“That’s hardly fair considering what she’s just been through, Liam.”
“She got herself into a situation she never should have been in. If you expect me to feel pity for her, you better think again, Ice.”
“I don’t want to fight with you, Liam.”
“I shouldn’t have called. It’s been a shit day and I knew better. I’m going to go, Ellie.”
“Liam…”
“What?”
“Will you call me tomorrow?”
“Are you going to tell Harvey you’re leaving next week?”
“Liam, please try to understand. I’m needed here.”
“That’s just it, Ellie. I do understand, you’re trying to please everyone there, but you forgot one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I need you, too, and if you love me, I should be a priority.”
“It’s all so black and white for you, isn’t it Liam? You can’t see my side at all. You expect me to just pack up and leave everything I have here. Yet, you aren’t willing to do the same. It has to be all your way. You won’t even think about compromising.”
“Ellie—”
“I’ll talk to you later,” I respond, cutting him off. Then, I hang up.
My clock shows one in the morning before I realize that I’m crying…Devil“Killing me isn’t going to bring your eye back.”
Wolf’s words are labored, slurred, and broken as he pants for air. I have to wonder if one of his broken ribs might have messed with his lung. Probably not, since he’s still breathing. Sometimes, I think I keep waiting for him to die from my beatings to take the decision out of my hands of when I should end him.
I glance up at the clock and it’s one in the morning. Another night where I’m late getting in bed with Torrent. That will probably lead to another fight. She knows what I’m doing. I haven’t kept that from her. She told me she understands and I think she does. I can see the concern on her face, however, and each day that this drags on, that concern increases.
She’s worried about me.
Hell, I’m worried about myself.
When I first got my hands on Wolf, I thought the darkness inside me had lifted. Now, it’s becoming clearer that every day I spend breathing the same air as Wolf, feeds the darkness. Lately, I’m beginning to worry I’m losing sight of myself again.
“End this,” Wolf says. He’s not really begging, but he says it every night just the same. I never talk to him. He doesn’t deserve my words. Instead, I do what I always do. I take the bat and slam it into the side of his face.
He’s definitely not so pretty to look at now.
Wolf spits blood out of his mouth.
“End this,” he demands again when he can recover enough to talk. I ignore him, just like always. Then, I take my knife and cut another couple of inches of skin off his leg.
It’s a ritual I do every night before I leave and go jump in the shower. His leg looks disgusting now and is definitely infected, but that’s just a small part of his worries. I throw the skin on the concrete floor for the rats to eat, knowing Wolf will be watching it. I want him to see that, to know that soon the rats will be feasting on his entire body.
“End this!” he yells again.
“Maybe tomorrow,” I reply, giving him hope. Hell, maybe I’m giving it to myself. I know that the sooner this is over, the sooner I can get on with my life and enjoy Torrent’s love and that of our son. Logically, I know it, but yet I can’t make myself stop torturing him. I keep thinking I’ll get to a point where I feel that the score is even.
It never is.
What’s that old adage? An eye for an eye? Maybe tomorrow I’ll try cutting out both of Wolf’s eyes with a dull knife. Maybe that will make me feel like the score has been settled. It could happen…
But I doubt it.Ellie“I think it’s finally over.”
“It sounded like it,” I agree, watching my sister carefully.
“Thank God. Now, I can get on with my life.”
“We should start planning Glenna’s memorial service,” I agree. “It’s kind of sad that she had no family, nothing in this world.”
“I’m not giving her a memorial service,” Dawn announces.
“You’re not?”
I should probably be surprised, but I’m not. My sister and I have always been different, but in the last few weeks I’ve started wondering if I knew her at all. We just got done with another interview with the lead detectives in the case. Although, it wasn’t really an interview as much as it was an interrogation. They think my sister helped Wolf. They think she’s hiding him. Now, I obviously know she’s not doing that, but I agree with the detective. Dawn knows more than she’s telling us. I don’t suppose it matters anymore, however. They’re moving Glenna’s case from priority. They’re focusing on their hunt for Wolf, and I doubt they’ll ever completely stop that—especially after I supplied them with his real name by lying and telling them that he approached me in the bar first with his real name and that I had no idea he was talking to my sister or Glenna under a different name. They’ll never find Wolf, however, and of that I’m certain. That means, for my sister, it’s over. It should be a time of joy, but with Glenna dead, Liam so far away and not really talking to me, there’s not much joy to be found.