Page 74 of Mistaken Prejudice

“Pozhaluysta, detka.” Please, baby.

My mother’s voice begging for me to help her danced in the room with the words I’d spat at her.

“I wish you were dead. I wish I were the one to kill you.”

“Andryusha,” she cried out my name.

“You’re dead to me. Don’t ever call me again.”

There was a sound of a phone slamming before the recording ended, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to forget what I’d just heard.

“Sounds like you have some hard shit to sort out…” Shay-Lee beamed.

“S-shut up.” I fought back the tears threatening to choke me.

“What a shame she’s dead.”

“I said s-shut up.” My voice cracked, and tears started to roll down my bruised cheeks.

“Oh, wait.” He paused, finally lifting his shoe off my face. “How silly of me. I forgot she’s not dead. You only wished she were. In fact, she’s not too far away from here. State prison, isn’t it?”

I wanted to scream, to shout, but my voice was gone.

“After hearing your heartbreaking story about your dead mother… I wonder what Miles would think when he hears this. What Elliot and Daniel would have to say.”

“D-don’t,” I whispered. I hated the pleading in my voice.

“As long as you keep your mouth shut, I’ll keep mine.” I could hear him stepping away. “Don’t fight me, Andrei. You won’t win.” I thought it was the end of this torture when I heard the door open, but I was wrong.

“Break his arm.”

Wait, what?

“Oh, he’s left-handed,” he said right before shutting the door behind him.

Panic rushed through me as I tried to get my body to move and run away.

It was pointless.

They were on me before I could even move a finger.

I cried out as someone sat on top of me, pinning me to the floor with his full body weight, while someone else grabbed my arm and stretched it to the side.

“P-please, don’t,” I begged as I helplessly looked over my arm and watched Lin stepping closer to it.

A nerve-wracking SNAP filled the room, and I saw black as jolts of pain ran through my body. My stomach flipped, and I was about to pass out.

It was broken. They shattered my arm with a kick before letting go of my injured body and leaving me alone in a puddle of sweat, tears, and blood.

But it wasn’t enough to break me.

I love you.

Miles’s words and warm smile flashed through my mind a moment before I closed my eyes.

I was not giving up on him, even if it broke me.

Chapter 23