Page 42 of Stained In Sin (The Twisted Trilogy #1)

Evely n

My throat burns as if I have swallowed hot coals. The beeping of machines makes my ears ring. I try to open my eyes, but I can’t; they are too heavy.

I need to go back. I need to go back to the place where everything was okay. I feel my eyes water beneath my heavy lids. I hear faint voices drowned out by the beeps ringing in my ears.

I peel my heavy lids open, and the room is out of focus. It looks like… like a hospital? What happened?

I blink slowly, trying to see something—anything.

Immediately, a figure stands before me, and it looks like him. It can’t be him. I’m still dead. You’re not dead. You’re alive. He’s real.

He moves closer to my face, skimming his fingers down my cheek. He’s real.

The touch warms my skin.

“I knew you wouldn’t leave me, princess.” He leans forward, kissing my forehead softly.

I go to speak, but I can’t. I start choking as my throat constricts. My body thrashes as I try to breathe.

Alarms blare in my ears, and the room is flooded with blurry figures dresse d in blue. I feel heavy hands on my body. Pressing me down to keep me still.

“It’s okay, Evelyn, you are in the hospital. You have a breathing tube. Relax. Try not to speak.”

My eyes are watery as the burn in my throat intensifies.

“The nurse will be in to evaluate you shortly, and we can remove the tube.”

“She is clearly okay. You’re fucking choking her!”

The familiar voice overtakes the space, overpowering the alarms ringing.

“I’ll take it out myself if you don’t.” The chilling words freeze the room, and suddenly everything is cold.

The woman looks down at me, my vision starting to clear up.

“Do you know your name?”

I try to nod, but my head is heavy, so it’s a subtle movement.

“Do you know where you are?”

I know I’m in a hospital. I nod.

“Can you squeeze my hand and give me a thumbs up?”

I do both weakly, but I manage.

“Can you wiggle your toes?”

I wiggle them beneath the sheet.

“Take a deep breath for me.”

I inhale and start coughing around the tube. My throat feels like it is clamping down on the tube, trying to expel the foreign object.

She turns and nods to the man who entered the room. He approached the bedside and he grabs my shoulder, anchoring me in place.

“We will remove your tube now. Stay calm and try to relax.”

I nod subtly.

“One… two… three.”

They pull, and I convulse underneath his hands. My throat feels as if I h ave swallowed glass. My eyes burn with fresh tears. I gag, and then I taste it— air. It swarms into my lungs, rattling them. My chest rises and falls.

They shine a light in my eyes and examine me as I breathe.

It hurts. Everything hurts. I’m alive.

I reach my weak arms to my face and feel my clammy skin. I’m real. I didn’t die.

I look around the bright hospital room and see that everyone has cleared out… except him. Dante.

He stands in the corner of the room. His presence is muted. He seems… different.

“I—I’m—,” my voice raspy and cracking. My throat fucking burns.

He cuts me off, stepping towards me from the corner.

“No.”

He sits on the bed next to me, tucking my hair behind my ear softly.

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes are glassy, as if he had been crying. I open my mouth to speak, and he begins once again.

“I need to tell you what happened. The truth.”

Tears prick my eyes as I remember how I ended up here. Amara is dead. Astra was stabbed. I took the pills. I tried to end it all.

“My father made me choose… I had to pick to kill Amara, or kill you… I could never kill you.” A tear rolls down his cheek.

“If I didn’t, he would have had someone else do it.” His admission sends a wave of disgust through my empty stomach.

“I didn’t have anything to do with Astra. We are looking into it.”

I cry silently as I watch Dante unravel before me. He always cared. He loves you.

“W-who found me?” my voice hoarse and barely audible.

He looks at me with hurt in his eyes.

No.

Th e tears roll faster. My body trembles as I cry to myself.

“I watched you take them on the cameras after you sent me the text. I hurried, but you took too many.” His voice is low and strangled.

I cry as he gently lifts me into his chest. He rubs his palm over my back, soothing me.

“I-I thought I wasn’t going to see you again,” I cry softly.

He kisses my head and whispers, “It’s okay. I’m here.”

He releases me and I lie back against the bed.

“Is Astra okay?”

He nods.

Relief washes my system clean. At least I saved her.

“I killed my father,” his words hang in the air between us. The hairs on my body rise at his chilling admission. The world stills for a moment as I search his eyes for answers.

“W-why?”

“For you.” His words are chilling.

“B-but why?” I can barely get the words out.

“I will always kill for you. Even if it’s my own flesh and blood. You’ll always be mine, Evelyn. No one will take that from me.”

My heart warms and aches simultaneously. He killed his father for you. He will do anything to keep you. He loves you.

* * *

I crack open my eyes and see the morning light filter through the cold room. From what I gathered yesterday, I had been in here for three days. Today is day number four.

The first two and a half days I was in a coma like state, and unresponsive. My body still aches, and I have trouble keeping down my food because my throat burns. I’ve had a headache and have slept for hours, but I feel like it’s still not enough. They said it will wear off, but it takes time.

Dante sat with me yesterday, never leaving my side after I woke up. I told him he could go, but he insisted on staying.

After he explained everything to me, it all made sense. I wish it didn’t have to be that way. A part of me will never forgive him for what he has done, but on the other hand, I would have died if he hadn’t.

I almost died despite the measures he had taken to ensure my safety, and I think that is what hurts me the most.

The doctors made me stay overnight to make sure I wasn’t suicidal. I don’t feel like I want to die anymore. I feel guilty for putting everyone through so much stress over it. My parents stopped by late last night to talk to me. We discussed our falling out and agreed to start fresh.

After I get released they said they would love to have Dante and I over for dinner. The promise warmed my heart. I never thought they would come around, but I suppose nearly losing me made them change their minds. I can’t complain.

Dante stares out the window. His black shirt and black jeans hug his frame tightly. He is beautiful. I love how he manages to look so calm and collected, despite the world being on fire around him.

“Ms. Blackwell?”

A man enters the room carrying a stack of papers. I smile at him softly.

“I have your discharge paperwork. Do you have a ride ready?”

Dante looks at me and nods.

“Yes.” My words are quiet. I’m not sure where to go from here.

The man holds out a clipboard, and I sign off on the papers.

“Please call us if your condition doesn’t improve or worsens.” He smiles and exits the room.

“Let’s take you home, princess.” Dante leans over the bed, placing a soft kiss on my cheek.

I love him. I love him so much it fucking hurts. He will never tell you he loves you. You have to accept that. He doesn’t love anybody.

* * *

The day went by in the blink of an eye. I lay in Dante’s bed, staring at him as he goes into the bathroom.

He is so beautiful—his mind, body, and soul.

I wish it didn’t happen the way it did. I understand he made a difficult choice.

I’m glad I wasn’t the one to be killed, but why did someone HAVE to die?

I’m so happy I will never have to meet his father.

I don’t know how I’m going to let Astra know why he did it.

If she had to choose between her best friend and her sister, I know she would always choose her sister.

I hate that I am the reason her sister is dead.

I killed Amara in a sense. That guilt will weigh heavily on my shoulders for as long as I live.

He emerges from the bathroom, and my stomach sinks.

“W-what did you do?” My voice comes out quietly as I see him shirtless for the first time after leaving the hospital.

He glances down, and his finger trails over the writing. He placed it exactly where mine is.

“I’m yours, baby.”

My lip quivers, and I want to cry. He did this for me.

“W-when did you do that…?”

“On the second day. I didn’t want to lose you.”

A tear slips from my eye, and I wipe it quickly.

He comes to lie beside me on the bed, and he scoops me up in his arms and places me on his chest. My limbs still feel heavy, but the pain is tolerable.

I let my head rest on his shoulder as he skates his fingers over my back.

I slowly trail my fingers over the letters he carved into his chest. Evelyn.

“Do you have any other family?”

My question breaks the silence between us. He clears his throat before he responds in his raspy tone, “No.”

“I’m sorry…”

He is silent for a beat, and then opens up to me.

“I grew up with my mother, father, and my sister, Destiny. My father has always been a ruthless man, nonetheless, a protector of his family. Destiny was always there to stand up to my father. She hated the way he would treat me. I grew up knowing my place was to protect my mother and sister. My father always said my place was to do whatever the fuck he told me to do. I took care of them the best that I could, but one day I failed them. I was out late, doing a job my dad sent me on when I was 19 years old. I took longer than I should have, and it cost me my mother and sisters’ lives.

I got home and found my mother on the floor with her neck slit open, and my sister had been kidnapped.

I failed them. That’s the last time I failed anyone.

I’ve never missed a deadline. I’ve never let anyone in my life again, because I know what they will do. ”

My eyes sting from the confession.

“How old were you when your dad made you start… hurting people?”

“I was fifteen.”

I swallow, letting out a deep breath.

“Did you ever find your sister?”

“Yes. We found her four years ago. I was 19 when she was taken, and we found her when I just turned 21. She was found dead, and it looked like a rival had taken her and then used her as a sex slave. When we found her, she was bound to a bed and had been malnourished. She had been dead for maybe two weeks when we found her. I wish every day that I could go back and find her a few weeks sooner. Maybe I could have saved her.”

His eyes are glassy as he recalls the tragedy he has suffered. He feels deeply, but he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to be weak again. I made h im weak again. He found me almost as his sister was— dead. Guilt overwhelms me.

“You did everything you could,” I reassure him as I kiss his cheek.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I avoided it. I didn’t want to look, out of fear I would never find her. I thought I would waste my life trying to find someone who was gone. I didn’t want to spend my life in a mental Hell.”

“Why did you save me?” My whisper dances across his skin, and his skin erupts in chills.

“I saved you because you saved me. When I looked at her lifeless body four years ago, I thought I would never have any purpose in life again. My purpose was to kill, until I saw you. When I looked at you, I felt something deep inside my soul come to life. Once I felt the flicker in my chest, I knew I could never let it die. You became my obsession because without you, I am nothing more than a monster.”

My heart warms at his words. He saved me because I saved him.

I crash my mouth to his, needing to taste him. He tastes of scotch and mint, my favorite flavor of Dante. His fingers drift until they intertwine in my hair, and he tugs at the strands, making my scalp tingle. If Dante is a monster, then I am the fool who dared him to bite.

I pull back and stare deep into the depths of his stormy eyes.

“Thank you for saving me…”

His face softens, and I melt into his chest.

This man has possessed me. I made a deal with the Devil, and I never want out.