Page 36 of Sins of the Hidden

"You're having another panic attack?" Mom's voice wavered. "When did these start again?"

"Again?" V's question was directed at me, but Dad answered.

"She used to have them all the time after—" He cut himself off, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the memories threatening to surface. After that night in the woods. After the footsteps chased me through the darkness. After screams no one else would ever hear.

An invisible vise tightened around my ribcage, phantom sounds of splintering wood and cruel laughter echoing in my mind. Even now, years later, I could feel the cold earth against my palms, taste the metallic fear that never fully washed away.What happened that night lived under my skin, a shadow that only I could see.

"After what?" Lethal promise edged V's voice toneless, making my spine snap straight.

"D-Don't," I whispered, my voice raw. "Please."

His obsidian stare bore into me. His body tilted forward slightly, jaw rigid beneath his mask. His pupils had expanded until barely any iris remained, hungry for answers I wouldn't give. Yet he froze, letting me struggle through the worst of it. His solid presence anchored me, even as my world tilted off its axis.

"Baby girl," Mom moved closer, her voice softening with concern. "What do you need right now? Do you want to come back to our house with us?"

"N-No." The word emerged stronger than I expected. "I need—I need to be here."

"Withhim?" Disgust dripped from Dad's words.

Another wave of dizziness struck, and I swayed forward. V's hand shot out, steadying me without contact. He remembered. He remembered I couldn't bear being touched during attacks—a detail no one else had ever bothered to notice.

"P-Please," I managed between shallow gasps. "Just go."

"We're not leaving you alone with?—"

"Get out." V's voice carried enough menace to make both my parents retreat a step. "Now."

"Like hell I'm leaving her with you!" Dad's voice boomed, making me curl deeper into myself. My hand found V's forearm, nails biting into his skin as another wave of panic crashed over me. Each inhale dragged slowly through clenched teeth.

"Trevor—" Mom started.

"No! Look at her, she's terrified and clinging to him like?—"

V's free hand hovered just above mine, close enough that I could feel its heat without the contact I couldn't bear. "Get the fuck out."

"I'm making it worse?" Dad's laugh bordered on hysteria. "That's rich coming from the club's attack dog. You think I don't see what you're doing? Using her anxiety to?—"

"Dad,please," I begged, voice barely audible through my panic. Black spots danced across my vision as air scraped down my throat. V's skin burned hot under my fingers, my grip tightening until I must have been causing pain, but he remained immovable.

"Baby girl, you're hurting yourself—" Mom's perfume closed in, suffocating me.

"Don't fucking touch her." V's warning emerged as a feral growl. I pressed my forehead against his arm, trying to ground myself in the ember-dark scent of him.

"That's my daughter you're talking to—" Dad's aggressive step forward echoed through the floor.

"Keep talking. I'll end you, motherfucker."

"You threatening me?"

"Not a threat." V's voice embodied death itself. "A promise."

My vision tunneled as I practically crawled into V's side, seeking refuge. The weight of his colors pressed between us—stitched and silent, binding and a barricade all at once.

"Trevor," Mom's voice trembled. "We need to go. Look at her—we're making it worse."

"I'm not leaving her with him." Dad's voice dropped to that dangerous register I'd only heard at Hellbound. He took a step closer to V, every muscle coiled for violence. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot."

V didn't flinch, his eyes deadly calm as Dad continued.

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