Heartbreak You (Heartbreak Duet 2)

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I tell her, my voice dry and hoarse. I have hardly used it, and one bottle of water a day only lasts so long.

I turn away from her. Chloe walks over, her fake nails grip my face, and she turns me back around to face her, her breath in my face as she speaks, “He will pay for what he did to me,” she snarls.

“But I did nothing. It’s not my fault you’re all so fucked-up and don’t know how to live a normal life,” I say back to her, raising my chin in defiance that I know is going to get me in trouble. She holds on to my face for a moment more before she steps back, letting it go. Then she slaps me. Hard. I see stars before she turns and walks out, locking the door behind her.

I stay in the same spot for ages, not trusting anything or wanting to move for the fear of what that will do to my energy reserves. I have to be careful and don’t want to piss her off so much she won’t feed me.

My stomach growls at the thought of food.

Trying to keep all thoughts of Lucy’s baby away from my mind, I bite down on my lip to taste blood.

That poor child has no one.

Maybe Sydney was right, maybe I’m not the right choice for Lucy’s baby.

That thought breaks my heart a little.

Rocking back and forth, my ass is cold on the tiled floor.

The door creaks open again, and Chloe strides in, but there’s no tray of food in her hand.

What does she want this time?

“Seems Lucy’s gone missing,” she says. “And Atlas has left the hospital.” She looks down, and I see she has my cell in her hand. She presses call, and I hear his voice, a shiver running through me.

“Theadora…” I hear his voice say my name.

“The baby, is the baby okay?” I ask.

Chloe pins me with a hateful stare and shakes her head.

“Sydney will check. But, Theadora, where are you?”

I look around the room. No matter what I can’t tell him where I am simply because I have no idea. The lone window in my room is boarded up on the outside and sunlight barely seeps through the cracks in the wood. I can’t see out.

“I don’t know. Chloe won’t let me out.”

Her eyes go wide at the mention of her name. She hangs up quickly, steps up to me, and slaps me again, only this time, it’s more of a punch. I fall backward, my head hitting the floor with a thud. I cradle myself into a ball trying to protect my body as my head screams with pain and things start to go dark.

“You stupid, stupid, bitch,” she screams. She throws my cell on the floor, and I watch as it shatters to pieces. She stomps on it before she picks it up and walks out of the room.

I hear the resounding echo of the click of the lock as she leaves.

I wake to noise.

A lot of noise.

My head hurts, there’s a huge bump on the side, and I can feel the sting on my face from where there is a bruise forming. My stomach grumbles loudly as the door opens and shuts. I watch Chloe as she leans against it, turning to face me and keeping her back on the door as if she’s holding it closed.

“I liked you… I did. But Jesse always said you weren’t good, and that we couldn’t trust you,” she sneers.

I hear footsteps and look at the door behind her.

“They came for you, but I can still win this game. Your sister was smart to avade your bodyguard by taking you out the back door. I’ve beat them at their game once and I can do it again.” Chloe pulls a knife from her pants and walks toward me, the knife coming at me in a swift arc. I crawl backward on the floor until I am pressed against the wall and can’t go any further.

“Chloe,” I scream as she raises the knife to stab me.

My hands instinctively go up to block her, and the knife touches my skin, causing me to scream out in agony as it stabs into my flesh. Chloe grunts and pulls back. I look up at her in shock, the blood from the wound in my arm already trailing down to my fingertips as my hands drop.

Her eyes zero in on me, and she raises it to stab me again. And just as she does, a loud bang echoes in the room, and Chloe’s eyes go wide for a split second before blood begins to bloom on the front of her shirt. She drops the knife and clutches her chest, her eyes sad and shocked at the same time.