Page 126 of Ghost Hunted

“Thank you,” I tell him. My voice feels like it’s coming from somewhere very far away. “I just need to pee. I’ll be right out.” He doesn’t budge, his hand firmly on my elbow. “Thank you,” I repeat.

“I’m sorry, Lia,” he whispers.

“It’s fine,” I say, trying again to get out of his grip.

“I’m very sorry, Lia. I didn’t tell him. The man who built the cages must have gossiped. I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay.” I try to smile again, but I’m too tired and too cold to manage it. “I just have to pee, Logan. Please let me go.”

His fingers tighten around me, and his voice suddenly comes out hoarse. “No, I don’t want you to go, Lia.”

He draws me to him and kisses me, squeezing me so hard I can’t breathe.

“I’m only going to the bathroom. Where else would I go? It’s not like I have a choice.”

“No.” He buries his face in my hair, taking in a deep whiff. “No, you don’t.”

He lets go at last, and I realize his grip was tight enough that it’ll leave a bruise. I open the door to the bathroom, stepping in and closing it behind me.

When he spoke those words, the all-too familiar ache sprang up in me.

He’s kept it under control, between his empty promises and the sex. But it’s still there, and as I find myself alone and out of his locked apartment, it suddenly occurs to me.

I do need to go. It’s the only thing I can do.

I need him so much. But I need my freedom more.

Leaving Logan is the only choice I have.

40

Lia

“I’m trying to, okay? All I’ve done is for you, for her. I’m trying to protect you all. I’m trying my very best.”

“No,” whispers the quiet, wavering voice of my mother. “All you’ve ever done is protect yourself. You know, Emilio, I’ve been a coward. Letting you scare me. What kind of a mother have I been, letting you take her from me for so many years? Letting you hire that gang for protection, when you knew you couldn’t pay them back?”

“We needed protection,” he hisses. “The mafia were after us, Devil too. We were in danger. Hiring the Puicin Gang was the only thing I could do.”

“And now they’re after us too! You traded one enemy for another! An enemy who took your own grandchild! How could you, Emilio?”

“Enough. I’m dealing with it.” My father mops his forehead. “What would we do with a baby anyway? Ever since I started injecting Lia, she’s been perfectly happy. Carefree. Allowing her to keep that baby would have risked everything.”

My mother chokes down on a sob. “How could I allow you to inject my daughter…”

“I said, enough.” My father’s voice grows low and threatening. “You’ve never allowed me to do anything. You submit, and that’s it. As you’ve always done. I injected her to keep her happy. Satisfied. If I hadn’t, she’d never rest until she found… him. She’d put us all in danger. I told you, that man wants us all dead. I’ll never give up my daughter to him.”

She shakes her head. “And now, the Puicin Gang are going to come back and collect. They took our granddaughter, and now they’ll take you. You’re a liar and a coward, Emilio.”

“Silence!” he thunders, pulling out his belt. Seeing the movement, my mother falls to her knees, lifting her hands up to protect herself, in vain.

A moment later, he’s bringing the belt down again, and again, and again, until she collapses on the ground, groaning in pain.

Then he heads toward the cupboard, grabbing the syringe that’s grown far too familiar. I plaster myself on the opposite wall, shaking in fear as he opens the door, looking at me with a smile that does nothing to counter the danger in his eyes.

“Time for your weekly injection, princess.”

“No,” I whisper, as he stalks over to me. “No, I don’t want it. Please, papa, I don’t want it.”