Page 37 of Traithorn

It cannot be real. I refuse to accept it.

“We killed him so we could finally be together again,” Vernonreplies. “This little fantasy you had built up would only last that long.”

A sob tears its way from my throat with the knowledge that this is truly it.

The end of my new life.

“You were supposed to stay in jail!” I scream, tears streaming down my face.

“Shh, you’re okay,” Celine whispers, her head leaning against my shoulder.

I try to shove her away from me, but it’s hard with my hands behind my back.

“Okay? This is not fucking okay. You ruined my life! You…you killed my parents, and now you killed my boyfriend?” My breath comes out in short pants as I sit there, on my knees in the middle of the cold night. The knife glides against the blood on my upper arm, smearing it out. “Are you going to kill me?”

There’s terror in my eyes.

Vernon’s eyes darken. “No, but I’d rather see your blood on my hands than your love for someone else’s. The blood keeps you distracted fromhim,” he spits out.

“You didn’t love him anyway,” Celine mutters.

“And that gives you the right to kill him?” I shriek, though ultimately confirming I never loved him. They know that now. They can see it in my confession. “You’re murderers! You should have stayed locked behind bars for an eternity—that was the plan. How the fuck did you even get out?” The tears that fall from my eyes dry up and are replaced by anger instead. My hands clench into fists behind my back.

If only I could stand back up.

“I prefer the term ‘savior,’” Vernon rebuts, and I stare at him in disbelief.

Celine’s touch is seductive as it brushes away my hair from my neck. “He helped us escape.”

Oh, how I wish I could get away from them right now. Instead, I’m stuck on my knees.

Anger brims inside me. “How? He didn’t even know about you,” I scoff.

I kept that part of me buried. Terrified how he would react if he found out about my part in my parents’ murder—thatIwas the reason they were killed.

“I don’t fucking know how, but when he found out about us, he contacted us directly. You wanna know what his deal was?”

I hold my breath, not wanting to hear another word spewing from their mouths, but knowing the curiosity gets the better of me.

“He promised to free us if we killed you. And oh, how easy it was to manipulate him.”

There’s amusement littering her voice. It only sends a shiver down my spine, shoulders tensing at the revelation.

None of them offers me the space I need, both of their bodies pushed tight against me, touching me in one way or another until it feels as if I might suffocate.

Yet, somehow, their touches ground me at the same time.

“You ruined my life. I wish you had never been adopted into my family.” An unwilling tear trails down my cheek.

Celine leans closer and licks it away.

“I hate you both so fucking much,” I whisper.

“I know, darling. That’s okay, as long as you’re ours.”

Her gentle touch is replaced by Vernon’s violent one, choking me until my eyes water. I’m deprived of oxygen, my body so full of emotions I can’t make out as Vernon’s hand comes to glide over my bare thighs. I whimper, losing oxygen by the minute. Soon, I’m sure I will black out.

“Fuck. You really are trying to kill me,” I choke out, more tears slipping from the corner of my eyes involuntarily.

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