Page 47 of Merciless

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. My energy reserves were on the verge of bottoming out. Though that didn’t stop her from ripping at my clothes, my pockets.

Steal it all. None of it matters anymore.

“Who are you?” I asked, attempting another glimpse at this ethereal being.

She scoffed. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You have passed into the age bracket of severe Alzheimer’s—”

“Alzheimer’s?”

I could feel a tugging before she let off a torrent of curse words. It was so damn cute.

“Come on, old man. I can’t lift you on my own.”

“Why?” I asked. Why bother?

“Because I’m going to help you.”

“Still, why?”

She huffed. “Because that’s what decent people do.”

“I’m not a decent person.”

“But I am. Now help me, or I’m calling in reinforcements.”

Who is this girl? Ordering me around, saving me...

My gaze shifted slightly, scoping the periphery, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The moon overhead broke apart the pitch-black of night, reflecting off my mother’s grave and the two fresh stalks of lilies lying haphazardly on the ground.

Another wave of emotion took me over as my current reality snapped into blinding clarity.

“Angel?”

“Huh?”

“Charlotte?” I implored, my voice breaking on her name.

“Ah, so he does remember.”

A single tear slipped out of my eye, joining the countless others I’d shed throughout the day. Except this one was solely for her, for us, and what could have been. “I never forgot.”

She sighed. “Colton, you can’t stay here. Where should I take you?”

“Home.”

“Alright. And where is that?”

“If only I knew.”

Chapter 29

COLTON

It took me a few minutes to regain my bearings, my groggy mind finally clearing for the first time in days.

I was lying supine in the plush hotel bed, tucked beneath the covers, with only a pair of sweatpants on.

Memory shot through me in flashes. I remembered the burning, my skin feverish as my brain pounded inside my skull. The mental trauma dump was so all-consuming that my immune system didn’t stand a chance against my body’s high stress response.