack again. I can tell he is really trying to hold back his anger over this whole situation—anger at me for allowing this to happen.

“You didn’t kill Amanda.” Leland nods his head to the man who is supposed to heal us, take care of us. He states the words I’ve needed to hear more than anything on this earth. “Hedid.”

The room falls silent as I try to process what he revealed.If I didn’t kill Amanda, then how did Dr. Benjamin kill her? I don’t understand. She was hanging from one of the pipes in her room. I found her like that. She killed herself because of me.

A soft rustling fills the room, and my head snaps toward the sound. The doctor is waking up, tugging on the restraints as his brows press together in confusion.

His voice comes out groggy. “What’s going on?”

His eyes scan the room, landing on each of us, lastly on Leland, who is now standing over him like the angel of death, ready to fulfill his duty. The doctor pulls at the restraints more violently.

Leland leans close to the doctor’s face and says, “He killed her with a botched abortion, then hanged her to make it look like she killed herself.”

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