Page 91 of Poisoned Promise
I love that voice.
It whispers my name like a prayer, murmurs sweet nothings in my ear and remains one of the grounding memories in my mind through the long dark nights locked up here.
That and Alex are the only things keeping me going, and for a long time, I fear Caterina had killed him for hiding me.
For someone so powerful, Felix seemed rather out of the loop on a lot of things but the last time I spoke to that bitch, she claimed he was listening.
The fact that he’s now here and calm somewhat supports that.
“I wasn’t finished,” growls the voice of my torturer.
“I don’t fucking care,” Felix snaps darkly. “Get out before I break your fucking kneecaps and drag you out.”
There’s a scuffling of feet and a deep sigh, then the clink of metal tools and those heavy footsteps retreat with a soft mutter of ‘asshole’.
Then silence.
I don’t speak. I can barely move.
If Felix is still here, I can’t sense him around me.
Maybe I dreamed his voice and whoever arrived is just next in a long line of pain.
That and more sluggishly weave around my mind until suddenly something clicks above me and the manacle around my left wrist opens.
My entire body slumps to the floor but I don’t quite reach it as the manacle around my right wrist remains closed.
The edge of the metal cuts into my skin, but the addition of pain merely melts into the cacophony of agony radiating around my body.
Another click and then that manacle opens and I collapse down onto the cold, stone floor with a pained groan.
“I can’t talk to you while you look like that.” Felix’s voice drifts around me, laced with pain and a familiar uptick of anger. “I need you to answer me.”
“Answer you?” I croak with a throat that hasn’t seen water in at least three days. “What m-makes you think I have a-anything to say… if you’re not here to help me?” Talking is exhausting and by the time I get up onto my hands and knees, then back into a seated position, I’m panting heavily.
Felix stands nearby with his thick arms crossed over his large chest, looming over me like the next threat to my life. I should be scared.
Part of me still is, instinctually.
But the rest of me is relieved to see a familiar face.
I push blood-soaked hair away from my throbbing face with both hands and gaze up at him through one slightly swollen eye. “You’re n-not here to rescue me.”
He doesn’t reply at first. His jaw works back and forth as if there’s too much he wants to say and he’s wrestling with what comes first. I’m too tired to think and far too tired to speak so I just sit there and catch my breath.
And wait.
“Is it true?” Felix asks eventually, his words clipped. “Tell me. No more lies. No more bullshit. Tell me the truth.”
“About?”
“Nico.” Saying his name appears to pain Felix by the way his brows crease. “Did you kill him?”
So he knows everything. I was a fool to think I could keep that secret forever.
For every day that passed where I contemplated telling him the truth to push him away, there was an equal day where I clung to the idea that he would never find out, never judge me, and we could be together forever.
But he already knows the truth. It’s crystal clear in his eyes.
