Page 45 of Marked for Execution
“Patricia. I know you were desperate for a child, but this is not what we signed up for,” he said with exasperation.
I knew they were not my birth parents. It was never something they hid from me, but to hear my father speak in such a way hurt me to my very core.
“Would you have me leave a child so young with peddlers and thieves?”
“That’s not what I’m saying—”
“That’s exactly what you’re saying! She needed us, John. She needed us to save her. She didn’t ask to be brought into this world.”
The sound of my mother’s cries from the other room made my own tears fall. My father’s rejection felt like a knife to the chest. I needed to leave. They didn’t deserve this—the hate that was only going to grow in this community. There was something wrong with me. I was different.
There was something wrong with me…
Sobs wracked my body as I dropped my knife and fell to my knees in front of the mutilated body. Wrapping my arms around myself, I rocked and tried to stitch the internal wound that never seemed to heal.
Shaking my head, I was lost in grief and anger, the weight of it pushing me down like the weight of the world. Grief over my father’s rejection. Anger over what clan Corrus did to me. My hands crawled to my neck, feeling for any scars, but found none.Of course not.My body was in cahoots with my mind, hiding away truths like a fucked-up game.
“Fitri,” one of the guys called, but I couldn't face them.Not like this.Not when I had been brought to my lowest point. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know my origins, or what my purpose was anymore.
My head hung in my hands.
“Sili, please.” Eliseo’s broken voice made me cry harder. He should have never tangled himself with me. It only led to death.
“No,” I whispered between gritted teeth. “Leave me here. You guys need to go and complete the mission. I’ll be nothing but a hindrance.” Turning to face him, his eyes were sharp, staring into mine. “I’ll only attract more problems. Can’t you see that?”
“What do you mean?” Samuel asked.
Shaking my head, I tried again. “I can’t explain it. I’m not normal. I can’t bring that kind of trouble your way. You guys don’t deserve that.”
“You’re talking crazy, kid. Get your ass up and let’s go, before more of them show up,” Gunner growled.
Eliseo grabbed my arm and pulled me up, but I shoved him to release me. He grabbed me again and I punched him. He let me. He let me continuously punch and claw at his chest until Reed grabbed me around my midsection and pulled me back, shushing me next to my ear. I was overflowing with all the emotions within that I didn’t recognize myself at this moment.
Reed's calm heart rate was a stark contrast against my rapidly beating one, and I let my body go limp with weariness. Why must I be doomed to always struggle in this life? Why couldn’t I just have been born one way or another?Why this?
His grip loosened but he didn't let go, kissing my hair and confusing me even more.
“Let’s get back to the car and find a damn lake for you to dunk yourself in. It wouldn’t do good for us to walk into settlements looking like we just came from a massacre,” Samuel decided for us.
Reed’s hands moved to my front and closed the shredded shirt I didn’t know was still gaping open for all to see.
Like Deja vu, Eliseo took off his shirt and handed it to me cautiously. My eyes burned from the scratches on his skin that I made contact with.
“Don’t worry about it,Sili,”he said calmly, and my lip quivered. They were too good to me. I should be kicked out of their group. I couldn’t even hold my emotions together. It was probably why they had been a group of just men for so long.
“Don’t. Get that shit out of your head right now.” Eliseo’s eyes shot to Reed. “You can let her go now. I think she’s good.”
Reed slowly pulled his arms away, his hands landed on my waist and finally, slowly, let me go to Eliseo. He took a step forward and pulled me into an embrace, coating himself with blood that was on me. He kissed the top of my hair and whispered, “I got you. We got you. Let’s go.”
Nodding my head, we followed Samuel and Gunner out of the cluster of trees and back to the road we left behind.
Chapter 9
Eliseo
We found a lake and washed off the bloodstains. Not much could be done about the stained seats in the car, but we wouldn’t be driving the car long, anyway. The gas gauge was already down to half.
Both Gunner and Reed were getting on my damn nerves with the way they stole glances atSili. It didn’t help that the bloodsucker ripped her shirt and pants right down the middle, exposing all her beautiful flesh for the guys to see. I couldn’t stop myself from staring at how the globes of her breasts added definition to the blood that soaked her skin. Scratching at my own chest at the phantom sensation of our bloody embrace, my mind flashed to beauty in the lake.