Page 66 of Vengeful Union

I frown at his words. What does he mean? Before I’m able to ask, his foot comes into view, and it’s too late for me to make any movement. His foot connects with my temple, and the darkness seeps in, pulling me under, into the abyss.

* * *

I’m being shaken.My body protests at the movement. Pain comes from every single limb and muscle in my body, and it’s at that moment that everything comes rushing back to me.

Patrick.

Opening my eyes, I see him leering over me. “Ah, good, you’re awake. We wouldn’t want you missing what happens next, now, would we?” he says with a smile. “Just hold on tight,” he instructs me, and moves away.

I blink, trying to stop the darkness swallowing me again. My eyes can’t focus, and Patrick becomes blurry as he moves further away from me. Dark spots fill my vision.

I hear a loud noise and hope sparks within. Is someone coming? But then I begin to move—No, I’m not moving, whatever I’m lying on is. My body is being raised into the air.

Panic fills me as I realize I’m lying on something. Something that’s continuing to rise higher.

The tears I’ve held at bay fall freely. I’m going to die. I know that with everything I am. Today, Patrick is going to kill me.

I always knew this moment could happen, but I never thought my demise would come at the hands of Patrick Gallagher. I honestly believed it would be at my father’s. Leaving Finn today, I thought I was free. That I could be happy and live my life.

Little did I know how wrong I was.

Stupidly, I glance down, and all I see is the fucking water. I must be at least thirty feet up. I swallow back the scream that’s lodged in my throat. God, Patrick is a fucking monster. My tears fall thicker and faster. I’d have preferred to die any other way than drowning.

The steel bar I’m lying on jolts forward and backward. The fucking bastard is trying to tip me off. My fingers curl around one of the steel bars, and I clench it tightly, frightened to let go. I know what awaits me below.

But Patrick is determined, and soon enough, his determination wins out. I’m jostled off the bar and sent over the edge. My grip tightens, and I’m left dangling from the motherfucking arm of the crane.

I glance to my right just in time to see the coward running away.

My arms are burning. I know I won’t be able to hold on for much longer.

The fear of letting go and falling into that water is too much. I’m unable to breathe, unable to swallow, to think, to do anything. I’m held in place by the absolute terror that has me in its grasp.

I don’t want to feel my lungs burning as they fill with water. I don’t want to go through it again.

My arms burn with the weight of my body. My grip slackens, and I’m unable to re-grip the bar.

I fall backward, and it feels like I plummet for hours, but eventually, I break through the water with a crash.

The force of hitting the surface reverberates through my bones, and then the water sucks me under.

My heart races as I try to fight my way back up, but I’m too drained. Every inch of me is tired.

It doesn’t take long before my oxygen levels tank and I’m struggling for breath. It’s as though I’m back to when I was twelve and I’m in that fucking pool. My lungs burn as they fill with water. I try to push up, to fight once again, but I can’t. My body’s failing me.

My vision once again fills with black spots, and this time, I let it the darkness take me away.

The very last thought I have is that I want Finn to be happy. I want him to find someone who will love him just as much as I do. To have the life he truly deserves.

25

Finn

Dante’s cell rings, but I can’t tear my gaze away from the fucking water.

Where the hell is she?

Why hasn’t she surfaced?

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