Chapter 6

Holly Stevenson's POV:

A scream, muffled and useless, tore through my throat as the scalpel sliced into the skin of my cheek. The pain was sharp, immediate, and blinding. It was followed by a warm, wet trickling sensation as my own blood ran down my face.

Janna laughed, a high, hysterical sound that bounced off the tiled walls of the small room. "See? It's your own fault," she chirped, as if she were scolding a naughty child. "You made him lie to me. You forced him to be with you."

I thrashed against the restraints, my body convulsing with agony and terror. The leather straps bit deeper into my wrists, but the pain was nothing compared to the fire on my face.

"A long, deep one," Janna murmured to herself, her touch surprisingly steady as she dragged the blade from my temple down to my jaw. "This will scar beautifully. No plastic surgeon in the world will be able to fix this."

She moved to the other side of my face, her movements brisk and efficient. "He belongs to me," she chanted, the words a rhythmic counterpoint to the slicing of my skin. "Me. Not you. Not anyone else. We will have beautiful children. Our son will have his eyes." She paused, her eyes narrowing as she studied my face. "You have his eyes, too. The same color. We'll have to get rid of those."

The scalpel came closer, and a new, more profound terror seized me. She was going to blind me.

"A whore like you doesn't deserve to look at him," she hissed, and the blade bit into the delicate skin just below my eye. I screamed again, the sound a strangled, desperate gurgle behind the gag. My vision blurred with tears and blood.

I was going to die here. In this cold, sterile room, at the hands of a madwoman. My last coherent thought was of Joel. Of his laughter. I was so sorry. So sorry I couldn't protect him. I had failed him. A deep, soul-crushing hatred filled me. Hatred for Janna, for her brother, and even for Graham. Innocent, oblivious Graham. This was all because of him. Because this monster loved him.

My sweet Joel was dead because of Graham Shields.

Just as I was about to surrender to the pain and despair, a sharp buzzing sound cut through the room. Janna's phone.

She paused, the scalpel hovering over my forehead, and let out an irritated sigh. She glanced at the screen. The name displayed was "My Graham."

She answered, her voice instantly transforming from a venomous hiss to a sweet, syrupy coo. "Graham, baby! I was just thinking about you."

I tried to scream, to make any noise that would alert him, but the gag and the pain paralyzed me. My body wouldn't obey.

"Oh, just tidying up one of the minor procedure rooms," she lied smoothly. "What's up, honey?"

There was a pause. I could hear the faint, tinny sound of his voice on the other end.

"Really? You're here now? Oh, that's wonderful! I'll come find you as soon as I'm done here... Yes, I'll bring the coffee... Okay, baby. See you in a few. I love you, too."

She hung up, the saccharine smile vanishing from her face. She looked down at me, her eyes filled with a renewed, possessive hatred.

"He's here," she said, her voice a low growl. "For me. But he mentioned he brought a late birthday present for that little bastard of yours. A new video game."

The words were another twist of the knife in my already bleeding heart. Joel's birthday was last week. He'd been begging for that game. He would never get to play it now.

"It's a good thing he's dead," Janna continued, her voice laced with satisfaction. "It simplifies things. No messy custody battles." She tilted her head, a new, horrifying thought dawning. "But you... you could still get pregnant. You could still try to trap him with another one."

She looked down at my body, her gaze stopping on my lower abdomen. A slow, cruel smile spread across her face.

"No," she whispered. "I don't think so. I am going to be the mother of his children. The only one."

She picked up the bloody scalpel and started towards the lower half of the operating table, her eyes glittering with a terrifying, brilliant idea. "I really am very smart," she murmured to herself.