Page 20 of Bound By Threads
But the words are sinking in, over and over, like nails into my skull.She was supposed to marry me. I’ve spent years waiting for this. We planned every moment of breaking her down enough that she’d be pliant. Willing.
I can barely hold myself up as the realization crashes into me like a wave. It’s her.
The girl we helped torment—the girlwemade pliant for him by making her everyday life hell because they said so.
I’ve known her my entire life. The girl whose room I used to sneak into at night to protect her from the nightmare that was her own mother. The girl who would whisper her dreams to me, things she never said out loud to the others in fear that they would laugh at her.
The girl I once loved before... everything changed. She changed.
Her name is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t want to say it out loud. If I say it, then this nightmare will be real.
My fingers are trembling, numb from the cold air that seems to seep into my bones. My palms are sweating, and for a split second, I think I might pass out right here in the hallway.
But I can’t. I won’t.
I pressmy back against the wall, trying to make sense of what I just heard and praying they don’t come out here and catch me.
I don’t know how long I stand here, lost in a daze, but it’s long enough for me to hear Roman’s dad, the man I once called Uncle, speak again.
“We both know how much you wanted her, James. But things... changed.” There’s a pause, like he’s choosing his words carefully. “And now, she’s gone. So... you’ll get another.”
I flinch at the way he says it — so dismissive.So cold. Like a life is a tradeable commodity, something you can toss aside when you’re done. The idea of them being so casual about her death makes me want to scream.
But I don’t because that would mean Roman’s dad knows I’m here. Knows I’m listening.
“Fuck you. You think you’re helping me by saying that? You think that... that replacement is going to make up for everything?” My dad’s voice sounds desperate. “This wasn’t just about her. I wanted them broken, and she was the perfect weapon to do it. I never thought that Tracey would have handed over her daughter so easily,” he laughs, but it’s sinister. “She wasmine. I shared her with you, but I was the one to make her bleed. She—” his words cut off in a violent snarl.
A crash.
A punch landing against something hard.
My father’s rage has no limits. Not even the man who runs this place, and the drugs that run through the veins of twenty-five percent of our population, are safe from it.
I don’t need him to say her name. Her mom’s name is confirmation enough.
It’sher.
I can feel my stomach twist into knots. I want to rush into the room and scream at them and demand answers, but I can’t move. I can’t make a sound. Because if I do, if I reveal myself now, it would make everything worse.
But they’ll never tell me what happened.
I need to know what happened to her. I need the details. I just want to know what her last moments were.
Not like I deserve them.Wedon’t deserve them.
We made her life a living hell on the instructions of our parents, laughing and mocking her to her face as she held back unshed tears. She never said a word since we played that prank on her, shutting us out like we were nothing more than the shit on the bottom of her shoe.
We wanted her to hurt. To feel the pain we felt daily from the loss of her in our lives. This entire time, she was suffering, wanting it to end.
But not like this.
I stagger backward, my mind racing.
It can’t be her. Not her.
But I need to be sure.
The only thing I know for sure is that I need to tell Roman and Crew. I have no choice, and I know that it’s going to obliterate all our worlds.
