“About thirty minutes ago. His face is badly bruised, but he’salright. You may wanna talk to him about solitary again, though. They’ll continue coming for him.”
A beat of silence rises between us.
“I’ve tried. He won’t listen to me. He thinks he can handle it, but we both know he can’t. Clearly.”
Roger steps closer, his easygoing demeanor gone, replaced with sharp focus. “What’s going on?”
He knows my brother well. They’re good friends.
I’m already picking up my duffle bag, my pulse pounding in my ears.
“I’m coming now,” I say into the phone. “You better make sure they let me in to see him, and don’t tell him I’m coming.”
The moment the call disconnects, I’m sprinting for the door.
“Emilia!” Roger calls after me. “What the hell is going on?”
But I don’t answer him. I throw myself into the car, my hands tense around the wheel, squeezing so hard my knuckles turn white.
My brother needs me. I have to free him. I’m all he’s got. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Even if it means going back to the devil himself.
CHAPTER FOUR
TESSA/EMILIA
The fluorescent lightsbuzz softly overhead, casting a pale, sterile glow over the small windowless room. The air is thick with the sharp scent of antiseptic, mingling with something metallic.
My sneakers scuff against the tile as Officer Reyes leads me past a row of empty beds to the farthest one, where my brother lies motionless.
I inhale sharply.God.
Nate looks like someone took a bat to his face. His right eye is swollen shut, the skin around it an angry, mottled purple. His cheek is split, stitched haphazardly by whoever worked on him. There’s a cut on his lip, dried blood at the corner of his mouth, and bruises blooming along his exposed arms, creeping beneath the pale blue blanket covering his torso. His breathing is shallow, but steady—the only sound in the otherwise silent room.
He doesn’t see me at first. His good eye is barely open, gazing blankly at the ceiling, while his fingers twitch slightly where they rest on the blanket.
Reyes clears his throat as I move in closer, catching Nate’s attention. His head jerks in our direction, and when he winces, my features twist with his pain.
As soon as he finds me standing there, his chest rises heavily.
“Shit,” he mutters, voice hoarse. “Emilia?—”
I should probably tell him to call me Tessa from now on. Then again, if he finds out what I’ve got planned, he’d shoot it down.
He sighs heavily, grimacing as the movement pulls at whatever pain is throbbing through his body. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“And you shouldn’t look like someone used you for batting practice, but here we are.”
“I’ll give you two a few, but make it quick.” Reyes steps out of the room, leaving us alone.
Nate’s jaw clenches and he looks away, shifting against the pillow as if he can hide from me. As if I haven’t seen every one of his wounds already.
“I’m fine.”
I snort. “Yeah, you look great, Nate. Really thriving in here.”
His fingers flex against the blanket, and for a moment, I see something flicker in his expression. Something like shame. It makes my throat tighten because I know my big brother. He hates this. Hates that I’m seeing him like this. That I’m seeing him weak.
