Chapter 18 Elior #3
Patel’s eyes flicked over my shaking frame, my ruined hands, the cut on my cheek, my wild breathing.
He hesitated, then cursed under his breath. “Fine. Medic van. But he stays restrained until the paramedics clear him.”
“Try to put cuffs on him,” Daddy warned, “and I swear to God I’ll—”
Patel lifted a hand sharply. “Don’t. Push. Me. Agbayani.”
The two men stared at each other, and I drifted again.
Everything felt underwater. Muffled. Slow.
“Come on, cherub,” Daddy whispered to me, guiding me away. “Let’s get you looked at. Easy now.”
I let him lead me. Not because I understood. Not because I trusted him—though I did, so much it hurt.
But because I couldn’t think anymore.
Couldn’t feel anything except shaking and shame and the burn of Father’s words in my ears.
Daddy helped me into a different vehicle this time—a white one, cleaner, quieter, with light glowing inside. A woman sat there, her expression warm and focused.
“Hi sweetheart,” she said gently, patting the cot. “Let’s get you sitting. Are you hurt anywhere?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
I took a big breath and tried again. “I… my… face,” I whispered. “And… my hands. My arms.”
Her gaze swept over me, assessing, careful. “Okay. Okay, that’s alright. You’re safe here.” Her hands were cool as she helped me onto the cot. “Tell me if anything gets worse.”
Safe.
Safe?
The word didn’t fit in my head. It bounced around without landing anywhere.
I swallowed. Tried to breathe.
Outside the open doors, voices rose.
“We are not doing this right now,” Patel hissed.
“He needs me!” Daddy barked.
“He needs an actual—”
“He won’t speak to any of you—he barely speaks at all to anyone but me—”
“He called you—God, Agbayani, do you even hear yourself? You can’t stay with him. It’s past inappropriate—”
“It’s the only damn reason he’s not on the ground screaming right now,” Daddy snapped.
My pulse quickened.
Daddy’s voice dropped lower, rougher. “If you want him as a witness? You let me stay by his side.”
Patel didn’t respond at first. I heard only hard breathing, the kind that comes right before a decision.
The lady with kind eyes and steady hands looked back at me and spoke softly. “Are you in pain right now, sweetheart?”
I tried to answer her, but all I could hear were their voices outside.
All I could think was—
They know each other.
Who is Daddy?
What is happening to me?
The nice woman was still talking, still asking gentle questions, but her voice kept slipping away, drifting in and out.
Outside, Daddy and Patel’s argument sharpened, cutting through the haze.
“You think I wanted this?!” Daddy hissed.
“You weren’t fucking sent here to, what—indulge in a fucking Daddy kink? What the hell, Agbayani?” Patel shot back. “Do you even understand how fucked up this is, man?”
Sent here? By the—the strangers?
My stomach rolled.
Father’s voice rose in my head, so loud it drowned out everything else.
“You let that outsider corrupt you.”
“You Judas.”
“You betrayed us.”
“It was him—he brought them here.”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head, but the woman misread it, touching my shoulder.
“Honey, you’re safe—”
Safe.
With Daddy.
Who was with them.
Who was one of them.
My breath snagged painfully, like it had hit barbed wire on the way in. “Daddy…?” I croaked, staring at the open doors where his silhouette moved against the flashing lights.
He growled, “I didn’t use him, Patel. Don’t you dare imply—”
Used.
My pulse thrashed in my ears.
The ground felt unsteady beneath me, even though I was sitting down. The ceiling above me warped at the edges, bending and tilting.
Father’s words echoed and multiplied.
“I should’ve known.”
“Your very existence is a sin.”
“A filthy, demonic whore.”
My hands curled into fists on instinct—and agony shot through them, making me gasp.
“Sweetheart, slow breaths. You’re going into shock.”
But I couldn’t slow down.
Couldn’t understand whether the betrayal was mine or his or both.
Or if Father had been right about everything.
Daddy stepped into view again—his face tight, his eyes searching for me—and something in his expression shifted when he saw my panic.
“Elior—Elior, look at me,” he said, moving toward the van.
I flinched before I could stop myself.
His steps halted.
“Baby…” His voice cracked. “No. Not from me. Don’t pull away from me.”
But my brain wouldn’t listen.
He was one of them.
He’d always been one of them.
Father had known.
Father had tried to warn me.
“Y-you—with t-them—” My breath came too fast and too shallow.
Everything blurred.
“Elior!” Daddy climbed halfway into the van, hands out but not touching me. “Listen to me. I am with them, but I never lied to you. I love you, baby. I swear to God, cherub, I didn’t—look at me, please look—”
But I wasn’t seeing him anymore.
Just light.
Dust.
Shadows.
The imprint of Father’s rage carved into the backs of my eyelids.
“I-I didn’t mean to,” I whispered, barely a sound. “I didn’t know. I didn’t… betray… I didn’t…” My vision tunneled.
Daddy’s voice grew distant.
The nice lady shouted something about blood pressure.
Hands tried to steady me.
But Father’s words clung like hooks.
“Your very existence is a sin.”
I heard one last sound—Daddy’s voice breaking as he called my name. “Elior!”
The world folded in on itself.
White, then black.
And I was gone.