44. Mina
Chapter forty-four
“ T here you are, my beautiful little pet.” Simon smiles at me as Helen pushes me into the clearing. The sun is all but set now, and darkness presses over almost everything. But I can still make out the evil glint in his eye, the knife in his hand, and the girl sobbing at his feet.
I look from him to the girl and back in shock and fear, not really sure what to do or say. Helen moves around me, keeping the gun aimed at me as she moves to stand beside Simon while she speaks.
“You’ve overstayed your time here. And it’s time you move on.” Move on? I thought I had moved on. She must see the confusion on my face because she laughs and adds, “moved on from the world, you stupid little fool.” They’re going to kill me? Why drag me all the way out here to do it?
“I warned you. I told you the demon had a hold of you. You see it now, don’t you?” Not this demon crap again. If I’ve learned anything from my time away from her, it’s that she is the one who has a demon inside her, causing her to do horrendous things, not me.
“First your father became obsessed, then your brother. Then I had to watch as every man I brought home watched you with lust in their eyes. I’d let them have their fun, because what did I care if they touched you? As long as they kept coming around with money and cigarettes for me.” She let her boyfriends touch me for cigarettes ? The thought makes me want to hurl.
Simon speaks next. “We’ve been running for years so I could keep you away from him, and keep you for myself. But you wouldn’t shut up about going to school, and we needed to keep you hidden, that’s why mom lied to you about your age. But too many bodies have piled up recently, and I knew it was time I let you go. I told mom to send you to school so there would be a record of you here, forging the birth certificates was easy enough, it wasn’t the first ones we’ve faked.”
Seeming the need to monologue, Helen continues. “All you had to do was stay quiet and color in your stupid books. Let them see what a damaged, broken girl you are. It would be easy to convince everyone you were a deranged psychopath, killing girls who looked like you because you were jealous. And you almost ruined it, letting that boy get close to you then crying rape!”
I shake my head rapidly. They’re going to frame me for all of his murders? They’re insane, nobody would believe that!
“Mom was furious, that’s why she attacked you,” Simon adds.
“No,” Helen says, shaking her head. “I attacked her because she’s possessed.” Simon rolls his eyes, clearly not buying into the whole demon thing, either. “I figured I’d either kill you, or damage you enough that nobody would want you anymore.”
I want to smile at that, knowing it didn’t stop my guys from loving me.
“And it worked,” she continues. “Simon is finally ready to do what we should have done fifteen years ago.” She looks to the girl still crying on the ground by Simon’s feet. “You see, after killing this poor girl here and all the others over the past few years, you decided you couldn’t live with yourself and chose to end it with a bullet to your head.”
She laughs as Simon picks up where she leaves off. “You see, dear sister, I don’t even exist. There’s no record of my birth, so with you gone, I can assume a new identity and carry on in a new town. Before you go, though, I think I should get one last memory with you, to last me through the years.” He takes a step towards me.
“You can’t rape her, Simon. That would show on the autopsy,” my mother adds calmly while keeping the gun aimed at me.
“I don’t need to rape her to get my pleasure. It’s never stopped me before,” he growls at Helen before turning back to me, his expression relaxing a little as he looks me up and down, taking another step forward. I swallow and step back from him, fear coursing through me. The way they talk about rape so casually, has me remembering that there is no reasoning with these two, they’re insane.
When he touched me last time, I told myself I could handle it. But this time, it feels wrong to let it happen. I can’t let him do anything like that to me again.
Atlas’s words flash through my mind.
Whatever happens, you will not give up. You will fight as hard as you can to stay alive, safe, and come back to us. You will NOT give up.
Simon takes another step towards me, playing with the knife between his fingers. I hold my ground and look him in the eyes as he tells me, “get on your knees, pet.”
I take a deep breath, narrow my eyes and shake my head.
The look of surprise on both their faces at me defiance is priceless. I’ve never stood up to them like this before .
He recovers quicker than Helen, and a smile slowly spreads across his face. “Oh, pet, you grew a backbone while you’ve been away. How interesting. It’ll just make this much more fun.” He runs the point of the knife up my chest, neck, and face, not pressing hard enough to cut, but enough to imply the threat if I move.
Now I remember why I stopped struggling against him all those years ago. He loves the fight. My defiance just makes him more eager.
He leans in to lick my throat, and I try to push him away while stepping back. He chuckles. “There’s that little fighter. Oh, how I’ve missed you. You might have been daddy’s little girl, but now you’re my little pet.”
“You know why I took all those girls? They were supposed to be substitutes for you. I tried to find someone to satisfy my need. But none of them were as pure and perfect as you.”
“You’re sick!” I whisper, horrified.
His eyes widen in shock. “You can talk? Since when?” he asks in confusion. I shrug my shoulders, not sure he’s really looking for an answer.
“You told him, didn’t you?” His confusion starts to turn to anger as he points his knife at me. “I killed Brad for you and that’s how you repay me? It wasn’t supposed to be like this! All of this is your own fucking fault! You should have just stayed silent!”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but fear outweighs confusion as he turns to look at the sobbing girl on the ground. I don’t recognize her, but she looks to be around sixteen with long brown hair. I can’t let another innocent girl die, but how can I save her when I can’t even save myself?
Just distract them, your guys are coming .
With that thought in mind, I watch as Simon holds an empty palm out to Helen. “Gun.”
“What? You can’t shoot the girl, we agreed to use the knife, so we can keep the gun,” she argues.
“Mother. Give me the gun. Now,” he says, turning his angry gaze to her. Whatever she sees there must scare her, because she swallows nervously and places the gun in his hand.
He turns to me with what looks like remorse in his eyes as he raises the gun and points it at my chest, making me step back, fear flowing through my veins.
“I’m sorry it has to end this way, but you’ve run out of your usefulness,” he says regretfully. Then, in one swift motion, he turns the gun to Helen and shoots her in the chest. She looks at him with shock before dropping to the forest floor, her body unmoving.
The gunshot rings out through the forest and I freeze, unable to believe what he just did. Realizing he’s distracted, staring at our mother’s dead body, I look at the young girl, who looks up at me with fear in her eyes. I mouth the word run , and as soon as she starts to stand, I run towards Simon, throwing myself at him, to knock him down and distract him.
Of course, he’s six foot and muscular and I weigh nothing, so all I seem to do is surprise him as he turns to me with a frown and pushes me away. But when my eyes move back to where the girl was, relief fills me to see there’s no sight of her.
Simon sees where I’m looking and sighs in agitation. “Well, that’s a loose end I’ll have to take care of, so thanks for that.”
I quickly step back from him, wondering if I can out run him or his gun. I’m pretty sure shooting me in the back isn’t part of his plan. But now I’m not sure what his plan is. How does killing Helen help him blame the murders all on me?
“Ah, I can see you’re confused. You went and blabbed, it won’t work to pin the murders on you anymore. Mother, however, is a perfect scapegoat. She’s been moving around, just as you have, but she’s actually old enough to have committed all of them. Besides, she doesn’t have control of you anymore, so she’s worthless to me.
“So… you’re not going to kill me?” I ask hopefully.
He laughs. “Maybe, a week ago, I would have kept you. But now… now I need you out of the way so he can see that I’m the only one he needs after all.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, and I’m not planning on sticking around to find out. “You’re insane,” I whisper, trying to figure out which way to run.
“Maybe,” he says with a shrug. “I know it’s wrong to want my sister, even if we’re only half siblings, but I can’t help it. You’re so perfect, and you were made for me.”
Not wanting to find out where this is going, I turn and try to run, but he tackles me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me.
He rolls me over, then straddles me, holding my hands to the ground beside my head as I struggle beneath him, my body hurting where I hit the ground.
“Mmm, yes, this is going to be fun,” he says, his eyes trailing down my body.
“Get off of me!” I screech, trying to buck him from my body to no avail.
He tosses the gun aside, far out of reach, then collects both my hands in one of his, holding them to the ground over my head, while his other hand runs down my body, squeezing my breast on its way, making me whimper in fear.
I’ve been here before with him touching me, and I had always stayed silent, letting him touch me, knowing he would leave quicker. But now, I know there’s no reason to sit in silence any longer, and as he shifts his weight and rips my skirt away, I let out the loudest scream my exhausted body can muster, making Simon flinch.
I try to pull my hands free, but his huge hand holds my wrists in place with ease as his free hand starts touching me over my panties, and I scream as loud as I can, “ATLAS!!”
He chuckles. “Oh, little pet, nobody is going to save you. They don’t even know where you are.” This time, I’m the one to grin, and his face falls into confusion. “What have you done?”
“They’re tracking us right now, and when they get here, they’re going to fucking kill you!” I scream at him as he presses his whole palm against me harder, making me gag as I try not to vomit.
“Well, I guess I better speed this along then,” he says with a grin. He grabs my panties and literally rips them off me, making me scream again as I struggle to get free. My erratic movements manage to get one hand free and I claw at his face.
“Bitch!” he growls as he tries to grab my flailing hand.
The sound of a gunshot goes off at the same time blood bursts from the center of Simon’s head and covers my face. I close my eyes tight and feel the weight of him slowly tilting to the side until I hear him hit the ground. I lay there, frozen as I try to breathe, then I slowly open my eyes and see Simon laying on the ground beside me, his dead eyes staring at nothing .
“Mina?” I look up and my eyes widen when I see my dad standing there, gun still raised.
“Dad?” I ask, as my lower lip wobbles, the tears close to the surface.
Suddenly, he’s tackled from the side, making me gasp. I turn my head and see Atlas holding him down.
“Atlas, no! He saved me!” Atlas looks over at me, then sees Simon’s body. He seems to put two and two together and nods, helping my dad to his feet.
“Mina!” Ben and Max come running into the clearing as a sob catches in my throat. Max checks to make sure Simon’s dead, as Ben runs straight to me, helping me sit up.
“Oh my god! Shit! Fuck, fuck. What has he done? Baby, are you okay? Jesus.” I realize what I might look like right now, sitting here with no pants on, covered in blood as tears pour down my face, but I cling to him, trying to calm my breathing.
We hear the sounds of other people, and Max jumps in front of us, drawing a gun, pointing it in that direction as Jasper and Tucker come running through the woods. He quickly lowers his gun, and the others come running over to me.
Tucker grabs my face. “Sugar, are you okay? What did he do to you?”
Jasper kneels beside me. “This is a lot of blood. Is it yours? Where are you hurt?”
“I—I don’t think I am, nothing serious.”
“Kitten,” Dom whispers, dropping to his knees at my side. His hands hover over my hips like he’s afraid to touch me, and his pain-filled eyes turn to mine.
Atlas drops down beside him, taking in my lack of clothing on my lower half with a pain filled whimper .
“I…I did what you told me. I fought him,” I tell Atlas with tears in my eyes. He moves closer, hugging me as he cradles my head to his chest.
“Oh, Malishka, you did such a good job. I’m sorry we didn’t get her in time to stop him.” I reach up and wipe at his tears.
“You aren’t allowed to cry, my big gorilla. H-he didn’t rape me. He ripped off my underwear right before my dad killed him. I didn’t give up, I fought him the whole time, just like you said. And you came, you all came, like you said.” I look around and see all my guys surrounding me.
Atlas wraps his arms around me, hugging me tight as he kisses my head. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Malishka. I’m sorry this happened,” he says as he rocks me back and forth.
“T-there was a girl here. I told her to run,” I say, hoping she didn’t get lost in the woods.
“We found her on our way in, she’s gonna be okay,” Tucker tells me, squeezing my hand as I try to breathe.
“Is my dad okay?” I ask Atlas.
“Yeah, I didn’t hurt him,” he tells me.
“Shit, we need to cover her up,” Jasper says in frustration. Several of them move at once, and suddenly I’m covered in three jackets, making me smile.
“Thanks.”
“Fuck, don’t thank us for that, I wish we had something better for you to wear,” Max growls in frustration.
“There’s sweatpants in the SUV,” Gideon says.
“Honey, are you okay?” My dad asks, stepping up behind Gideon and Tucker.
“Yeah, I think so. Thank you for saving me.”
“Of course, I’d do anything for you, my sweet girl.” He smiles at me and I can see in his eyes that he means it. He would do anything for me. Maybe there was a chance to rekindle that relationship after all.