Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 35602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
I talk to my little sister as if she's sitting right in front of me, and when I start imagining her cross legged on the floor next to me, I know my mind is truly going. The torture keeps going.
Hours turn into days, and I think I get food once per day. After six meals, I'm ready to leave, I'm ready to die. But there is no way to kill myself in this room. Even though even that would be a welcome reprieve from the confines of my mind with no one to speak to... The fragments of my mind are slowly breaking, rendering me uterly useless.
By the sixth meal, I stop eating. I just lie on the floor with my eyes closed, begging for sleep that never comes. After the tenth meal, five of which have gone ignored, Xavier enters the dungeons. He sees me lying in the grime on the floor, unable to react to his presence.
He walks up to me with a dark expression and asks, "Are you ready to talk, angel?"
I want to say no, I want to say strong. But there is no way for me to do that. Not when I know what's on the other side of these walls. I could still have a normal life, if only I was ready to give up Ivette My heart burns and my head hurts from the pain he's inflicted upon me by forcing me to give him this information. Slowly, I crawl towards the bars separating me from Xavier, and look deep into his eyes.
"Please, Xavier. Get me out of here. I can't take another moment."
"You know what you have to do to get out of here," Xavier reminds me. "Do you want me to leave again? Because now I've left you alone for ten days, the next time it will be twenty."
The thought of twenty days alone in this dungeon scares me. I don't know if I can last than another hour, let alone three weeks. I have no doubt Xavier will keep me in here for as long as necessary, even if just to play his wicked games with my mind. God knows what's going to happen to me. Once I finally give up the information about Ivette, I have a feeling he's going to kill me. But even that would be better than what's happening now.
"I'll speak," I say softly. "I'll tell you everything I know."
My heart breaks over the silent betrayal of Ivette. I can imagine her face in my mind, scoffing, disappointed at what I've just promised to do.
But Xavier smirks, pleased with himself and knowing how fast he broke me.
"Then sing, little bird," he says. "Tell me everything you know, in exchange for your freedom. Go on, Tallulah. Tell me about Ivette..."
Chapter 15
I can see the life draining out of my angel as she finally admits truth about Ivette.
After she tells me everything about her new friend, every single detail that she found out while she was with her, she soon realizes I'll have no mercy. When she's done talking, I nod and call over a guard. I whisper something in his ear and send him on his way. Tallulah follows me like a lost puppy, her eyes begging for mercy that I'm not about to give her.
"What did you just tell him?" she asks timidly. "What did you just tell him to do? Please don't hurt Ivette. She's my best friend."
"She won't be your best friend for much longer," I tell her darkly. "Because soon enough, she'll be dead."
"Did you send a hitman after her?" she demands, the old remnants of rage I remember so well boiling up inside her.
This is her bratty side, coming out to play again. Whether or not it was fake when we first met is yet for me to discover. But right now I can tell just how angry she is about my actions. It's not like she has any impact on what I do, anyway. And she doesn't know who Ivette is. She doesn't know if it is the wife and mother of Xander's children.
My brother did some horrible things to the girl, and I understand why she ran away. Unfortunately for her, dragging her down will also bring me closer to my brother's lair. And it means I'll be able to punish him for everything he's done to me.
For the death threats he sent to Tallulah. For the work he's given my cartel and for all the men he murdered. Tallulah is just a pawn in my game now, a way to find out where Ivette is hiding, and there is no running away from her fate anymore. As soon as she realizes what I've done, her body crumbles in on itself. She forms a sad little ball on the floor, sobbing and shaking all over as she hugs her knees to her chest. The old me would console her, tell her she couldn't have changed anything, even if she tried. Even if she hadn't given me all the details about Ivette, I would have tracked her down anyway. It was always my mission to kill my brother's wife. I had to get back at him some way to get his attention.