Hendrix snaps his fingers, drawing her attention back to us. “Why’d you try to kill me?” I ask before he can say anything, proving I’m the one in charge of this portion of the interrogation.
Her eyes raise to meet mine, a bright smile spreading over her lips. “Mommy said if you didn’t have lungs, you couldn’t cry,” she answers. “I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was trying to pop your lungs.” She shrugs as if there’s a clear difference.
“You kicked her over the cliff,” Hendrix growls, flexing his hands.
She rolls her eyes. “You keep saying that.Butyou’re wrong. I tried to pop her lung like a balloon. I missed,obviously. She fell and tripped on a rock. I tried to grab her because I was going to try again, but she slid over the edge. I was mad too, because I couldn’t reach her, and I messed up,” she whines, explaining herself as though it had just happened.
“Why’d you lie?” he asks.
She shakes her head like he’s asked the dumbest question she’s ever heard. “She said if I told, you’d take her away. Guess she didn’t think you’d give me away.”
Tired of listening, I stand and start to pace around her. Stalking her like she did me. “You chased me in those woods that night,” I accuse, wondering if she’ll admit it.
Sick laughter bubbles out of her. “Poor little Dark Queen. So scared. Shivering all alone. Yelling for your little boy toy,” she cackles, doubling over.
I snatch the wooden bat standing in the corner, swinging it and connecting with her shoulder. The chair tips, but Vance catches her before she falls. “I was fucking ten, you evil bitch!” I shout, releasing the anger I’ve held onto for years.
“So what I’m hearing… is you’ve been a crybaby all your life,” she taunts, biting back her laughter. “She didn’t even look for you. She left with Ollie, and they fucked like rabbits.” She cackles, her head falling back.
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Brock shouts out of nowhere, glaring through the cage at Vex.
I tune everyone out, grabbing the stupid bun hanging loosely from her head, and force her to look at me. Rage fuels my veins like a blazing fire, causing me to shake. “Why did you send Zoey after me? Was it your idea?” I question, needing answers so that I can be done with her.
Her brows raise as she glances at Vex. “Your boy must have popped her cherrygoodbecause she’s after that cock.”
My palm stings from connecting with her face. “Did you send her?” I repeat, running out of patience.
“She found me when she heard you were coming back to town. All she kept saying was they were going to be happy together. Then she offered to watch you for me. How do you think I got in the cottage?”
“It was you? The flowers. All the stuff,” I gasp.
“Stuff? I left you some flowers once. I don’t know anything about stuff,” she sighs.
“I stocked the place. You didn’t have shit,” Vex speaks up.
My eyes grow wide in shock. “You bought me chapstick?”
His brows pull tight. “You wear it all the time.” He shrugs, not even knowing how sweet he is in the moment.
Hendrix’s hand wraps around mine, urging me to release her hair. “I think you should rest,” he says softly. “Vex, take her back to the cottage. Vance and I still have some questions, before Lusk shows up to escort these two to the prison.”
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t exhausted, and my wounds started to bleed again. Vex steps beside me, wrapping his arm around me, leading me from the cage.
“I’ll be seeing you, sis,” Amethyst calls, making chills erupt over my body as Vex opens the heavy door for me.
Once we reach the top of the steps, he lifts me into his arms, cradling me against his chest, and I feel myself slipping into darkness within minutes. Finally, I’m where I'm meant to be.
fifty-five
One Year Later…
Tulip: 2025
Locks click a second before metal clangs together. The annoying buzzer sounds an instant before light douses my cell with life. My toes press against the concrete, arms extended in the air, trying to stretch the knots from my back. I turn, gazing out the barred window at the awakening sky, the sun glowing its early morning orange.
“Tulip, ass in gear,” Rex orders, glaring inside my cell.
This man is a pain in my ass. His mammoth muscles remind me of balloons my insides crave to pop. His dark eyes stare at me, making me wish they let us use spoons so I could dig them from his skull.