Page 25 of Mafie Queen

“Lev, Damien, Alexi…” I start to hyperventilate,again. There’s just no way around it. One moment I’m in control, and the next I’m a blubbering mess.Grief is so fucking weird.

“What did they tell you happened to them?”

As much as I don’t want to relive the past, I know she needs to know in order to help me get better here.

“I wasn’t told anything. I watched as my uncle murdered them. All three of them. Right in front of me.”

“How did you watch them?”

I look up from the bed connecting with her soft blue gaze. It’s a weird question and I’m more than just a little confused by it. “How?”

“Yes, how? Were they right in front of you?”

I shake my head as the awful images invade my mind. “He had the cameras pulled up in their cells.” I let the tears I’d been holding finally fall. “He slit Alexi’s throat. Then, he drowned Lev. And…” My chest aches and I curl in on myself. “He electrocuted Damien until his heart gave out.”

My hands are a pool of sweat as my fists clench. Dr. K gets up from her seat to sit on the bed beside me.

Taking my hand in hers almost lovingly, she says, “Evie, I need you to know that Rostya put a trigger in your mind to make you feel pain when you see images of your men. This can also cause you to feel a sense of panic or hysteria when thinking about them.”

She’s right. I can feel my heart racing. I’ve felt grief before, but this isn’t quite the same. This is painful to the point that I can feel each individual nail poking into my back as electricity courses through my veins.

“But we are going to work on that. I think the best first step to take is to make you aware that all three of your men are very much so alive, safe, and waiting for you to come home.”

She smiles at me, and I pull my hand from her grip as anger and frustration war in my mind.

“Don’t do that. My uncle tried to tell me they were alive countless times before using them against me. I’m not going through that again.” My voice is hard, my back ramrod straight as I glare daggers at her.

The door in front of me cracks open before Havoc steps in. “She’s telling the truth, E. The guys are all safe.”

I shake my head, refusing to believe them because my heart will literally stop if it has to break one more time.

Havoc takes out his phone and hits a button, making a ring come through the speaker. Dr. K tries to hold up a hand to stop him.

“We don’t know if she will be triggered by their voices.”

Suddenly, Damien’s voice comes across the line, and a wave of calm washes through me at the sound of his rugged tenor.

“H-man, what’s up? How’s my Little Shadow?”

A ghost of a smile touches my lips but I can’t believe it just yet. Not yet. I know Havoc has no reason to trick me, but my mind is a mess.

“Sunshine?”

Silence stretches out, and I begin to believe this is all just a trick again.

“Little Shadow?” His voice breaks and my hand flies to my mouth in disbelief.

Havoc brings the phone to his mouth. “Tell her something no one would know, something you’ve never said out loud to each other before. They made her believe you were dead.”

Only seconds pass, but it feels like hours before he responds. I look to Havoc, pleading with my eyes because I need this to be real as much as I need blood in my veins.

“Remember when we went on that date with Angelo on the boat?”

“Yeah.” My lips tremble.

“And you went running out of the water because we saw a shark?”

I roll my eyes because who wouldn't get out of the water if they saw a damn shark?Damien apparently.

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