I won’t have to go hoarse anymore from crying for help when no one hears me.
I won’t have to hear the voices in my head reminding me of all my fuck ups in life.
Won’t have to think about that fucking greedy bitch. I loved her for three years and she hops onto his dick as soon as he snaps his fingers? Straight up tells him he’s the best she’s ever had? I hope he turns on her too and she winds up in this hole in this basement eventually. Maybe she’ll get to listen to a loop of him fucking someone else the way I have to listen to the two of them.
I dip my finger into the wound on my wrist, wincing at how it stings, how it throbs deep inside, way deep…
I draw a letter V on the wall beside me with my blood. And then I run my finger down beside it to write the letter i. I dip my finger into the puddle on the floor and dot the i. I think. I can’t see it, but whatever. Maybe she’ll be stuffed here some day and see it. Know she fucked up by not keeping her promises to me.
Light floods the space again and someone jumps down. I squint around the light. Fuck, that hurts.
The guy is huge. He’s lifting me out and I’m too weak to fight him off. Too weak to make a run for it.
I’m like a bag of weak old bones, aches and pains everywhere. So much pain I can’t remember what it feels like to not hurt. I see my wrist as I lift my arm weakly. So much blood.
I dry-heave, then request, “Le…lemme die.”
“Nope,” the guy says.
I don’t know his name. I saw him that night at the nightclub with Kill. Never got his name, but he’s a big, mean fucker.
“Boss isn’t done with you yet. You aren’t dyin’ today, shit stain. Let’s get your wrists patched up. Not even a deep enough cut to do yourself in?” The guy laughs. “Can you do nothing right?”
72
Violet
A Month After Our Wedding
Finally, I’ve found the right key. The lock turns.
I pull the key out and take a big breath before I pull the large slide-lock across at the top of the door and then the middle one before I squat to do the same at the very bottom.
I shakily turn the doorknob. Do I really want to know what’s on the other side of the door?
I have to know.
I have to know that, no, what my gut is telling me is wrong. It has to be wrong.
Ever since I saw inside that cistern, the rust-colored letter V and i, I’ve wondered. I’ve wondered why this old basement has a new-looking door with so many locks. That’s why I drove here by myself today. To see for myself. It’s been bothering me for two days, so I have to know.
A grotesque odor hits my nose and I’m about to lose the last meal I ate. I hold my breath and flash the light from my phone at the corner in there.
And what I see…
No.
Movement behind me makes me startle before I twist to look behind me.
My husband.
“Baby. You shouldn’t be down here,” he says.
“I probably shouldn’t,” I whisper, sadly.
My heart feels like it’s splintering apart right now.
“Violet…” Killian tries and hooks his arm around my waist from behind me.
I shouldn’t be surprised he followed me. He’s been looking at me for two days like he knows I suspect something.
My poker face has never been very good.
“Turn around and close the door, sweetheart,” he says. “Believe me, that’s the best thing you can do here. Close it and forget this.”
My eyes follow the light to the corner.
“Is that…” I gasp when I see movement in the corner on the bed that’s there.
“Yeah,” he says, kissing the top of my head.
“Not dead?”
It sure smells like death.
“No. He’s not dead.”
“Vi?” I hear croaked out.
My stomach lurches. It is him. His voice is weak, but I know it’s him.
“You’ve had him down here this whole time?”
Killian says nothing.
“How? What the hell? When?” I pull away from him. I’m trembling.
“I had someone give his mother money to bail him out. And then waited to catch him.”
“You’ve had him here this whole time?” I step back. The stench is getting stronger. It smells rotten.
“I have.”
“When? When did you put him here?”
“A few days after you told me about the double-sided coins,” he says.
I gasp. That long ago?
Ray laughs. “I won. I had her first. She loved me first, you piece of shit bastard. ”
I bristle.
Killian doesn’t react to Ray’s jibes.
“He’s been torturing me, Violet,” Ray says weakly from the corner. ”Dunno if you’re really here or if I’m dreaming again, but in case you’re real… he’s been showing me videos of you… Playing videos of you. Making me listen to him fuck you, Vi, on a loop. He feeds me dog food. He beats the fuck outta me. Shot my knee. Pissed on me.”
“Shut your face, Ass-wipe,” Killian snaps.
My eyes travel to Killian. He’s staring at Ray’s shadow coldly.
“He’s got cameras on you all the time, Vi. He shows me footage. Footage of you two fucking.”
“Keep talkin’, asshole. See how it goes for you later,” Killian warns. “Don’t listen to him, baby, he’s skewing things. Like he always has.”
My blood runs to ice at his words, at his demeanor. I back away.
Killian catches my hand. “Baby.”
“You lied,” I say.
“Yes, I did,” he replies matter-of-factly.
I’m in shock. I can’t process this, especially not with his green eyes cutting through me, showing me what looks like the epitome of I give no fucks.
He has zero remorse. Zero.
Is that possible?
“I can’t believe you did that.”
Without hesitation, he replies.
“Believe it. I would lie; I would say anything to protect you. I’ll lie to anybody, you included, to keep you safe. To keep you happy and carefree. To protect you from how I know you feel right now.”
“Killian.” His name sounds like pain. Agony. Like shock.
“Violet,” he replies coolly.
It’s true.
He did this.
He actually did this.
To be continued…
Part 2 – Coming!
Information at
http://ddprince.com/dirty-stack
If you’ve got a bit of a wait, please don’t cuss out the author for the cliffhanger. I gave full disclosure. (wink)
Subscribe to The Scoop to get all the news about coming DD Prince books, sales, freebies, and giveaways.
Also feel free to join DD’s Chickadees on Facebook. http://facebook.com/groups/ddprincefangroup – I’m popping in there regularly for interaction, teasers, and shenanigans plus ARC opportunities, weekly giveaways, author drop ins, and this is where the news gets shared FIRST.
Please be careful about posting spoilers in reviews or on book discussions. Don’t spoil the fun for other readers.