Page 84 of Bound By Threads
She walks away, her back straight as if nothing has ever touched her.
But I know better.
She’s carrying every scar we gave her.
The door clicks shut behind her. A second later, the sharp clink of the lock sliding into place echoes through the room.
I let out a low, bitter laugh because, of course, she did.
She’s done to me exactly what I did to her the last time I saw her alive.
Left me alone.
Trapped.
Powerless.
Humiliated.
Forgotten.
And somehow, it’s not the confinement that hurts.
It’s knowing she learned it from me.
Maybe that’s the real revenge—becoming my reflection long enough to show me what I did to break her.
Chapter37
Roman
My phone rings twice before his voice crackles through the line.
“Roman,” my father starts, his tone sharp as ever. “Pacheco pulled out. What the fuck is going on?”
I swallow hard, my throat tight, and for a moment, I wonder if he’s found out. “What do you mean he pulled out?”
“I mean he fucking pulled out. He’s done with us. Says he’s found a more reliable supplier for a fraction of the cost.”
I lean back in my chair, staring out the window. “That’s… unexpected. Do we know who the new supplier is?”
“Unexpected?” he scoffs. “And if I knew that, they’d already be dead…” he sighs. “How is it there? Have you been handling the situation like I asked you to?”
I hesitate, then lie. “I’ve been busy. You know how it is, trying to feel out a new place.”
“Busy?” he repeats, his voice rising. “You’re a fucking joke. I should have known better than to trust you with this. It’s not hard to get students to take drugs, Roman. It’s especially not hard when you have an addict with you to make the right connections.”
I clench my jaw. “I’ll fix it.”
“You better,” he snaps. “I’ll be there in a week, since you’re so incompetent. Get your shit together, or I’ll do it for you.”
The line goes dead, and I sit there, the weight of everything pressing down on me.
I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself.
We have a week to fix everything, but where do I even begin? The two men I call brothers are so tangled up with a girl who rose from the dead that I’m drowning under the weight of trying to fix everything to keep us safe.
Crew’s in withdrawals, and I spend my nights making sure he’s not swallowed his vomit as his body purges two years of drugs from his system. It’s the longest he’s been completely sober, and I’m terrified Lottie’s going to push him over the edge.
