Page 75 of Shattered Hearts

The doctor scoffs, annoyed. “She’s growing weaker.”

He slaps me, but the sting is lost in the pain already radiating through my body. “Miss Maddox. We know where Stella Mayfair is. Do you want us to hurt her because you’re so weak?”

“No, please.” I’m sobbing, and the room smells like my misery, urine, and fear.

The doctor turns off the light and I’m sitting in complete darkness. I can’t see when he’ll strike.

“Miss Maddox, tell me the name of your high school. Tell me your address. What is your social security number? What are the names of your father’s business partners?”

These are things I should know, things I should be able to rattle off, and I can’t, oh, I can’t, and I’m scared to tell him I don’t know. I bite my tongue until it bleeds, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth.

He jolts me, and I shriek. “Tell us!”

“I can’t, I can’t,” I scream. “Please believe me.”

My body braces for another shock, and just before it jolts me, the doctor says to the nurse, “The drug is working. The results are wonderful.”

The electrical current he uses to punish me courses through my body. I can’t stand it anymore. My mind blacks out and I crumple to the floor.

I wake up in Gage’s lap.

He’s sitting in the field outside Quiet Meadows, holding a handful of snow to my forehead and rocking me back and forth, the light winter wind blowing around us.

My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, and I taste blood. I struggle to open my eyes, the hazy grey sky blinding after standing in the dark basement.

Baby presses her nose to my cheek.

“What happened?” I ask, pushing his hand away. The snow is melting and running down my neck.

“You fainted. You were in some kind of trance, reliving a memory. Your screams...Jesus Christ, Zarah, they were torturing you.” He cuddles me close, and I nestle against him.

He cries into my hair, and I let him pour out his pain. I’m no stranger to men crying. Zane has done plenty of it in the past year. Sometimes there’s strength in letting down your walls.

“Why? When I was talking, did I say why?”

He draws in a deep, shaky breath. “Let’s talk at the office.”

I groan. I don’t want to wait, but Gage looks like he’s going to pass out too, and I give him the time he needs the way he’s given it to me. “Okay.”

I try to stand, but he picks me up and carries me around the building to the truck. “Did you carry me all the way outside?”

“I had no choice. You collapsed.”

He sets me in the passenger seat and brushes his lips over mine. I can taste the horror and agony in his kiss. “I’m sorry you saw that,” I whisper.

“I’m glad I was with you. It won’t be for nothing. I promise.”

On the drive back to his office, he doesn’t let go of my hand.

Linc’s gone when Gage helps me inside, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, and the scent of our cheeseburgers lingers in the air.

“Can I have a cup of coffee?” I ask, kicking the snow off my boots.

Baby heads straight to her cushion, and after two turns, finds a comfortable position and falls asleep. I wish I could crawl into bed, too.

The memories I relived in that basement room slither around my stomach. My skin’s clammy, and my heart thumps painfully.

“Yeah, sure.”

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