Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Imogen

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed at Mary as soon as the kids left the room.

"He's here." Mary held up her phone, showing me an anonymous text exchange. "Or he will be shortly. He's coming for me. I thought we were safe, but he… but he…"

Intended to burn the place down if that's what it took. My eyes flicked back and forth as I read the disgusting text messages he'd sent her. Phil's diseased mind vomited up wild theories about what went on in this building, and to my shock, I realised he thought he was the good guy here. He was liberating his wife and children from danger.

"I can't find the flour!" Scott shouted from the pantry.

"In the big blue container," I called before turning back to Mary. "Stay here," I urged. "You don't have to go any?—"

"No." My eyes went wide as she shoved me backwards, then started for the big fire doors at the end of the kitchen. "No, you don't know. You don't understand."

But I did. Phil's treatment of her was like Mike's of me. They conditioned us to accept, no, expect this shitty behaviour.

And not believe in anything better.

That complete loss of hope, that things could improve, that there was any point in trying to resist, was writ large in her eyes. She turned and bolted for the door. I heard the sound of the metal bar being shoved down, right as the exit was shoved open.

"Found it…"

Scott appeared triumphant, his little brother in tow, but when he saw the door and heard the fire alarm, his face fell.

"Mum? Mummy!"

That shout cut straight through me, forcing me to move.

"Stay right here. Right here, you hear me? I'll go get your mum."

I pivoted sharply and went running after Mary.

The world seemed too bright, too harsh, as I stumbled outside, but I stopped blinking the moment I saw a familiar car pull up.

Mike's

What the fuck was my ex doing here? Ferrying that fuck Phil around, it appeared. He looked over as he came to a screeching stop, frowning when he saw me, then Mary, but Phil's expression was completely different. Feral, monstrous, I wanted to say inhuman, but unfortunately it was all too common for someone of my kind to sport a cruel smile just like his. He strolled towards a now frozen Mary with a casual air that didn't fit with the atmosphere. Alarms, motorcycles, and more and more cars were pulling up, making Mike squirrelly.

"We gotta move, Phil!" he shouted.

"Not before I get what I came for," the other man snarled.

He started to march towards his wife like he had a right to, but everything in me knew that couldn't happen.

Phil's here! I tried to broadcast that thought out, hoping my mates would hear me, and sure enough I felt their reassuring presence as if they were standing next to me. He's here and he's trying to take…

I couldn't finish that sentence, my eyes locked on Phil's hand as it reached out, reaching to wrench Mary's arm out of the socket, like he had mine.

And that couldn't happen.

I had no idea where this bravery came from. The last time I'd tangled with Phil had ended badly. I hadn't learned any skills or developed superhuman strength, but for some reason I felt like I could feel each one of my sleuth's bears inside me as I raced forward.

Stop him, that's what my heart beat. If Phil got her in that car, I wasn't sure she'd ever get out alive. Those videos, the disgusting shit he jerked off to, played out in my mind, but this time she was the unwilling victim. She screamed, she cried, she was beaten senseless, and that's when I saw all the consequences Phil would never recognise.

The devastation it would cause in her children's lives was unimaginable, and yet I saw the tears rolling silently down their cheeks as I leapt forward.

"NO!"

My shout was my mate's, the sounds of some many shouts, of roaring bike engines filling my head. For a moment, I thought I had this because Phil went stumbling backwards. I had to get Mary back inside, away from this fuck, so that when the cavalry arrived…

A good plan, the one that Asher snapped inside my head, but that was never the way things worked out.

Mary and I weren't people anymore. We were little other than blow up dolls, each one interchangeable victims of the sick fantasies inside Phil's head. So he rallied fast, his hand snapping out and around my wrist, grinding into the nearly healed flesh.

"Run…" I gasped. "Run!"

A shove from me was enough to get Mary moving, all her previous feelings of self sacrifice dissipating as she faced her abuser again. She turned tail and ran, and I was glad to see it, right before I was jerked closer.

Phil stank of beer, piss, and a body long unwashed. If that wasn't enough to have my gorge rising, there was his face. He leered down at me, his eyes sliding across my body.

"Well, well, look at what we have here."

"Get the fuck in the car!" Mike snapped. "We've got company, and lots of it!"

Phil and I were galvanised into action, him trying to haul me closer to the car, me pulling with all my might against my aching wrist, my teeth sinking into my lips.

No.

No, no…

NO.

Imogen, stop ? —

Don't—

Their voices were a dread chorus inside my head, commanding me to stay right where I was, and I tried, I really fucking tried. Because now it was me starring in those videos, my likeness shared across the dark web long after I'd taken my last breath. I fought for me, for them, for us, and the place we were building together, but it just wasn't enough. Phil's ham-like fist crashed into my face, and my head jerked back with a sickening snap, right as everything went black.

Come find me…

That was my last thought, a tiny little plea sent out as unconsciousness claimed me.