Convict Me (Broken Heroes 1)

What the hell could Hero want here?

I walk deeper into the building, my feet moving slowly. It only takes me a few steps before I start hearing voices somewhere off in the distance. Following the noise, I quickly realize there are two voices mixed with groans and cries. My heart rate spikes and the nervousness I felt before is replaced with fear—for Hero.

I pick up speed, each step full of determination. Is he fighting somebody? Is someone hurting him? My thoughts are all over the place.

Running through the warehouse, I weave in between large machinery and things that look like storage containers. When I finally get close enough for the voices to make sense, it hits me.

Hero is yelling at someone, not the other way around. “Tell me where he is!” Hero bellows.

When the other person doesn’t answer, a loud smacking noise fills my ears, followed by a grunt.

Confused by what I’m hearing, I keep searching for them, hoping for the best and praying Hero is okay.

“You better tell my friend here what he wants to know. You don’t want to see what he is capable of…”

The menace in the unfamiliar voice scares me. There is no way he is talking about Hero, is there?

If you would have asked me ten minutes ago, I would have said no, but when I turn the next corner and Hero comes into view, everything I thought I knew about him changes.

His back is turned to me, but I know it’s him, there’s no denying it. Images of the way he cares for me, the gentleness of his touch, and the way he smiles down at me. All of those things fade away when I see the man before me.

He’s not the same. This I know. Deep in the pit of my belly, I know…this is the part of him he hides.

My body shakes, my feet are cemented to the floor. I know I shouldn’t watch, that I should look away, but I can’t. Hero looms over a guy tied to a chair. His head is hanging low, his face bloody and bruised. I cover my mouth with my hands, watching the blood trickle down the man’s face.

Is he even alive?

Hero’s sleeves are rolled up, his hands balled into blood-covered fists. He pulls his arm back, the muscles in his body tense, and hits the poor guy in his stomach full force again and again. One hit, two hits, three hits. Air whooshes from the guy’s body, and when blood sputters from his mouth, I whimper, swallowing down the vomit rising into my throat.

In that moment, the guy who appears to be Hero’s friend turns in my direction, his eyes homing in on me.

I freeze like a deer caught in headlights, afraid to breathe, blink. I’ve been caught—and now, they’re going to kill me. They’re going to do the same thing to me they’re doing to him.

“Hey…you!” Hero’s friend yells at me.

His voice is so angry, it makes me jump back half a foot. My pulse pounds in my ears when Hero’s gaze swings in my direction. All the air leaves my lungs, and my blood turns ice cold when his eyes meet mine. Nothing could have prepared me for what I see when he looks at me.

His eyes are so dark, cold and calculating, they look like they don’t even belong to him. I’m paralyzed by fear, and unable to move a single muscle. His lips move, as if he’s saying my name, but I can’t hear anything.

It isn’t until I see him take a step toward me that my body decides to work again. I twist around and start running back the same way I came. My chest heaves as my legs move frantically, wanting to get out of here as fast as possible. I can’t breathe, can’t think, I just need to leave this place and forget what I saw.

Everything will be better if I forget. Forget the look in his eyes…the blood on his fists. I squeeze my lids closed for half a second, wishing I hadn’t seen what I had.

“Elyse!” Hero’s voice calls out after me. I can’t tell if he’s angry, but that only makes my legs stronger and faster, pushing harder to get away from this nightmare—from him.

“Elyse!” he screams my name.

He’s getting closer now. I turn my head to look behind me, to see there are only a few feet between us, and he is closing the distance quickly.

Before I can turn my head back around, my foot catches on the side of one of the shipping containers. Everything seems to happen in slow motion.

One moment, I’m running, and the next, I’m tumbling, losing my balance mid run. My other foot lands wrong, and I know right away I’m in trouble. Pain like I’ve never felt before radiates through my ankle and up my leg.