Hands clamped around the metal rails of her bed, and she began to move, rolling toward the door. For a moment, she thought she should say something to Micah, ease his guilt and regret, but there wasn't really anything to say. He’d made his choices, and they’d both had to live with the consequences.
“Teresa, I'm sorry. So damn sorry, if I could go back, I'd do it all differently. All of it. I never stopped loving you. Never. Not for a single second. I spent the last decade wishing I had you by my side, that we’d made all our plans a reality. I'm sorry I ruined them. It’s all on me, all of it. I promised to always be there foryou. I promised to always take care of you. I failed. I let you down in the most horrific way. I'm sorry, pretty girl.”
His words were the last thing she heard as she was wheeled out of the room, and the door swung closed behind them. As she was taken down the hall, away from the man she’d once loved, she knew she should have said something.
Anything.
Now it might be too late.
Her opportunity could be gone.
Forever.
While she was assuming the trafficking ring would keep her alive until they’d sold everything they possibly could, it was just that. An assumption.
She was taken into a small room, an operating theatre, and the reality of her situation struck hard and fast. This was happening. Really happening. She hadn't just been kidnapped, she was tied to a bed, and she was about to be put under and have one of her organs removed.
There was no stopping it.
Help wasn't coming.
Micah was as helpless as she was at that moment.
Whatever they took from her wouldn't kill her immediately, but if a miracle happened and she made it through this alive, it could drastically impact her for the rest of her life.
Doctors and nurses bustled about her, wires were hooked up, and the nurse from earlier shot her an apologetic look before setting up an IV.
With a smile that could only be described as malicious, the doctor she’d bitten stood beside her bed, with a syringe in his hand. “You know, there are certain body parts that aren't really necessary to what we do here.”
Reaching out, he picked up one of her hands, lifting it off the mattress as far as he could with the leather cuff around her wrist.Her fingers had been curled into a fist, but he forcefully grabbed hold of her pinkie and straightened it.
“These fingers, for example. Wouldn't it be fun if you woke up to find one of them missing?”
A shudder of fear had her feeling like she’d been doused with a bucket of ice water, but she didn't look away. Didn't flinch or cower. He could cut off her finger if he wanted. He could cut off all her fingers, her hand, her entire arm, but it wouldn't change the fact that she’d hurt him, and he was never going to forget that.
“Something fun to think about as you go off to sleep,” the doctor said as he released her hand and injected the syringe into her IV.
Teresa’s last thought before the drugs took effect and washed her away into unconsciousness was that she really should have said something to Micah while she still had the chance.
Because despite everything, she still loved him, too, as much as she hated him.
May1st
5:21 P.M.
Hadseconds always felt this long?
Micah would have sworn that they hadn't.
Then again, he’d never been forced to lie on a bed while the girl he loved, the girl he had horribly betrayed, was operated on against her will.
He would give anything in the world to swap places with her.
Trade his life in a heartbeat.
Anything to save Teresa. Anything to try to make up for what he’d done to her.
What he’d done … it made him sick to think about. Never before had he hated himself, not like this, this soul-deep loathing that made him want to crawl out of his own skin. Growing up with a great family, he’d never known what it was like not to be loved, and while his parents had expectations that he helped out around the house, he’d never experienced the crushing sense of responsibility that he knew Teresa had.
