Page 102 of Bound By Threads
I freeze.
The words hit me like a slap.
I open my mouth, wanting to tell him not to call me that, but my stomach lurches as memories begin to claw their way back.
That nickname…
Pain.
Blood… so much blood.
“You scream so prettily for me, Little Bird.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the memories that flood my mind—the suffocating heat of the room as it felt like the walls closed in on me, the hands that held me down, the words whispered in my ear as I lost my voice.
Silence.
Silence is safer.
“No one can hear you here, Little Bird.”
My body trembles as the memories wash over me, and I feel trapped, unable to escape. His words are a knife twisting in my chest.
“No,” I whisper, barely able to speak, my throat tightening.
I shake my head, wishing I could disappear, escape the room, the memories… the weight of his body on mine.
“I’m going to break you, Scarlett, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it because you broke so much when you played dead.”
How did I never notice how much he looks likehim?
I shake my head because Roman is nothing like him. Only isn’t he?
He stole my voice, too. He wanted to break me and called me Little Bird.
I know I’m not being rational, but I’m back there, in that room, withthem.
The exact words uttered in my ear as they took turns ripping me apart until I knew no one would ever save me.
The memories flood my mind again.
The hands that weren’t James’s buthis.Roman’s father’s.
The way his father had looked at me. Watched as his friend ruined me, then joined in.
It’s too much.
He’s too close now, and I can’t breathe.
The walls are closing in on me, and I feel like I’m back there, in that dark room with them.
I want to scream, but I can’t.
I want to run, but I’m pinned to the wall by him.
But it’s not Roman, it’s his dad.
His face, his voice… his hands, coated in my blood.
