Page 50 of Monster

I murmured that statement over and over as I banged the back of my head softly against the door. The thought shocked me as well, but it was there. And I knew it wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. I kept telling myself that he’d be just fine. I mean, he was a capable man. A ruthless man, even. He was the bad guy of my narrative, and surely whatever threat he thought was about to dawn on him he could easily get rid of with the pull of a trigger and the swipe of his credit card.

Still, if something happened to him, I might not ever get home.

I heard scuffling and grunting. I heard things crashing to the ground and shattering. Tears lined my neck as I picked myself up and hobbled back over to the bed. I thought about hiding in the closet, but I knew it wouldn’t be of any use. I had nowhere to go, and I knew if the threat made it down to me I’d be dead anyway.

So, I crawled back into bed and tried to block out the sounds.

“Hush little Charlotte don’t say a word. Daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”

I sang the lullaby softly to myself. One my father used to sing to me every night when I was a little girl. Tears coated my pillow as I curled up into a ball, throwing the covers over my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and crooned the song softly to myself. I forced my brain to drown out the sounds and conjured memories of my father.

Memories of ice cream cones in the backyard and catching lightning bugs during warm summer evenings.

Damn it, I missed my father more than I could stand.

A grunt sounded against my ears. “Char—Char—”

In a flash, I threw the covers over my head and sat up. All at once, the dull roar of commotion above me ceased to exist and I heard the grunting of my name behind the door. I recognized the voice, too. My feet planted into the floor and I took off running, lunging for the doorknob. I heard the lock flip just before I ripped it open. And when I felt something collapse against me, I braced myself for death.

Until I felt something warm against my stomach.

“What the—?”

Teo’s growl cut me off. “Close. The door.”

My eyes widened as I slammed the door closed with my foot. I wrapped my arms around him as the warm spot against my stomach grew in size. With all the strength I had in me, I walked him over to my bed. But when I set him down on the edge of the mattress, I wasn’t the least bit prepared for what I saw.

Teo was bleeding from his hairline. His left eye was already swollen closed and bruised. He had ligature marks around his neck as his hand gripped his side. And when my eyes fell upon the blood staining his white suit shirt, I saw the knife protruding from his side.

“Oh, my God,” I said breathlessly.

Teo grunted in pain. “Char.”

My eyes whipped up to his. “What do you need?”

His eyes stared at my handcuffs. “When did you get out—?”

I ripped his suit coat off. “Your guard forgot to cuff me. I need you to lay down and hold as still as you can.”

He quirked an eyebrow at me, but he did as I asked. However, I barely got his shirt peeled back over the knife sticking out of his side before the door behind me burst open.

“Step away from Mr. Emiliano!” a gruff voice shouted.

“Mr. Emiliano, are you all right?”

“We need to get him a doctor.”

“He needs a fucking hospital. Mr. Emilia—”

Teo held up his hand. “I’m fine. I’m fine. I don’t need a doctor.”

I snickered. “They’re actually right. You have a knife sticking out of you. You need an E.R.”

He glared at me. “I don’t plan on dying this way. Not tonight. I’ll be fine.”

“You say as you grunt in pain.”

He spat blood onto my sheets. “Are you going to help me or not?”

---