Page 66 of Ghost Girl

But she didn’t know anything, did she? Maybe I could salvage this and save her. ‘She doesn’t know anything, Blake. She thinks Kali’s upset because you remarried.’

‘She’s seen her?’

I kept silent. He didn’t deserve an explanation. He deserved to burn in hell for all eternity for what he’d done.

‘Fine. Keep your silence. It won’t matter, anyway.’

The last thing I saw before he brought his boot down on my face was the crazed look in his eyes that gleamed with violent delight.

∞∞∞

‘Wakey, wakey, big brother,’ a familiar yet unfamiliar voice dragged me from my sleep, and I roused, confusion making my head swim.

Or perhaps that was the headache pounding through my skull. Jesus, how much had I had to drink last night?

An odd, sharp sensation dragged across my skin, and I groaned as I tried to move away, but I couldn’t move. I tried to lift my hand up to swat at whatever it was, but it was like I was bound or something as my movement was blocked. Something cool and hard tugged on my wrist, scraping over it uncomfortably.

‘That’s it, Chance. Wake the fuck up.’

Blake? It sounded like him, but not at the same time. Like someone had possessed him and was speaking with his voice, but it was so clearly not my brother.

My eyes cracked open, but they didn’t open very far. It was enough to get a blurry vision of my little brother standing before me, a knife glinting in his hand.

A knife…?

I realised then that my eyes wouldn’t open because they were swollen shut, and with a great effort, I was able to shift my head down to look at my wrists. They were cuffed and connected to a chain that was drilled into the wall.

The memories slammed into me like I was being buried beneath a rockslide. Boulder upon boulder of crushing weight dragged me down until I felt like I was going to sink right through to the centre of the earth to burn in the fiery pits of hell.

Blake killed Kali.

And not just her.

Blonde hair and a police badge flashed through my mind, reminding me of what I’d stumbled upon in my search for the truth. Was the cop here, too? Was she even still alive?

‘Eyes on me, big brother,’ Blake ordered, and a feminine whimper drifted over to me from the other side of the room. I guessed that answered on question. The cop was alive, but not for much longer. Would she be forced to watch me die before he killed her, too? Or the other way around?

I couldn’t decide which option I hated more.

I obeyed him, not because he held any sort of power over me, I had already accepted I was going to die, but because I didn’t want him to turn his ire on the woman if I didn’t give him what he wanted.

There wasn’t anything he could take from me anymore. I had said my goodbyes, though I would regret not giving Ashe one more hug. I couldn’t have let her in on my plans, however, or else she would have done everything in her power to stop me, and I didn’t want that. It would have hurt more in the long run because it wouldn’t have changed anything. At least this way, she couldn’t blame herself for my actions.

‘Ah, there he is. Welcome back, big brother. You’re in for quite the show,’ he grinned, but there was no humour in it. Only malice.

‘Just get it over with,’ I told him, turning my head so I wouldn’t have to look at him.

‘What’s this? Giving up already? You’re more pathetic than I thought.’

‘I was already planning on dying, Blake. It makes no difference to me if it’s by my hand or yours,’ I admitted, and he was silent for so long that I wondered if he was even still there. My head lolled when I rolled it back to face him to check, but there he was, glaring at me with a… was he pouting?

‘Such a pity. It’s no fun when they don’t fight back. The least you could do is pretend to be scared.’

I tried to shrug my shoulders, but I didn’t think I was very successful, so I settled for staring at him with a deadpan expression.

He pursed his lips in annoyance, and heaved a sigh like I was the most frustratingly disappointing thing he had ever come across. Good. I wasn’t going to make my death fun for the sick fuck.

‘Why do you want to die so bad, anyway, Chance? Got nothing left to live for or something?’ he taunted with a slimy little smirk, but he wasn’t going to get a rise out of me.

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