Page 42 of My Everything

Marc was on the floor. Slumped against the wall, cradling his arm. His bare chest was streaked with dry blood, and his skin damp and ashen.

Tears fell from my eyes, and I swiped them away before looking up at Alex. “What kind of monsters are you?”

Alex scoffed. “This is not me. I’d never torture a man.”

“No, but a woman is fine?”

Brief confusion flashed over his face, then his features hardened, and he snapped. “I have no choice. And I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Just force me to marry you so you can keep up your charade. That’s not better than what your father is doing.”

Alex fell silent, and for a few seconds of hope, I thought I reached him. But just as fast he shook his head. “I have no choice.”

“You always have a choice.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “Really? So choose. Choose to let your bodyguard suffer and die so you can have your fucking ways.”

The videos flashed before my eyes, bringing new tears and a deep sadness in my heart. No matter how wrong it was. How I hated to admit it. Alex was right. He might have twisted reasons for doing what he did, but he too did it out of self-preservation. He was terrified of his father, of him finding out his secret and killing the man he loved. Because he would. I had no doubt. If the man could do this to Marc, who had done nothing to deserve it, he could do anything.

“Just help him,” I whispered. “Please.” I could blame Mr. X, but the truth was this was on me. If he never met me… He’d be going about his life, oblivious to the ugly world that was me. Hell, I’d been too. Happily ignorant of the horrors just beneath the surface. I thought my father was overprotective. That he did what he did out of love, and possibly fear. He lost my mom. He didn’t want to lose me too. So he locked me up to keep me safe. How could I have known his motives were so much darker?

“My father keeps him in the dungeons,” Alex stated.

“Dungeons?” I shivered at the mere mention of the word.

Alex shrugged. “It’s what we call it. It’s a cellar. A damp, cold, and horrible place.” He shuddered visibly, and I got the feeling he knew from experience what he was talking about.

“Do you have access to it?”

Alex nodded “I hacked into the security system. I think I can unlock it. But—” he cut himself off, looking over at me. “I don’t know if your guy is strong enough to get himself out of there.”

I bit back a whimper as the last frame tormented my memory. He was right. Marc looked so weak. So unlike I remembered him. “He’s injured,” I whispered. “He’s in pain.”

Alex let out a growling noise, then shrugged. “I’m not risking anything for him. This is on you.”

My eyes darted to his. “If you want me to do anything for you—”

“If father finds out—”

“What!” I shot back. “What will he do?”

Alex looked away, muttering under his breath. “You don’t want to know.”

He was right. I didn’t. Not now. Maybe never. The wordmafiawas still ingrained in my head, and that was all I needed to know. All I wanted was to get away from this nightmare and take Marc with me.

“What does Mr. X want with him?” I voiced my thoughts out loud. “Why is he even…” I trailed of as it suddenly dawned on me. “He’shere?” I knew the answer before Alex’s nod. How had I not seen it sooner? It was the most obvious thing. Cursing my slow brain, I blurted. “I wanna see him! Take me there!”

Alex seemed to think, then he nodded. “While father is away. I can loop the security cameras to keep you hidden.” He threw a glance at his watch “Follow me.”

I stared after him, not having expected him to agree so easily, especially not so soon. Then I scrambled after him, jogging to keep up as he stalked through the corridors. He took the stairs to the third floor in flying strides, and once I reached the top I was panting. I stumbled after him through another set of corridors, this one darker and narrower, to finally reach a door at the end.

He swiped a card at the lock, and something clicked open. I stared.

“Father doesn’t know I have access,” he explained. “So you better keep your mouth shut about it.”

I nodded dumbly, scanning the room with big eyes. A square pattern of screens occupied the wall, and under it were something that looked like a panel of various buttons.

“What’s this place?” I asked, slowly looking around to take it all in. I didn’t know how an airplane cockpit looked like, but I imagined it was like this.

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