Unbroken

“Because she’s your mother…”

To my horror, I wasn’t lying. I really was sorry for what happened to her because at the end of the day, I didn’t want him hurting. Not for her. Or for me.

Only weeks after her botched hitman attempt to take me out, I was still healing. My thigh was still swollen, my scrapes hot to the touch and my split chin now a red, healing line. I’d lied to everyone and said I had a bike accident. That I was cycling too fast down a hill when I fell. I was painfully aware I had no choice in the lie, that Leo’s family were more than met the eye.

It was a hard realization.

Because Leo had taken me to his clinic, Kurt deemed him my hero.“Look what he’s done for you,” he told me, awed. “That boy promptly took you to the finest doctor to be taken care of.”

If only he knew…

“I’ve been waiting to see you,” I admitted to Leo now. “I’ve even gone to your house a couple times…”

“My dad’s kept a leash on me,” Leo returned, jaw tightening as a dark emotion flitted through his eyes. “He’s been…destructive. About the whole thing. About…who she was found with in that car.” He puffed out a breath. “Death would be an easier escape for her right now…”

I dreaded what he meant by that.

Chills bolted down my spine as I thought of what evils Mr Itani would have in store for her.

“But you’re out now,” I probed, studying him. “You’ve come back to us?”

Now he was moving, climbing in through the window. He barely stood inside my room for a second when his arms suddenly wrapped tightly around me. “I’m here now, and you’re here with me,” he responded, his voice thick. “That’s all that matters to me, Skye.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I told him.

He held me tighter, his chest moving fast like he was still trying to catch his breath.

Despite how cold and wet he was, I led him to my bed and crawled into his lap. He held me for hours as I rocked back and forth, telling him that something was wrong with me.

“I’m broken,” I said in my panic. “I’m hurting and I can’t cry, Leo. I’m broken.”

“No,” he responded back, kissing the top of my head. “Don’t you see, Skye? It’s the opposite. You’re so strong, you’re so brave—you’reunbroken.”

*

I blink back tears recollecting those tender moments. I can still smell the scent of him in my lungs, feel his hold around my body.

I’m making excellent progress with my blindfold. A few more attempts and it will be off. I can’t be sure how long it’s been since we’ve woken up to this nightmare, maybe an hour or so. I’m tense every time I think I hear a sound. Sometimes there will be a shuffle nearby, and I know it’s the girls, but my panic has me on high alert.

I’m waiting on the heavy footsteps, or the sound of the door creaking open. The thought sends bile up my throat.

“Leo’s been through a lot of tragedy,” Brit murmurs sadly. “Poor guy.”

I nod. Yes, he had been through the trenches. I couldn’t deny that.

“A real gentleman,” she adds.

Yes, a real gentleman.

“Was it weird after all that?” Fay wonders.

Before I can respond, the tension around my eyes eases completely. I blink, heart beating riotously as the blindfold disappears from my eyes. I still, blinking rapidly as my sight adjusts to our surroundings.

I’m about to exclaim I’ve got it off. That I can see!

But I freeze, the words caught in my throat as I peer around the room we’re in, wanting to vomit. Straightaway my lips begin to tremble, tears slide down my eyes as I gape at the stone walls covered in markings, at the bloodstained floor I’d been rubbing myself against, at the hanging yellow light in the centre of the room, offering a dim glow of the hell we have been thrown in.

No, we are not anywhere near a bush or a cabin.