Page 41 of Stained In Sin (The Twisted Trilogy #1)

Dante

The machines keep a steady beat.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Get out. Get the fuck out of here.”

Astra glares at me. Lucien cuts in, “Let him explain.”

She transfers her murderous eyes towards Lucien.

“There is nothing to explain.”

“There is…. It’s fucked up, but he has a reason.”

She rolls her eyes, letting out a frustrated groan. I close the door behind me.

“Fine. Just know I’m never forgiving you for killing her.” Her eyes glisten, filling with water at her frustration.

I lean against the wall, crossing my arms across my chest. I get right to the point.

“My father gave me two options. Kill Evelyn or Amara. Its choice was simple.”

I clench my jaw at the reminder of the fucking bastard.

Her expression softens as the tears roll down her bruised face.

“W-what…..w-why?”

“He didn’t think I would pick. He doesn’t want me with Evelyn— well… he didn’t.”

“He doesn’t care anymore? Now that my fucking sister was used as a sacrifice?” Her voice cracks.

“No— he doesn’t. Because he’s fucking dead,” I spit the words out of my mouth, clipping the last one.

Her eyes widen, and her face pales.

“Y-you killed him?”

“We both did.” I nod to Lucien, who sits in the chair next to her hospital bed. She continues to cry into her hands at the realization that this entire situation is fucked up.

I close the distance between myself and the foot of her bed, and I rest my hands on the stiff material. I look through her as I speak.

“There is nothing I won’t do for her. No line I won’t cross, no life I won’t take. Evelyn isn’t a want— she’s a need. And if you ever stand in the way of that, Astra, I won’t blink before removing you too.”

I turn around to walk out, but look back over my shoulder, giving her my final words.

“You know she took the pills from you. If she doesn’t wake up— that’s on you.”

I storm out of the room and head down the hall to see Evelyn.

She’d better wake up. She can’t fucking die.

* * *

If I have learned anything over the last two days, it’s that I cannot live without her.

I sit on the chair next to her bed, watching the monitor. The machine is steady. Her chest rises and falls only with the assistance of the ventilator.

Sh e was taken here by ambulance, and they pumped her stomach. They tried other medications as well, but nothing worked to regain consciousness.

She has been in the ICU. Her doctor came in this morning and told me her condition is stable. Yeah fucking right. She looks like she could die at any moment, and the thought has me homicidal.

He told me the amount she consumed was enough to shut down her central nervous system. There was no bleeding in her brain, no trauma, but he doesn’t know if or when she will wake up. He called it a drug-induced coma.

I’ll wait as long as I have to.

The door opens, and her parents slowly walk into the room. Both of them look like shit. Heavy bags under their swollen, red eyes. They would have never known if it weren’t for me. I fucking saved her. Again.

I just hope I wasn’t too fucking late.

Her father nods at me, and her mother does the same. She approaches her bedside and takes her hand, holding it firmly.

She leans down and kisses her forehead.

“Please wake up, sweetie. Please….”

Her father stands behind his wife, watching the machines as they keep their only daughter alive.

“You haven’t left?”

Her father questions me with a curious tone.

I shake my head. “No.”

“I can tell. You’re wearing the same clothes as the night she came in.”

He gives me a sympathetic look.

“Go home. Go shower. Eat. We will stay with her until you get back.”

“No.”

He pinches his brows together.

“You know, I didn’t like you one bit. Hell, I hated you….,” he pauses, choosing his following words carefully, “But I can tell you’d do anything for her, and I respect that.”

I nod at him, not moving from my seat.

“But if you don’t go take care of yourself, how the Hell will you take care of her when she wakes up?”

He cocks his head at me, waiting for an answer. I don’t have one, but he’s right. I need to shower. I need to bring her fresh clothes.

“I’ll be back in an hour. Don’t leave her alone.”

He places his hand on my shoulder, giving me a slight smile.

“Boy I took care her for 21 years. I think I can take care of her for an hour.”

I nod to him and his wife, and I take off. I need to get back before she wakes up.

I need to be the one to explain everything to her.

* * *

The shower water is ice cold. I need to feel something. Anything.

The light has been taken from my world once again. I slam my hand against the tile. I fucking failed her. I should have been with her instead of seeking revenge on my father.

He won. His death might be the only reason I lose her. Because I was fucking selfish.

I step out of the shower, looking into the mirror. I am met with cold, dead eyes. They are pitch black, drowning in fucking tar.

I don’t even fucking recognize myself right now.

I walk into the bedroom, taking my knife from my nightstand.

I stand back in front of the mirror and begin carving.

The bite from the metal feels like nothing compared to the fury inside of me. I refuse to let her go. The blood drips down onto the rug beneat h me as I carve into my abdomen.

I throw the blade down into the sink, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I stare back at my reflection, still dead, but now I’m hers. I’ll forever be hers.

I step back into the shower, feeling the sting of the water on the open wound. I know when she wakes up, she will hate me. She took the pills thinking that I’m a fucking monster. She knows I killed Amara, but she doesn’t know why.

I’m not the monster she left behind. I’m the Devil still whispering her name in the dark.

I close my eyes, pressing my forehead on the cool tile. “Evelyn,” I whisper as my eyes sting with an unfamiliar feeling.

“Please come back.”