My nails dig painfully into my palms. We're almost halfway to the cabin, and I'm being a sentimental fucking mess.
"How much longer?" I hiss, even though I know the answer.
"Another twenty minutes, I'm afraid, Master Booth," Kelley replies apologetically. "The roads up here are awful."
I groan, running my hands through my hair. "Why did nobody think to check the cabin?"
"It's been abandoned for years," Oakes replies. "Nobody knows about it."
"Lily Anna does," I hiss. "You should have known."
"You should have as well," Emilian strikes back.
He's right.
This is all my fucking fault.
I spend the rest of the drive sitting there in charged silence. When we pull up in front of the cabin, I nearly fall over myself, jumping out of the still moving car and rushing toward the house. There are no lights on.
I stumble inside, flipping the switch and calling out Pandora's name. I stumble, bumping into something heavy on the floor.
"What the fuck," I mutter. When I look down, fear shoots up my spine.
It's a dead body. A fresh one. Blood has pooled under the unmoving man's corpse. He's got a stethoscope around his neck, and a knife lying next to him, covered in his blood.
"Holy shit," Emilian mumbles as he walks in after me.
I point to a bloody footprint leading away from the body. "Someone went out this door. You need to find them. Go after the footsteps. Find whoever did this."
It's then that we hear a whimper coming from the other room, and we all step over the corpse. I flip another switch and feel sick to my stomach when I see the scene laid out before my eyes.
The wooden floor is covered in no-longer white sheets. They're covered in blood. Some running down from the kitchen, some coming from the frail form slumped over on the floor.
It's her, it's my toy, and she isn't moving.
"Pandora," I grind out, taking a step toward her before turning back to Oakes. "Go after Lily Anna. Call the cops and an ambulance."
"But we need to make sure Pandora is-" he objects, but I cut him off before he can finish.
"Go!" This time, he obeys, leaving me alone with my broken toy.
I kneel down next to her as I listen to Oakes and Kelley run after her.
Pandora's lips are blue and she looks deathly pale. I don't allow my fear to take over. Instead, I try to wake her up.
For myself.
And for our baby, too.
10
Pandora
"That was another one." I pale, clutching my belly and trying to breathe normally. "You have to take me to town now, Lily Anna."
"I don't have to do anything," she snaps back before returning her attention to the book she's holding. "Fuck, it doesn't say anything about the bleeding."
"Lily Anna," I groan. "Please, I'm begging you, do this for the baby, if not for me... I don't want it to get hurt."
She closes the book and puts it back on the shelf before pacing the room, running her hands through her hair while she ponders her next move. While I wait for her to make the right decision, another scream rips itself from my body and I cry out in pain. This is torture. Pure torture.
"Fine," she hisses. "I'm getting the doctor to come up here."
"I need to go to a hospital!" I start crying. She's delusional if she thinks I can have the baby here. We aren't prepared at all. "Please, Lily Anna, please! You'll have the baby's blood on your hands if something happens... Do you really want that on your conscience?"
"Shut up," she snarls before grabbing her jacket. She leaves, locking the door twice behind her. I wail helplessly, but there's no one around, no one to help me. I'm assuming Lily Anna has tipped the caretaker down the road handsomely with her natural favors, because he pretends not to see me every time he passes by and I bang on the window for him to help me.
Now, I'm left alone and terrified. The seconds turn into minutes and soon enough, it's been an hour since she left. But then I finally hear voices, and I hear them come in. They're arguing.
I make eye contact with the doctor, who looks worried, and I can't hold back my tears any longer.
"Please," I whisper. "You have to help me."
"You'll have to forgive her, doctor," Lily Anna says sweetly. "She's a little delusional from the labour. You brought the painkillers, didn't you?"
Dr. Meyer glances between the two of us, as if he's unsure who to believe. Finally, he nods and puts his briefcase on the table, starting to go through his things while simultaneously giving Lily Anna instructions. They put me on the floor on some clean sheets, propped up on pillows. I know things aren't good the moment I see Dr. Meyer's face after he examines me.
"What's wrong?" I whisper. "The baby's okay, right?"
He doesn't answer me. I can't stop crying. The whole situation is stressful and maddening because Lily Anna is preventing me from delivering the baby safely. I tell myself I'll never forgive her for all the shit she put me through, making a mental vow to make her pay for everything she's done to me.
When she leaves the room, claiming my screams are giving her a headache, I grab the doc's shirt and pull him in.
"You h-have to help." I'm stuttering in my effort to get the words out before she comes back and catches me in the act. "She's crazy. Fucking crazy. I think she wants to steal the baby."
"Alli?" he asks, pushing his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose and chuckling. "No, no, she wouldn't do that..."
"Her name isn't Alli," I snarl, letting out a desperate cry. "It's Lily fucking Anna-"
"Pandora." She appears in the doorway. Her gaze is cool and calculating, locked with mine. "You'll want to shut up now."
But it's too late for that.
Dr. Meyer is already looking at her, and his eyes widen when he comes to a realization.
"It really is you," he whispers. "You're Emilian Oakes' daughter."
"No," I snarl. "I am. She's a fucking... nobody. An imposter."
"Shut up!" Lily Anna roars, pointing back to me as she addresses Dr. Meyer. "You need to deliver this baby, right fucking now."
"But you're..." He shakes his head when I cry out again, picking himself up. "I'm calling the cops. And an ambulance. Do you know everybody's looking for you?"
"Don't be crazy now." Lily Anna blocks the exit. "Give me your phone."
"No," Dr. Meyer shakes his head. "I should have known something was off... I should have known you weren't who you said you were."
"But you were more than happy to fuck me," Lily Anna snarls. "You put your dick in every one of my holes. How would your wife feel about that, Dr. Meyer?"
"It doesn't matter." He shakes his head, punching a number into his phone. "You're sick. I'm calling the cops."
"No, you're not." Lily Anna sounds so determined I'm momentarily distracted from the awful pain in my belly. "Put the phone down."
He doesn't. Instead, he raises his hand to his ear, telling her, "You're a sick little girl, Lily Anna. I'm telling your father everything."
She snarls then, launching herself at him. I scream for help, but help doesn't come. Somehow, Lily Anna has managed to catch the doctor off guard, and she knocks him over, straddling him on the floor. She knocks his phone out of his hand and he desperately tries to reach for it, but she just laughs.
"See what happens when you're bad?" she asks him innocently. "You pissed me off now, doc. And now I have to punish you."
"What the fuck?" he snarls when she pins his hands behind his head. "Are you crazy? That girl needs my help... She could bleed out if we don't get her to a hospital."
"Do I look like I care?" Lily Anna gives me a saccharine smile. "I don't give a shit about little Miss Oakes. All I care about is the baby."
With those words, she pulls a giant kitchen knife from her boot. I stare in disbelief as she brandishes it in front of the doctor.
"N-Now, don't do anything stupid, p-please," he manages, holding his hands up. "I'm a family man, Lily Anna. I
have two sons."
"Maybe I'll fuck them too," she says with a smirk. "See if they're any better than their old, useless Dad. Still want to call the cops, do you, Dr. Meyer?"
"N-No," he manages. "I won't call them, I won't tell anyone, just let me go, please."
"Oh, now you're so very eager to keep this secret, aren't you?" she giggles. "Only moments ago you were ready to put me behind bars... Did my little toy change your mind?"
I cry out in unison with the doctor when she runs the blade over his cheek. Blood dribbles down his face.
"Any other comments, doc?" she asks him sweetly.
"N-No, please," he stutters. "Just let me go. Please. Just let me go. I've done nothing. I just want to leave."
"I bet you do." She pouts. "But you've already fucked up now, haven't you, doc? I can't trust you anymore. You're a traitor. And you know what I do with traitors?"
He stares at her, immobilized and terrified as she plunges the knife in his chest, giggling.
My scream echoes in the room as she laughs out loud.
"I kill them, doctor. I fucking kill them."
The doctor gurgles blood. She leaves him on the floor. I watch her pull the knife out of his chest in disbelief. This can't be happening, this can't be real. Please God, don't let this be real.
"L-Lily Anna," I whisper. "Didn't you h-hear what he said? We need to go to a hospital... I could bleed out."
"Do I look like I give a shit?" she snarls. "Just keep pushing, you dumb slut. Get my baby out."
"Your-but... I..." A scream rips through my body and I realize I don't have a choice. This baby is coming whether I want it to or not—I can't stop what's happening now. I'll just have to give birth here, and have my revenge later.
The pain is so intense I keep passing out from it. To Lily Anna's credit, she stays by my side, never leaving as I struggle. At one point, I look down between my legs and cry out when I see the amount of blood staining the snow white sheets.
"T-This doesn't look normal," I cry. "Please, you have to get me to a doctor!"
"Maybe if you weren't such a dumb bitch, the doctor would still be here," she snarls. "But you made me do this. You made me kill him. It's all your. Fucking. Fault!"
"Please, Lily Anna." Panic floods me. I'm wet and sticky with my own sweat and blood and I've never been more scared in my life. Not just for my own life, but the baby's too. "Please, I'm begging you, get me the help I need."
"Shut up," she hisses. "Keep pushing."
She positions herself in front of my spread legs. Her eyes widen when she sees the state of me, but she doesn't address it. Instead, she just waits while I do the pushing.
I don't know how long it all lasts. I'm too disoriented, too exhausted, in too much pain to pay attention to anything but the contractions twisting my body and making me double over. And then I hear it, through the thick fog that has descended in front of my eyes. A baby crying.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god."
I look up. My lashes are heavy, tears are dripping down my face, and I'm feeling lightheaded. I see her then, Lily Anna, holding up a baby boy. He's a boy—definitely a boy—and he's beautiful. Perfect.
Turns out, I don't need that paternity test at all. The moment the baby enters the world, I know who his father is.
"Reign," I whisper. "My baby Reign."
I'd chosen the name weeks ago, but had kept it a secret from Lily Anna until now. I didn't want her prying or trying to make my decisions for me. I didn't want her trying to dissuade me from using the name. And now she turns to face me. Her motherly expression of love shifts instantly into cool rage.
"That's not his name," she hisses. "You don't get to name him."
"He's my son," I rasp, but she pays me no mind. I watch her cut the umbilical cord and wipe the baby gently. He's quiet now. Almost too quiet. He only cried once or twice. "Give him to me, Lily Anna. Give me my son."
"He's not yours." She begins dressing him up and I stare at them, feeling frozen. "But here's the deal, Pandora. I'm going to play a little game with you, a game of chance. You like those?"
I can't even answer. My mouth feels thick, and so does my head. I can barely whimper.
"See, my plan was this..." Lily Anna comes up close to me and smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "I was going to kill you. Then go back with the baby and tell everyone it was mine. Lai was the father, of course. He forced himself on me, so I had to kill him. I escaped then, soon discovering I was pregnant. And then I gave birth early to my son. Little Dexter Junior."
"You're s-sick," I manage to get out through gritted teeth. She shrugs, smiling.
"I had to do what I had to do to get Dex back. He's not yours, Pandora. He never was." She covers me with a blanket and I watch blood bloom on the light pink fabric. "I slipped something in your drink tonight. You didn't even notice, did you?"
I stare at her, feeling more and more frozen.
"You had no idea," she grins triumphantly. "So stupid, P. Anyway. You seem to have reacted badly to the meds. You're bleeding like, a lot. Sad face."
She pouts while I cry out for help. But my voice is broken, gone. No one's going to hear me here.
"So I'm going to bid you adieu now, my darling," she smirks. "I'll take Dex Jr. with me. You try to live, won't you? But I'm pretty sure you won't. I'll tell Dexter you send your regards either way."
She blows me a kiss and picks herself up from the floor. I watch in horror as she loads up the baby into a car seat and disappears from the house. My eyelids grow heavier and heavier and I struggle focusing on anything. My conscience is slowly drifting away. A lone tear slides down my right cheek before the darkness takes me home.
11
Pandora
I know it's a dream, but that isn't helping. It only means there are no limitations this time, no consequences for their actions.
I'm tied down to a chair in the middle of an empty room. A lightbulb swings above me, casting shadows around the room. The boys surround me. Even though they're all wearing masks, I recognize them by their movements, the way they stand. They're all dressed in suits, and they're all wearing the same white mask that covers their eyes. They approach me.
"You've been a bad little toy, haven't you, Pandora?" one of them speaks up. I could try to figure out who's who, but I'm too tired. I close my eyes and lean my head back on the chair. There's something on the tip of my tongue, something at the back of my mind. Something so desperately important. But I can't grip the thought. It keeps slipping through my fingers. So I just give in, go with the flow. I play pretend.
"Yes, Sir," I whisper in my dream. "Are you going to punish me?"
"Of course, my little toy. What else are you here for?" A riding crop hits my inner thigh and I yelp in pain. I stare down at my leg where a red mark is already blooming. "I'm going to hit you as many times as it takes you to admit it."
"Admit what?" I cry out when the crop hits me again and again. The others join in now, hitting, pinching, tugging on my hair and fraying my nerves. "Admit what? Please, tell me what you want me to admit!"
Nobody gives me an answer until I hear the first whisper in my ear. By the time I turn to face the voice, he's long gone, but the whisper is still there. In the back of my mind. On the tip of my tongue.
You know what you did.
It doesn't stop. Unrelentingly, it gnaws at my conscience reminding me time and time again what it means, what I am.
What I'm supposed to do.
I cry out. The tears don't fall because I won't let them. But I keep my eyes open. I want them all to see what they're doing. Unfortunately for me, it only takes a few excruciatingly painful minutes for my desperate pleas for mercy to turn into moans for more. They knew this was coming, and they start laughing at me, ridiculing me, making fun of me. I bet they're loving this. Loving hurting me.
And I am, too.
I feel the first orgasm building. I don't know what's real anymore, but I cling on to the feeling of it. The butter
flies in my stomach. The wetness between my legs. I let pure euphoria take over, but the moment I'm at the crest, it stops.
"You don't deserve it," Dex's ghostly voice whispers in my ear. "Not until you admit it."
"Admit what?" I whisper brokenly, then repeating it, louder, angrier. "Admit what, you fucking jerk?"
They start again, chanting the words, surrounding me.
You know what you did, you know what you did.
"What did I do? Tell me, just tell me," I sniffle.
"You left!" The two words echo through the room in Dexter's deep, pissed-off voice. "You left me, Pandora. You left me. You took my favorite toy away. You know what I mean, don't you? The little hole between your legs. It's all mine, and you took it away from me. And now you're going to pay for it."
Something between a moan and a gasp escapes me and I struggle against the ropes.
"Just let me fucking go," I beg, despite knowing how pathetic I sound. "Please, I won't tell anyone what you did, just let me fucking go!"
"Not a chance in hell, toy," Dex hisses, and the other four figures repeat the words. "You're mine now. So just admit it. Admit it already!"
The pressure building inside me is unbearable. I know it's a dream. It has to be. But I can't wake up. I've been pushed into ice cold water without any hope of coming back up for air. I'm numb, yet I feel everything, and it's beautiful.
"I don't know what you want from me," I whisper, feeling more broken than ever. "What do you want, Dex? What do you fucking want?"
"This," he grunts. I look down, and there's a beating heart in his hand. I cry and whine and whimper, but when I open my eyes again, it's still there. Thudding. Beating. "Take mine. And give me yours, toy."
"N-No," I scream, struggling. "Get away from me!"
"I'm never going to leave you," Dex whispers in my ear. "You have a part of me now. And I have a part of you."
He clicks his fingers, and the room empties. Then it's just me and him, and I'm no longer tied to a chair. I'm on a bed now, and the room is dark and dangerous, with toys and gadgets designed to make me suffer covering every surface of the floor and walls.
A Hurt So Sweet Volume Four: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Elite of Eden Falls Prep Book 4) Page 7