Prologue #2
He doesn't even look at her. Smoke curls from his mouth as he walks toward me; each step feels like a death sentence. I can’t take my eyes off him.
"No," I whisper, trying to pull against the restraints. The rope bites into my wrists, but it doesn't give. "Please..."
He crouches in front of me. "This," he says quietly, "is your fault."
Before I can move, he presses the burning tip to the inside of my forearm.
Pain explodes through me. A scream tears from my throat before I can stop it. Every muscle in my body jerks, instinct demanding I pull away but the restraints hold me in place.
"Stop!" Lucy cries. "Please, stop!"
I can't breathe. The pain isn't just hot; it's deep as it burrows beneath my skin, refusing to fade even after he finally lifts the cigarette away. I curl my fingers into fists so tightly my nails bite into my palms, desperate for something else to focus on.
Evan studies the angry red circle forming on my arm before taking another drag from his cigarette. "You see?" he says, looking at Lucy instead of me. "This is what happens when she won't listen."
Lucy is crying and shaking so hard her chair rattles against the floor. "It wasn't her," she sobs. "It was me. I left you. Me."
He smiles. "I know what you think," he says softly. Then he looks at me again. "And that's the problem."
I wake with a groan lodged in my throat. God, everything hurts—my wrists, my ribs, my arm where the cigarette burned through my skin, even breathing hurts.
I don't know how long I've been here anymore—hours, maybe days. Time stopped meaning anything after the first burn. Sleep doesn't last long; every time exhaustion drags me under, Evan finds a new way to wake me.
Sometimes it's ice-cold water, sometimes it's the sting of a fresh cut as the tip of his knife slices across my skin, or sometimes it's Lucy screaming my name.
He never stays with one of us for long, he hurts me until Lucy begs him to stop, and then he turns to her. Round and round we go, blaming me all the while and telling Lucy she'd still love him if I hadn't poisoned her against him. He doesn't see what he did to her, he only sees me.
I swallow every scream I can, but it's never enough. Lucy looks at me over his shoulders, her eyes telling me not to react. I try, I really do, but God, it hurts so bad and the alternative is watching her be hurt.
Evan pushes himself to his feet. He looks exhausted, dark circles shadowing his eyes, but they don't make him look human. If anything, they make him look worse. He rubs a hand over his face, grabs his cigarettes from the table, and heads for the door. "I'll be back."
The lock clicks behind him, and Lucy twists toward me so fast the legs of her chair scrape across the wooden floor. "Your right wrist," she whispers. "The knot. I've been watching it; it's been slipping every time you move."
I start working it immediately. "He's going to come back," I breathe.
"I know. Don't stop."
"Lucy, if we run—"
"When we run." She holds my eyes. "I go first; I draw him toward the road. You go into the trees and you don't stop."
I shake my head. Absolutely not. "No."
"Lilah—"
Tears form in my eyes. No, hell no. "We go together or we don't go."
She gives me a look that is pure older-sister, despite the fact that we're the same age. "I'm faster than you and you know it."
"You're three minutes older, not superhuman."
The knot slips and my right hand comes loose. I reach across and start on hers. "We go together," I say again.
Her eyes go soft. Just for a second. "Okay, together."
I'm almost through the second knot when the door opens and Evan’s standing in the doorway. He doesn't say anything at first, just looks at my free wrist and then at Lucy's half-undone restraint. "How long?" he says finally.
"It was me," Lucy says immediately. "I worked it loose, she didn't know."
"Lucy—" I start.
"Don't." She looks at me hard. Then back to Evan. "It was me. I found a rough edge on the chair. She told me to stop."
He steps inside and closes the door behind him. "You never listen," he says.
"Evan." Lucy's voice shifts, fear and pain lacing her words. "Evan, please. Let her go. Whatever you want from me, I'll give it to you, but let her go. She has nothing to do with us."
He takes a step closer to us. "She has everything to do with us."
"She doesn't, she's my sister." Lucy leans forward, as far as her restraints allow. "Look at me, please. I'm right here, talk to me."
He looks at her, his shoulders droop a little, and he starts to walk toward her. When he reaches Lucy, he crouches in front of her chair and his hands cradle her face, so gently it makes my stomach twist.
Lucy doesn't pull away, she can't.
His thumbs skim across her cheeks, but then his grip tightens and Lucy gasps. "You would have left with her," he snarls. "You would have chosen her over me."
"You gave me no choice. You've given me no choice for two years." Her voice shakes, but she doesn't look away from him. "This isn't love, Evan. Whatever this is, it isn't love."
Evan's eyes drop to my wrists, to where the rope hangs loose against the side of the chair. Slowly, almost casually, he slips his hand into his jacket pocket. My heart stops as he pulls out a bloody knife, the one he’s used on both of us, the one that has scarred our bodies repeatedly.
"No." I shake my head. "Evan, please."
He looks at me with so much hate. "You never could leave well enough alone."
I don't think; I move, throwing myself out of the chair and stumbling toward Lucy, but I don't make it two steps, as white-hot pain rips through my side.
The force knocks the breath out of me, and I hit the floor hard, my cheek slamming against the wooden boards. My ears ring, and for a second, I can't breathe.
I look down and all I see is blood, too much blood. Evan’s standing over me, bloody knife in hand, watching. "You should've stayed where I left you."
"You're a fucking monster!" Lucy screams, throwing herself toward him so hard the chair tips forward beneath her, the ropes straining around her wrists.
"Look at me!" she cries. “You want someone to blame? Blame me, because Lilah didn’t make me leave you, Evan, I left because I finally saw you for what you are, and I stopped loving you.”
He turns, and just like that, his attention leaves me completely.
I press my hand against my side and feel warm blood seeping between my fingers.
"Lilah." Lucy's eyes lock onto mine. "Get up."
I try but my legs buckle beneath me.
"Run," she says.
"I'm not leaving you," I croak, my voice is weak, my entire body is weak.
"Run!"
I try to shake my head. "I won't leave you."
"You have to."
“She’s not going anywhere, Lucy. Lilah, stay there, we’ll finish what we started in a moment.
” He takes one step toward Lucy, and then another but Lucy never looks away from me.
Not once. Her eyes fill with tears, but she smiles anyway, a tiny, shaky smile that I've seen a thousand times.
The one she always gives me when she's pretending everything's going to be okay.
"When you get out of here..." Her voice trembles. "...live enough for both of us."
"No." I drag myself across the floor, every movement sending agony through my side. "Lucy... please..."
She reaches for me; I reach back, our fingertips inches apart.