CHAPTER 34
“Rebecca.” I press my hand to her cheek and lean down to seek eye contact. When she doesn’t react, I grab her shoulders and shake her lightly. “Stay with me.”
I don’t care if Gabor notices how much I care for her; all that matters is getting her back. Her eyes have gone blank, staring straight ahead as if the world is a blank void and not the agonizing hell she was trapped in moments ago. It would be a mercy to let her stay there, but I can’t accept it. I can’t accept that I let this happen, and I won’t be able to live with myself if I can’t get her back this time.
My heart slams against my ribcage as my eyes flit back and forth between the deadly still girl, the hand that cuts yet another wound across her milky skin, and the face of the man whom I vowed to never betray.
I should stop him. He wouldn’t be happy about it. Hell, he might even try to slash me with the knife, seeing how his eyes are eerily focused, full of sadistic purpose. It’s like he’s possessed when he gets like this, and that’s why he wants me here. He doesn’t like things to get messy, and he’s smart enough to know he can’t always prevent that, so he wants me to do it for him. And he knows I’m strong enough to stop him if need be.
But stopping this now would be for the wrong reasons. Rebecca is not about to die. I’ve seen enough blood to know that this is far from enough to be life-threatening. At least not immediately. There’s no saying how her body will cope with this trauma. I’m not sure she has enough stamina left to get through it. If that’s my reason for stopping Gabor, I should have ended this the moment he pressed his cock to her opening and positioned the knife on her ribs, but my mind was too focused on shoving my emotions aside and doing my job.
Fuck.
Glancing down, I realize my fingers are digging into the skin on Rebecca’s arm. I immediately loosen my grip, only to see a blue hue on her milky skin.
I stare at the bruises my hand made, then down at the many bloody cuts. It may not be my hand holding the knife, but when it comes down to it, I’m the one who made those cuts. I’m the one who led Gabor to her, the one who broke into her apartment so he could use her, and the one who spread her out on this bed, knowing what Gabor would do.
“Looks like I’m done here,” Gabor says, though he doesn’t seem to notice anyone but himself and the bloody girl in front of him. “What’s next?”
I stare at him, watching as he takes in the bloody canvas of Rebecca’s back like a manic artist who has just finished his life’s work. His eyes light up as a new idea seems to pop into his head. It’s like time has slowed down and I’m watching him in slow motion as he jumps off the bed, sets a foot up on the mattress, and lifts Rebecca’s foot. But the moment he presses the knife to the unmarred piece of skin, the world becomes a turbulent chaos as time takes on a staggering speed.
In a matter of a second, I dart off the bed, close the distance with two long steps, and punch my fist into Gabor’s face.
Gabor staggers back, and time slows back down to the eerie slow-motion as I watch him aim his murderous eyes at me while clutching the knife in his hand. The moment he lurches forward, I consider letting him dig the knife into my gut and put an end to this nightmare, but I catch the faulty logic in my thoughts just in time. Letting him end me wouldn’t end her nightmare.
I step aside, just enough to avoid a knife in my gut, but not so much he’ll miss completely. Humiliating Gabor like that would be a grave mistake that would cost someone their life, and the most likely person is Rebecca.
“You’re dead, Janos,” Gabor says, holding up the knife as he backs out of the room with eyes so wide it looks like they’re about to pop out.
His angry steps thud through the hall, and then the door slams, leaving a whirring echo in the dead silence of the room.
Pointing a finger toward the direction he just went, I mouth an uncompromising ‘Out’ at Kadri. The man doesn’t speak a single protest for once. It’s the first time he’s seen Gabor like this, and I’m sure he’s afraid the man will return and end all three of us. He doesn’t know it’s empty words spoken in the heat of the moment. At least when it comes to me.
He hurries off, and I dart to Rebecca’s side and sink to my knees beside the bed.
“Rebecca, come back to me,” I say as I cup her cheek, stroke her hair, and shake her shoulder. And thus starts the longest five days of my life.