Page 54 of Peripheral Vision (Tethered in Darkness Duet #1)

“I never wanted to leave you here, Dylan. Believe me when I say I didn’t have a choice. I was trying to get out of the game long before you came into it… but they threatened my family, and?—”

I cut him off, “It doesn’t matter now, does it? You did it anyway. You were doing it long before me. And now I’m the one who has to pick up the pieces of my life while you try and make yourself feel better about being a shitty human being.”

He doesn’t speak, looking as though I had just slapped him, and I guess in a way, I had.

The weight of my words is sinking into him like a knife twisting deeper, but he doesn’t deserve to have me make him feel better.

But then he says something that tilts the room on its axis.

“It might not matter, and it sure as hell might not make a difference to you, love. But I am trying to help you whether you like it or not. Because it was real for me. Because Fletcher is here, and I’m trying to get you to him.

So if you never trust me again about anything else, trust me on that.

” Fletcher is here? How does he know that?

Suddenly, the bathroom door opens with a bang, and I barely have time to react when Callum rushes me into the showers, out of sight. His eyes are wide, frantic, but there is a fire in them. “They’re coming, we have to move. Now.”

I want to scream, but if my options are between him and Connor…

I give him a subtle nod. A pair of enforcers stride into the room, their eyes flicking around until they land on the dead guard that Callum killed.

One of them growls, his hand resting on his weapon, and I feel Callum tense beside me, the muscles in his body going rigid.

There is nowhere else for us to go, they are going to find us.

Callum grabs my arm, his breath coming in short, sharp bursts.

I can hear their heavy boots as they move closer, each step sending a wave of dread through me.

“Now,” he whispers urgently, pulling me toward the narrow gap behind the row of shower stalls.

We are too close to the enforcers, their voices low but growing louder, discussing their search for us.

Callum’s heart pounds against my back, his body a shield, but there is no mistaking the fear coming from him as well.

We have no plan, no clear escape route. But there is no time to make any as we slip into the hall, moving as silently as we can.

The other guards that had been stationed are nowhere to be found; looking for us would be my guess.

Connor isn’t going to let me go so easily.

The hall stretches before us, and if I had to make an assumption, it was that Callum knew which way to go.

We are just about to take off again when a sharp voice echoes from behind us, Connor or a guard, I’m not sure .

“Find her!”

There is no more time. Callum jerks his head toward a narrow staircase at the far end of the hall, the only possible way out.

We run, my heart slamming in my chest as the sound of footsteps grow louder while we sprint down the hall, my ankle protesting with every step, but we still aren’t fast enough.

I’m not fast enough. A shout rings out from the top of the staircase.

“Keep going,” Callum says, ushering me along.

I am moving as fast as I can. We fly down the stairs, rounding one of the landings and I run right into Connor where he is waiting with several other enforcers.

The moment I collide with him, I feel a rush of panic claw at my throat, my body freezing for a split second before I try to push past him, but his grip is like iron.

“Did you think you could escape me, Dylan? That I wouldn’t come after you? I thought we were making such good progress. I thought we were family. ” His words drip with venom, the way his breath hits my throat like poison against my skin.

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but the words are stuck in my throat.

I glance at Callum, a mistake as soon as Connor’s gaze shifts toward him.

He smiles and it’s dark, promising danger.

Callum’s eyes are locked on mine, his jaw tight as he’s being held by other guards. “Connor, let her go,” he growls.

Connor spins me around, locking an arm around my waist, his hand grasping my jaw.

“You think you can come in here and take what belongs to me, Callum? Do you think you have any claim on her? She’s mine.

I’ve given you more chances than I can count, but now you’ve crossed a line.

” The pressure of his grip on my jaw increases and the sound of Callum’s growl echoes in the stairwell.

“Oh, isn’t that sweet. Your feelings for her were real, even when you were supposed to be pretending. Did she know that?”

I feel Callum’s muscles tense as his eyes lock back onto mine, the desperation clear. I knew that it wasn’t all real when I ended up here, but for some reason hearing that makes me want to save him even when he doesn’t deserve it to come from me. “Connor,” I manage to rasp. “Please, let him go.”

His grip from my jaw moves to my throat where he squeezes. “You think I’m going to listen to you, Dylan? You don’t get to make demands. Especially not after this little act of rebellion.”

Before I can reply, Connor shoves me away from him and I stumble backwards, crashing into the wall.

My breath catches as pain shoots through my ankle, but there is no time to focus on it.

I have to move, try to move, but an enforcer steps up behind me, grabbing my arms and holding me in place.

Connor uses his forward momentum to punch Callum in the face, except he doesn’t stop after one.

He rains down blow after blow after blow.

Callum doesn’t make a sound at first. His jaw is clenched, his body tense with each brutal hit, but he doesn’t give in.

He fights the restraint, the humiliation, his gaze never leaving me, desperate and full of something I don’t know how to name.

“Stop!” I scream. “Connor, please!”

But he doesn’t listen, and soon enough Callum is no longer looking at me.

He had lost consciousness, and only then does Connor slow his assault, leaving me thinking he was done.

Callum’s blood stains the walls and the floors like a gruesome painting.

I fight harder against the enforcer, but it’s no use.

Connor pulls his gun from somewhere in his waistband, aiming it at Callum’s limp body that now lay on the floor where the enforcers dropped him.

I scream, my voice raw, but it only seems to amuse Connor.

He crouches down next to Callum’s still form, the barrel of his gun gleaming.

“You should’ve known better than to defy me.

” His tone is cold. And then he pulls the trigger.

My heart races, pounding against my ribs as blood rushes to my ears, drowning out every other sound.

People move around in front of me, and it looks like Connor takes a phone call, but the world is spinning at a nauseating rate and just as I feel as though I’m about to succumb to gravity, I hear Connor say, “Take her to the loading dock. This isn’t the only surprise I have for her tonight. ”