I suck in huge gasps of air as black dots dance in my vision.My teeth chatter, matching the rhythm of my shaking body.The pearls fall from my hand as I claw at the invisible fingers around my throat.Tighter and tighter, they press until my knees shake and I drop.Before I hit my knees, strong, familiar arms catch me and lift me bridal style.
“Get that bitch the fuck out of my face before I feed her to the pigs,” Pope snarls, his words causing his chest to rumble against my cheek.
Tears drip from my eyes as I hide my face against him.I use his body as a shield against the vitriol that pours from the eyes that rest on us.Their censure, pity, and sorrow weigh so heavy against my skin that it’s like fire licking against it.They burn with the emotions they can’t control.
It’s as if they blame me for leaving.
Or maybe they’re blaming me for returning.
It’s a burden that shouldn’t be placed upon me, but the woman who would have given them their own licks so long ago can’t find the will to even meet their gaze as they pass by us.
There’s a long-forgotten part of me that beats against my insides, demanding to be let out.She’s been screaming at me for the last few years, but every time I showed a hint of her, Frankie was there to put her back in submission.Allowing him to focus on me kept him away from my kids.I would have takeneverythinghe gave me repeatedly as long as they were safe from his ire.
But the second they no longer were, I did what I had to do to get us out of there.
The silence of the room drifts to me, and the panic starts to leak out.I lift my head, needing to see what’s going on around me because silence is never good.Silence means something bad is coming my way.The devil doesn’t make a sound when he comes for your soul.
“Let me down,” I whisper harshly.
Pope’s arms tighten around me, but when my breathing speeds up, he loosens his hold and helps me to my feet.“Easy.”
“I’m fine.”My eyes widen, and I scramble away from him.“I’m sorry.I’m sorry, please.I didn’t mean to snap.”
My back collides with another hard chest, and I gasp, spinning around to find myself staring into eyes so similar to mine that my heart stutters.I freeze as my brother’s figure blurs.
No matter which way I turn, betrayal surrounds me.
My love.My husband.My brother.
There has to be a limit to the amount of betrayal a person can carry on their soul.
“Poppet,” Cyanide whispers, sorrow filling his eyes as they roam over me.
His fingers curl into his palms, his posture tense as he fights his need to pull me into his arms.
My brother used to be my biggest protector, but now, he’s just another person who hurt me the most.
The ice builds around my heart as I finally begin to understand that I’m surrounded by the people who pushed me onto the path that led me to Frankie.
Is it fair to lay the blame on them?No, but right now, I’m not thinking rationally, and it’s the only defense I have against them.
Swerving around the council members, I don’t look any of them in the eye as I head back to the chair that Hannibal is standing by.
I sit down, my back straight, my hands clasped together in my lap.Agony shoots through my body as the bruises pull and the cuts tighten, but I grit my teeth and keep my face blank.
“Do I have permission to answer your question as he tends to my injuries?”
Pope’s brows squish together as he regards me, a darkness in his eyes that never bothered me before but now scares the shit out of me.Frankie would get that same look when I did something that displeased him.
I brace myself, but Pope turns away from me, his shoulders rising and falling as a guttural yell tears from his chest.
A wisp of my tattered soul slithers out of me as I watch a part of him break open.
I watch him blankly until he turns back to me, his face clear of anything he was just feeling, and folds his arms across his chest.
I don’t miss the way all but Hannibal keep a wide berth from me.
“Tell us what happened to bring you here,” he orders.
