Page 16 of Equilibrium
“I think I deserve an explanation first,” she started. “You practically kidnapped me and dropped me here. Then I get Nathan, or well, Creed strangling me in the middle of your club.”
“That’s true.” I smiled. “But you still didn’t answer my question. Where have you been all of these years?”
“Around. Here and there, everywhere, I guess.”
She was as infuriating as she was beautiful. There was a bruise on the right side of her face, and a cut that still seemed to be healing.
“Who did that to you?” I tried being calm, tried asking it with a mellow voice, but the fury was brewing beneath my skin. My blood was boiling because I almost knew the answer.
“None of your business.” She frowned.
“I beg to differ. Everything that has anything to do with you is my business.”Keep fucking calm.
She scooted backward, putting distance between us. “I didn’t know I was your pet, Storm. Thank you so much for locking me up here when there are more important things I need to do.”
“Which things?” I sat at the edge of the bed, letting her have her space. I didn’t know what happened to her, but the darkness I saw back then, it wasn’t hiding anymore. It was there on the surface of her skin.
A time bomb waiting to explode.
“As I said, none of your business.”
God, this wasn’t going how I imagined. I would burn heaven and earth to get to her. I would raise hell if somebody hurt her. But right now, everything about her screamed to stay away. She wasn’t ready for me. She wasn’t ready to acknowledge this thing between the two of us, and I could wait. I would’ve waited until my last breath if it meant she would get back to me.
“Why didn’t you show up?” Her eyes flashed with something familiar. Pain. It was pain showing in her eyes. “You know, at the spot we agreed on. I waited for you. I went back every single year, but you were never there. I even thought that you were a product of my imagination at one point. So, tell me, why?”
She kept quiet, her eyes looking everywhere but at me. What the fuck happened to her?
“Ophelia—”
“They kept me away.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “They chained me to a wall because they thought I did something I would never do.” She looked at me this time, but her mind was somewhere else. “They thought I killed her, when all I did was try and revive her.”
“Killed who?”
“Ava.” She hugged her knees. “They thought I killed Ava, their sister. And there was so much blood, Storm. And I tried. I fucking tried to help her, but they didn’t let me. They thought I did it.”
“Fuck.”They chained her?“When did this happen?”
“That night before we were supposed to meet. I was going to come. I was going to leave that life behind me, but they didn’t let me. So, I ran away. I ran as fast as I could.”
“Jesus, fuck.” I dragged a hand over my face. “Then why the fuck did you go back?”
“I didn’t exactly go back.” She smirked. “They kidnapped me, but they didn’t know I had a deal with the Albanians. They wanted Kieran dead, and so did I.”
She started looking angry, and I didn’t know if I wanted to hug her or slap some sense into her.
“Did they do all this?” The middle finger on her right hand was swollen, purple and blue and I didn’t need a doctor to know that it was broken. I didn’t want to know what other scrapes and bruises marred her body. If I did, what little I had left of my sanity would walk out that door, and I would end up killing them all.
“They did, but I let them.”
“What the fuck, Ophelia?”
“Do you wanna know why I let them do this?” That haunted look on her face was there again, insanity dancing in those eyes. “Do you wanna know why I let them torture me?”
I did and I didn’t, because whatever it was made her hurt herself.
“I could’ve killed Kieran from afar. I was trained by my father, I know how to use not only knives, but all sorts of guns. I didn’t do that. I wanted them to suffer. I knew looking at me would be reliving that night all over again. I wanted them to drown in their sorrow. They deserved nothing less for what they’d done to me. Them and my brother.”
I’ve been clenching my teeth so hard I was surprised none of them broke yet.
