Unbroken

Eleven

Skye

Iexpected to wake up in a hospital bed.

I did not.

Pain engulfed the right side of my body. When I cracked my eyes open, tears of agony were already spilling out of them.

I opened my mouth and moaned. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t move, either. I just lay there, crying from the pain, from the wetness I could feel all along the side of my body.

I wanted to cry out for help. I could not. My mouth was duct taped; my hands bound together in front of me. I just lay there, hardly seeing through the agony as my skin continued to prickle from pain, from the cold. I saw movement. Heard soft footsteps all around me.

“I want her gone. Weigh her body down in water. Somewhere they won’t find her.”

Acidic bile rose up my throat.

Loraine Itani was planning my murder.

What in the holy mother of fucks?

“I’m taking the car back. I’ll send someone to pick you up in the morning. I want it done by then. Got it?”

The man, Rick, confirmed it would be done by then.

“I’m doing this for my boy,” she emphasized suddenly. “I’m not doing it for me. I’m not so self-centred, Rick, believe me. It’s forhim. For thefamily. For thebusiness. If enemies knew he could be so weak—I can’t even comprehend such a thought! No, no, this is all forhim. For the greater good.”

Rick murmured that he believed it was for Leo and not her.

“He’ll grieve for the pretty tramp, and then I’m going to throw so much quality pussy at him, he’ll forget all about the princess of Slumville,” she assured herself. “He’ll go to a better school, he’ll carry on the family legacy, and I’ll rise with him! He’ll thrive! My boy willthrive, Rick.”

Rick responded that she was right—Leo would thrive.

I knew she was gone when I stopped hearing her annoying voice. Eerie silence followed, and I still lay there. I managed to twist my head to the sudden sound of a zipper. I saw Rick’s figure in the dark knelt down feet from me. He was rummaging through my backpack, removing everything inside it. He didn’t say a word to me, but at times he flicked his gaze to me and while I couldn’t see his eyes, I could feel them run over me.

Close-by, I heard water lapping softly.

Could smell the salt in the air.

Could feel the sand in my eyes as the gentle breeze blew past me.

Was I seriously going to die?

Didn’t I have enough shit to deal being called a slut for being best friends with two of the most sought after boys in school? Students thought I was playing both of them. Did it really look like that from the outside?

Does it even matter?I asked myself.

I really should have made the most of it with them.

Maybe I should have picked one to be with, right? I shuddered. I couldn’t do that. I loved them both the same, and that was unfair, wasn’t it? Like Leo said, it went against the rules.

Interrupting my thoughts was Rick. I tensed when he moved to me. I let out a muffled whimper as his hand ran over my face, and along a sharp pain along my chin. Blood ran down my neck—

“You’re just a kid,” he murmured, his voice choked up. “A fucking kid.”

Would he let me go then?

I nodded as he said that, playing it up for him. Sure, yeah. I was a kid, after all. I could pull off the innocent look—widen my eyes, blink rapidly, all doe-like—