Page 6 of The Truth Between

The damp air clung to me like a second skin as my heart pounded against my rib cage. Yet the only thing I was doing was standing up, staring into the darkness that covered this barely lit basement.

Panic grew in my chest, tightening around my lungs with each shallow breath that I took. The walls seemed to close in around me, further trapping me in this godforsaken place. I yanked at the chain binding my ankle, the rusted metal cutting into my skin. The panic spread through my veins, becoming an unstoppable force that drowned out all my other feelings and thoughts.

For the millionth time, I tried to search for a way out but found none. The walls began to spin as the floor shifted beneath me. I gasped, tasting bile on my tongue as the world became distorted and turned into a kaleidoscope of shapes and shadows.

I knew exactly what was happening. The panic attack crashed over me in waves, robbing me of control and reason. My legs buckled and I sank to the floor. I gasped for air as my body trembled and I landed on the mattress that had become my bed. Tears streamed down my face because I couldn’t stop this. I couldn’t prevent any of this.

I was filled with fear. With desperation. With helplessness.

I fought for every breath as my chest burned because of the panic that had its hold on me. I curled into a ball, hugging my arms tight around my knees as my body shook. Darkness crowded my vision, and I could feel the threats it tossed at me, wanting to swallow me whole. My thoughts descended into chaos. I told myself that I was going to die down here, all alone in this fucking basement. No one would save me. It was unlikely my dead body would even be found.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the darkness, the dampness, the fear threatening to overwhelm my senses. But it was no use. The panic had me in its hold, tearing at my mind in an attempt to leave nothing left.

No. I couldn’t give in. I refused to do so. I had to stay strong.

An eerie calm flowed over me as my body felt like it was going numb. With shaking hands, I wiped the tears from my face as the walls began to slow down. My breaths came slower now and my breathing evened out as the panic eased the grip it had on me. Exhaustion took its place as I lay there, pulling the blanket over me. The panic would pass, as it always did. But it would return, again and again, to remind me of where I was and how I’d gotten here.

Beneath all of it, the only thing I wanted was peace. But when would I get it?

I lay there motionless on the mattress, too drained to move. I closed my eyes, willing my body to relax. To rest for the first time in days.

I was determined not to break.

Because I would make Soren pay for what had been done to me.

* * *

My eyes openedwith my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. The panic that had been deep within my soul stirred but didn’t explode. It took me a second to remember that I was in this stone room and not in my warm bed at Westwick University. Would I ever get used to being here?

I hoped not. That more than likely would mean that I’d given up on making it out of here alive.

I stretched, shifting on the shitty mattress, and I closed my eyes again temporarily. This stretch was absolutely necessary and a temporary reprieve from the problems I was trying to solve.

I turned my head and my eyes met those of Soren Grant, his intense gaze piercing through me like a dagger. I screamed, the sound bouncing off the walls of the mostly empty room as I grabbed the blanket to wrap around myself. If I had been panicking before, I was definitely freaking the hell out now.

Soren’s lips twitched into a smirk as he watched me scramble for cover. “Good morning, petal,” he drawled, his voice deep and rough. Every word he said made my skin crawl. “Did I scare you?”

I scowled at him, my heart still racing. “What the fuck? Why are you watching me sleep?”

His smirk widened into a grin. “I find it entertaining.”

“You know what would be entertaining for me? You letting me go home. If you do, I would pretend that none of this happened.”

I expected him to say something slick or to laugh at me. Instead, his gaze held mine for what seemed like an eternity, neither of us willing to back down. There was something about the way he looked at me that freaked me the hell out. It was a mixture of curiosity and something darker and more dangerous that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Despite being one-hundred-percent afraid of what he might do, I couldn’t tear myself away from the pull he had over me.

Then he finally spoke. “Let you go? You think that you have any negotiating power here?”

I stared at him, wondering who the hell I was dealing with and feeling completely out of my depth. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Soren had somehow managed to sneak into my prison cell.

“There’s something wrong with you,” I muttered, pulling the blanket tighter around me. I shifted my leg and was quickly reminded of the chain that was still clamped around it.

Soren raised an eyebrow. “Something wrong with me? That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? I prefer to think of myself as… unconventional.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well, unconventional doesn’t cover the fact that you’re a psychopath. What do you want, Soren? What is the purpose of keeping me here?”

Soren leaned forward in the chair he’d been sitting in. “You already know, Iris.”

His saying my first name instead of the nickname he’d given me sent a strong tremble down my spine. “You should have let the past stay buried instead of trying to find out more.”

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