A Hurt So Sweet Volume Four (Elite of Eden Falls Prep 4)

This is all my fucking fault.

I spend the rest of the drive sitting there in charged silence. When we pull up in front of the cabin, I nearly fall over myself, jumping out of the still moving car and rushing toward the house. There are no lights on.

I stumble inside, flipping the switch and calling out Pandora's name. I stumble, bumping into something heavy on the floor.

"What the fuck," I mutter. When I look down, fear shoots up my spine.

It's a dead body. A fresh one. Blood has pooled under the unmoving man's corpse. He's got a stethoscope around his neck, and a knife lying next to him, covered in his blood.

"Holy shit," Emilian mumbles as he walks in after me.

I point to a bloody footprint leading away from the body. "Someone went out this door. You need to find them. Go after the footsteps. Find whoever did this."

It's then that we hear a whimper coming from the other room, and we all step over the corpse. I flip another switch and feel sick to my stomach when I see the scene laid out before my eyes.

The wooden floor is covered in no-longer white sheets. They're covered in blood. Some running down from the kitchen, some coming from the frail form slumped over on the floor.

It's her, it's my toy, and she isn't moving.

"Pandora," I grind out, taking a step toward her before turning back to Oakes. "Go after Lily Anna. Call the cops and an ambulance."

"But we need to make sure Pandora is-" he objects, but I cut him off before he can finish.

"Go!" This time, he obeys, leaving me alone with my broken toy.

I kneel down next to her as I listen to Oakes and Kelley run after her.

Pandora's lips are blue and she looks deathly pale. I don't allow my fear to take over. Instead, I try to wake her up.

For myself.

And for our baby, too.

10

Pandora

"That was another one." I pale, clutching my belly and trying to breathe normally. "You have to take me to town now, Lily Anna."

"I don't have to do anything," she snaps back before returning her attention to the book she's holding. "Fuck, it doesn't say anything about the bleeding."

"Lily Anna," I groan. "Please, I'm begging you, do this for the baby, if not for me... I don't want it to get hurt."

She closes the book and puts it back on the shelf before pacing the room, running her hands through her hair while she ponders her next move. While I wait for her to make the right decision, another scream rips itself from my body and I cry out in pain. This is torture. Pure torture.

"Fine," she hisses. "I'm getting the doctor to come up here."

"I need to go to a hospital!" I start crying. She's delusional if she thinks I can have the baby here. We aren't prepared at all. "Please, Lily Anna, please! You'll have the baby's blood on your hands if something happens... Do you really want that on your conscience?"

"Shut up," she snarls before grabbing her jacket. She leaves, locking the door twice behind her. I wail helplessly, but there's no one around, no one to help me. I'm assuming Lily Anna has tipped the caretaker down the road handsomely with her natural favors, because he pretends not to see me every time he passes by and I bang on the window for him to help me.

Now, I'm left alone and terrified. The seconds turn into minutes and soon enough, it's been an hour since she left. But then I finally hear voices, and I hear them come in. They're arguing.

I make eye contact with the doctor, who looks worried, and I can't hold back my tears any longer.

"Please," I whisper. "You have to help me."

"You'll have to forgive her, doctor," Lily Anna says sweetly. "She's a little delusional from the labour. You brought the painkillers, didn't you?"