Chapter Twenty-Three
Irvin
I wake up in a chamber. The last thing I remember is being told to wait at the front steps of Tartarus, and the next thing I know, a syringe was stuck in me.
I rub my head as I glance around the clean room I’m in.
There is a live feed on the wall of Lilac tied to a chair.
What the fuck? These fuckers actually used my wife as bait.
I grit my teeth. I’m going to kill Snow when I get my hands on the fucker.
Someone slaps her across the face, and another person takes out his dick and shoves it in her mouth. I bang my hand on the wall. I rush to the door to try to open it.
“Irvin Victor Ashford. Do you want to save your wife? The wife that never loved you.” A distorted voice booms through the speakers. “She never loved you. She only tolerates you because you tricked her into marriage.”
“I had to trick her. She does love me. You promised me safety for my wife, and you took it back. She didn’t have anything to do with the fact that I tricked her into marriage.”
The door opens, and a guard steps inside. I rush up to him, grabbing him by the neck, banging him against the wall until another guard shows up. I punch him in the gut, take his gun, and shoot him in the forehead. Brain matter decorates the white walls.
I smile. That was fun.
An electric current burns through my body, and I drop the gun as my brain feels like scrambled eggs.
“Where is my wife? Take me to her!”
A guard steps inside and sticks something in my arm. Everything goes black around me.
I wake up again, my gaze unfocused. I fall to the ground, and the room spins. Bile threatens to come up.
Once I’m standing, I lean against the wall. Images flood my mind.
Lilac filing for divorce. Lilac married to someone else.
I fall to the ground. That is not true. She pursued me.
She came after me to fuck. Why is there a memory of her slapping me across the face?
Why did a rape scene pop up in my head? Someone raping her.
Her screams screech in my ears, and I cover this, balling up on the floor.
“Make this shit stop!!!”
I look to the screen and watch as she gets tortured with a bat, and a guy slides inside of her, fucking her, as another man sticks his dick inside of her mouth.
Her voice booms through the speaker. “Help me. Please help me!”
I shake my head.
“Do you think she’s worth saving after what she did to you?”
“What did she do?”
“She told us that you raped and abused her.”
I don’t believe it. I remember the night we hung out at the cliff and were smoking weed, but she’s slapping me, telling me she doesn’t want me.
What the fuck? I bang my head against the wall.
This is not real—they drugged me. They made me believe she doesn’t want me.
My heart beats against my chest, and I begin to sweat.
A drawer opens from the white wall, and a handgun is on display.
“Tell me where my wife is.”
“You have two choices.”
“End your wife’s suffering or kill yourself.”
“What?”
“It’s simple. She doesn’t deserve you. She doesn’t love you,” the voice says slowly.
I look at the gun and aim it at my head.
Should I end it all? Or kill my wife? My mind is warped, and I don’t know what to believe.
I don’t know who to believe. I place the gun down.
It doesn’t matter if she didn’t love me.
It doesn’t matter that she rejected me. I will forever choose her over myself.
She deserves so much more than I can give her.
“What will it be, Irvin? You have thirty seconds.”
I place the gun to my head and pull the trigger.
Several seconds later, I open my eyes, and someone comes inside, clapping. I look up and see Snow. I march up to him, grab him by the neck, and squeeze as hard as I can. He claws at my throat. I place the gun to his head.
“You said she would be safe.”
A guard yanks me up.
Snow gets up and claps his hands once more. “Congratulations. You passed your first trial. All of this was a setup to see if you would make a grand sacrifice.”
“What would have happened if I had chosen to shoot Lilac?”
He points to the ceiling, indicating an automatic gun would have come out of the wall.
“You would have had to die.”
“You told me you would leave her alone. You had those men rap—”
“Those were hallucinations. The girl that sits on the camera is not even her. It’s another woman we hired. She’s up for execution for killing her husband.” He slides his hands into his dress pants. “We needed to see if you really loved Lilac and if she was worth it for you.”
I walk out of the room. Two guards escort me to the courtroom. The board members sit on the benches.
“Your second trial will be next month.”
I want to tell them to fuck themselves.
Those memories they planted in my head…
“Give me a drug to get rid of those false memories.”
“I suggest you stay here or another place before going home because in about twenty-four hours, the drug will wear off.”
I stomp out of the building.
Exhale and breathe in the wet air.
Fuck, that shit really fucked with my head.
My father leans against his car, waiting for me. He wraps his arms around my shoulders.
“My son. You made it out alive. How was it?”
“Horrible.”
“Is she worth it still?”
I nod.
My father doesn’t say anything for a while. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Hand me my phone.”
He tosses my phone to me, and I type out a message. “Let me check on my wife.”
Me: Do you miss me?
She reads her message, then replies.
Princess: Gag. No.
I smile at the words. I’m glad to hear that my princess is safe.