Seventy-Seven

Those were the longest and excruciating minutes I’d ever have to live. The entire time I prayed to God not to let it be true, but the sinking feeling in my stomach didn’t lie. I caught myself grasping the bed sheets with shaky hands until my knuckles became white. My eyes fixed on the door, which opened in a blunt move, and a gorgeous smile but cynical greeted me. With wide eyes and trembling lips, I let out the only word floating in my mind.
“Why?”
“Come on, Alex. You’re not that stupid.” His lips turned into a mockery smile, but his face said otherwise, sporting a vicious look.
“I worried about you, Shane, and all this time, it was you?”
“You brought this on yourself, Alex. You didn’t know how to cherish our love and betrayed me!” He screamed at me with a fevered stare, his face going red.
“So, you sold me out to them? What kind of sick love is this?”
“We were so good together, and we had so much fun. I loved you more than anything since day one, but you didn’t return it, ungrateful bitch.” His words came out in a sneer. “You left me and kept coming back every time you needed me. I was fine with it for some time. I was happy you needed me, and I hope filled my heart, we still had a chance.” He shook his head, opening and closing his fingers into fists, his feet positioning on the floor.
“Sorry if I misled you. I shouldn’t have done that, and of course I loved you, but not the way you wanted me to.” He lunged at me like a rabid dog, grabbing the collar of my jacket and raising me from the bed. Doctor Blake came to my aid, just to get himself thrown against the wall with a loud thud, falling unconscious on the floor. Alice ran to him. At last she showed a spark of care for someone. “Shane, please, I don’t wanna hurt you.”
“You already did when you showed up with that asshole! I saw the way you look at him, and I should be the one to receive your love, not him!” His grip on me was too tight. That man in front of me wasn’t the man I fell for years ago. Could he be so deceitful? All this time, he never gave away his true self, and I felt broken inside to the knowledge that everything we had between us was a lie. A terrible feeling settled on my chest, and I tried to reach for my father and Vlad, but I found a void there, confirming my prediction.
I stared back at Shane with his face inches from mine, glaring at him. If my eyes were a weapon, his brain would be plastered on the ceiling by now. Next minute, his lips were on mine, angry, possessive. Lips that had kissed me with love and sweetness in the past. Not like this, not forcing himself on me like he owned me.
Rage and disgust filled my soul, and I fought not to hurt him, but it was too much to bear as all the nasty feelings of my childhood came back. I felt dizzy, and all the dirtiness and disgust from someone forcing itself on me made my skin crawl. Suddenly I was back in that house, the fetid breath mingled with the cheap cologne, making my stomach churn. All the abhorrent feelings exploded in my soul like a freak avalanche, burying and suffocating me. The air charged, sparkles crackled around, and in a split second, he was hitting hard on the wall opposite to me, with a disbelieving look on his face. I fell to my knees, my stomach heaving as I inhaled lungfuls of air and wiped my mouth non-stop with the back of my hand.
“You will regret what you just did, bitch!” he spat at me with gritted teeth, his face in a shade of red. The next second he snapped his fingers and a TV, that I didn’t notice until that moment, came on. I saw them there with their wrists tied up. But how? A whimper escaped my throat, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.
They were talking and bickering at each other. I really didn’t pay attention to any of it after I heard Radu scream people touched him, and despite despising him, I felt sorry. It marred his face, the same agony and torture I could find on mine. He had suffered the same horrors as I did, and maybe he had no one to tell him everything would be alright, which led him to be the way he was.
What angered me was to know he didn’t move a finger to avoid my suffering. He let me go through the ordeal he did, knowing how loathsome it is. He was indeed a sick bastard, and it was pitiful. I glanced at my sister on the floor with a tearful face and eyes fixed on the man on the screen.
“Do not touch me again, ever! Do you hear me, fucker! Just to think that one day I felt something for you, I feel like puking!” The murderous gaze he shot at me before standing up and leaving the place without a word gave me the creeps. Then a dark, heavy voice called me, and I turned to the TV.
“Alizandra, I know you can hear me. I have a proposition for you.” He was watching me this entire time. There were cameras and microphones around, and I didn’t even think to look for them. I had to get a grip and tap into my training, but it wasn’t an easy feat with all the commotion. He was there staring at me, while Grizzly apprehension spoke volumes, I hated being his weakness, but dad… Dad was another story, his serene face, observing and analysing the entire shit, told me something was cooking underneath that cool semblance, which made me relax a bit.
“What do you want, jerk!” I bit back. “You bastard!” I screamed, seeing Grizzly yelp in pain and fall to the ground. The bastard shot him in his left thigh.
“These chains block their powers. It will be up to you if Vlad heals and leaves my home in one piece, or in a coffin.”
“Fine, fine, you proved those crappy chains work. Now say it, what do you want from me?”
“Good, let’s get down to business, shall we? Only one of them will leave this place alive tonight. Who are you going to choose? My brother or your sister?” I held my breath, and for the time being, I got speechless. I glanced at Vlad there on the floor, his face stormy and full of rage. When Radu mentioned my sister, his voice was a bit off, and I turned my head to her. She was there, with a lost look on her face fixed on the screen in front of us. He was bluffing. They were in love, and he’d never hurt her.
“We just met, and I know nothing about you, but I ask you to trust me on this.” I whispered, hoping no one heard but her. She graced me with something close to a smile and went back to the TV. “I think it’s too obvious a question, don’t you think, little brother? Without a doubt in my heart, I choose Vlad!” My Grizzly stared at me, his face full of pain, but something was different, I could swear I saw him glow for a second, and from behind me, a loud, hopeless sigh made its way to my ear. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she’d understand no one lives without a heart.
“I didn’t expect any less of you.”
“So, if you knew my answer, why did you ask it?”
“Because she needed to hear from your mouth.” And he pointed to Alice through the video with an evil satisfaction. Puny bastard! “I need you back in the Agency.”
“Why me? What do you want from me, besides making our lives a living hell?” I wanted to scream in agony, I’ve never felt so powerless. Vlad got paler as blood gushed from his wound, and I could do nothing.
“Despite all these years studying the capabilities of the human brain and its talents, the experiments never got us anywhere, until you decided on your petty revenge, and you were becoming a nuisance I couldn’t afford, so I sent you to that unfortunate mission, but to my surprise, you came back a little different from your adventure-”
“Shane! I’m gonna kill you!” I screamed full lungs, cutting him off. Everything vibrated, and I looked around. Doc was still out cold on the floor, and Alice looked at me with an evil face.
“No, you’re not, because you will forget about vengeance, about taking the project down, and you will present yourself in the laboratory for further research, and in exchange, I let both of them live. I even have a room prepared for them to spend their eternity in. If you don’t cooperate, I can end their lives right now.” Through the screen, I heard guns being racked. He wasn’t bluffing anymore. The bastard was going to kill them.
“No Liz, get out of here. Don’t give yourself up. This is between this coward and me!”
“No Grizzly, I can’t, sorry. Nothing makes sense to me anymore. I’m done, and if giving myself up means your safety, so let it be. Don’t worry about me, we will find each other again.” I choked, and I felt myself die for the fourth time.
“No! Dragă, listen to me, it doesn’t matter what you promise to him, he’ll kill us anyhow, and everything will be in vain.” My heart thrashed, listening to his desperate plea, the lost look in his eyes. But that was the only way out.
“No, he won’t.” My tears streamed down my face like waterfalls. I was a sobbing wreck. My body shook with anger, and I let my eyes blaze as sparks flew around me. “Because if he touches in one strand of your hair, he’s dead.” I looked around the room. I needed a source of power, an outlet, just in case. The TV. There should be wires running on that wall. “One last question, you freak. Why do you need me and that Frankenstein project so much?” I barked at him. What could he possibly gain with it?
“I have to find Ioan, and you will help me pinpoint him and bring him down.” My dad gave me a subtle smirk as his eyes gleamed red and I understood the message.