Page 101 of Merciless Obsession

“This clinic is set up for surgeries.”

“Good thing you know people then.”

I pulled away from Ezra and ran my hand through my hair again. “We got her taken care of, that’s all that matters,” I mentioned and glanced back at the door.

Exhaustion was creeping up on me but I doubted rest would come anytime soon. I wished I had my Xanax right now to relax my jittery mind and ease the anxious feeling building inside of me.

____

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, the weight of this thing was beginning to show, exhaustion rested in the pockets of my eyes. I wasn’t expecting rescuing Tiffany to hit me so hard, but it had. I felt like I was transported back to when my sister was found. The helplessness, anger, chest tightness, skin feeling too tight, it all was returning and slamming into me like a freighttruck. I pushed out a staggered breath and lowered my head then cuffed cold water from the running faucet into my hands and splashed some on my face.

“Get it together, Ziora,” I coached myself, staring into the mirror again. Over the years I had built a wall around myself to help prevent feelings like this. After my last stay at the psych ward I promised myself I would never have to go back. Now wasn’t the time to fold or go back on that promise.

After a few more minutes I finally left the bathroom and headed to where everyone was outside of Tiffany’s room. Nazai had shown up by now.

“I thought I was gonna have to come rescue you,” Ezra said with a playful, tired grin on his face.

“As you can see I’m fine.” I straighten my spine. “So what’s next?” My hands went through my nest of curls.

“Ezra updated me on what you learned at Winston’s house. He gave me the keys too. River and Lucas are gonna go check the storage unit out tomorrow. Where’s his phone?”

“I have it. When I get home, I’m going to go through it.”

He nodded. “Okay. Let’s go into the room and find out how she ended up with Winston in the first place, then we’ll get her to the hospital. Where’s her mom?”

“She was an hour away last time I checked.”

“Okay.” His hand ran down his face and he looked at the door. “Let’s go talk to her.”

“Hold on.” I held my hand out. “Let me do the talking, okay? She’s not comfortable with guys right now.” I felt protective over Tiffany. Maybe it was me projecting, but I didn’t want to do anything that made her even more uncomfortable.

Nazai encouraged me to go ahead. Lucas opened the door and allowed me to walk in first and the three brothers followed.

Tiffany cautiously watched us from the bed.

“Hey, Tiffany.”

“Is my mom here yet?” She asked.

I shook my head. “We’re going to meet her at the hospital. We wanted to talk to you first, if that’s okay.”

Tiffany blinked a few times then glanced behind me before nodding. “Keep the door open,” she called out.

“We were wondering… do you remember how you ended up with Winston?” She flinched at the sound of his name then rubbed her bruised neck.

“I, uh…” Her teeth scraped over her bottom lip. “I, uh, my dad.”

“Your dad?”

Nodding slowly, her eyes lowered. “I was visiting my dad and we went to a man’s house. He said it was a friend of his and would be a quick stop. When we got there the man offered me something to drink. Next thing I remembered was waking up in an unfamiliar room, stripped of my clothes. There were no windows, just a bed and a door.”

A knot formed in my stomach. “Do you know who the guy was?” Nazai asked.

Quickly, Tiffany’s eyes darted to him then back down. “No.”

“How did you end up with Winston?”

“I don’t know.” Tears clouded her eyes and her voice cracked. “One day I was still in that room, then one of the guys holding me came in, shot something in my neck, and I woke up in the dog cage.” She rubbed her arms. The monitors she was connected to started beeping and her breathing became rushed.