Page 53 of Hurt to Love
Why hadn’t I fought harder?
I cried out like a wounded animal and started to lash out at the brother next to me, not caring what happened to me or how he’d react. He just laughed and threw me off him like I was a rag doll. I curled into a ball on the floor and hugged my knees to my chest, feeling like a million knives were piercing my soul. The pain was unbearable. He was gone, and now, so was I. I could feel myself dying inside, evaporating with every breath I took, and every image that plagued my mind of his last moments. Moments where he would’ve been fearless and focused solely on getting to me, to protect me. He didn’t deserve any of this.
Neither of us did.
He’d come willingly into my darkness, all those months ago. An all-consuming, soul destroying darkness that he’d faced freely. That he’d faced for me.
And he…
He was my light. And now, my light was gone. Snuffed out by the darkest evil I’d ever known as if he was nothing. He wasn’t nothing. He was my everything.
But these fuckers? They didn’t care that they’d taken everything from me. They loved it. They loved seeing me hurting more than any hit they’d ever doled out in the past.
I wasn’t going to let them get away with this though. If they wanted me dead, then so be it, but I’d fight them every step of the way and take as much of their souls with me as I could. I’d kill these evil fuckers with my bare hands if I had it in me. Why did they have to destroy my life? I never even got to tell Cill I loved him… and now he was gone. My heart would be forever broken. They’d finally got what they wanted all along.
They’d broken me.
The older brother,Scarface, was standing across the room, his arms crossed over his chest and a smug look on his face. He chuckled at me writhing on the floor and then strode over to leer above me.
“We’re losing patience, little dog. Your usefulness to us is getting less and less as each day passes.” He knelt down, resting on his haunches. “Why does he keep hiding in the shadows? Are you really that worthless to him?” He reached down and grabbed my chin to yank my face up to look at him. “You know, when you lose your value, it won’t end well for you.”
“I don’t fucking care anymore,” I spat back, then twisted my head and bit down hard on his hand, tasting the metallic blood as I pierced his skin.
“You fucking bitch,” he snarled, and smacked me hard across the face before standing and shaking his hand out and grimacing as he checked the damage.
I grinned back upon seeing the angry red teeth marks on him and bared my teeth like the feral animal they’d always accused me of being.
“I don’t care what you do to me anymore. I don’t even know what you want. Just kill me and get it over with.” I pushed myself onto all fours as I spoke, then I crawled into the corner of the room and glowered at them. This was it. No more victim. This shit show ended tonight.
“She doesn’t know what we want. All this time and she still hasn’t worked it out yet, brother. Can you believe it?” The younger brother smirked.
“I can believe it,” Scarface hissed. “She’s a dumb fucking bitch. She’s always seen what she wants to see. Isn’t that why we’re all here?”
I wasn’t on-board with playing any more of their mind games, so I reverted to the dangerous coping mechanism that I’d honed over the months they’d kept me. I shut myself down completely.
I’d foughtagainst them with everything I had. I couldn’t let them take me and leave her with the Contis to do whatever they wanted. The thought of her being alone with them made me want to tear up the whole fucking yacht.
The two men dragged me to the end of the boat, away from her, away from my everything. It was killing me not to see her. I needed to be there for her more than anything.
I kicked. I punched. I did everything I could to overpower them, but it was no use. They were bigger, they had more strength, and they had guns.
“Stop fucking fighting us and it might not end so badly for you,” one of them grunted out as I attempted to barrel into his chest and knock him over.
“Come on, man. We don’t want to put a bullet in your head unless we really have to,” the other said through gritted teeth, as he pulled me off his mate.
“Shoot me and you’ll have more than those fuckers to worry about,” I said, nodding over their shoulders to their bosses inside.
“You think we don’t know that? We know who you’re friends with. We do know who you are.” They stood with their bodies pressed hard up against me, forcing me to the edge of the boat with their bulky frames.
“We don’t want to end up in the middle of a war with anyone. But if we shoot you, that’s what’ll happen. So, you listen up and listen good, yeah? If you’ve got any sense left in that head of yours, you’ll take this break we’re giving you and get the fuck away from the Contis.”
“I’m not leaving her.” I surged forward to try to make a run for it and get to Paige, but it was hopeless. They grabbed me on either side and lifted me up then tossed me over the side of the boat.
I hit the freezing cold water, but I didn’t feel anything other than gut-wrenching fear. Watching the yacht speed away in front of me, I felt like my insides were being ripped out. I tried swimming back to it, but they were moving so fast that it wasn’t long before they were a distant hum and a dot on the landscape.
I’d failed her.
The one thing I’d promised her was that they’d never get to her again, that she was safe, and I’d failed. All I could do was tread water and watch as my life disappeared into the darkness of the night.
