Page 194 of Sage Haven
Too loud. Too much.
Klay saw it.
He felt it as he laughed, a cruel and bitter sound. "Oh," he breathed, savoring the realization. "You like him."
Then, with brutal finality—"You know he brought you here, right? For me."
I shook my head.
Because I had to.
Because if I didn’t, I’d break apart.
But it didn’t matter.
Klay yanked me sideways, the chair skidding across the floor before collapsing beneath me.
The ropes bit deeper.
My ankle twisted.
Pain exploded up my leg, making me scream.
He stood over me, towering, like he had all the time in the world.
And then I heard it.
A second voice.
A laugh.
"Well, well. If it isn’t Sage." I turned and my jaw dropped.
It was one of them from that night.
My body went cold.
Numb. Gone.
"You remember Hugh, right?" Klay asked, like he was asking about an old friend.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t because I wasn’t there anymore.
Not in the present at least.
I was back on the cold ground in the middle of the woods.
My body broken.
My mind screaming.
Klay’s fingers closed around my arm.
He dragged me across the floor like I weighed nothing at all.
My skin scraped the tile, burning.
I didn’t fight.
