Lights flicker on as he makes his way down another set of stairs, heading deeper underground. Unease washes through me.
No one keeps anything good this deep underground.
Especially not the freaking mafia.
Telling myself that I’ve watched too much TV, I continue forward.
The buzzing in my ears is the only thing I can hear, and I can only hope that I’m being incognito, because the man hasn’t once tried to look back.
When he hits the end of the stairs, he turns left, and it’s not two seconds later that I hear a voice that sends a fresh bolt of anger through my body.
“In here,” Theo says, his tone hard and cold. Nothing like the way he murmured in my ear only a few hours ago as he thrust inside me.
Silence falls around the sterile and cold space.
The floors and walls are all concrete. I can’t help thinking it looks like some kind of underground prison.
Edging forward, I pass multiple closed doors with little sliding windows, which only solidifies my previous thought.
My heart is in my throat when I spot the open door, but now I’ve made it this far, there’s no way I’m stopping now.
Holding the folder that’s still in my hand tighter to my chest, I forge on.
I squint at the bright light when I turn into the doorway.
Everything I thought about this space rings true as I step inside what can only be described as a cell.
It’s grey, cold, hard. Inhumane.
The man is in here, crouched on the ground, but it’s not him I focus on. That would be the lying fuck I started to trust.
“Do you have something you need to tell me?” I ask, my voice piercing the heavy silence.
Theo startles, and after a beat, he turns to me with wide eyes.
“Emmie, you shouldn’t be down here,” he says calmly and void of any kind of emotion.
“And you should have told me about this,” I bark, waving the folder in front of his face.
His lips part as if he’s about to spin me another line when a deep, unfamiliar voice fills the room.
“I’m losing her.”
Ripping my eyes from Theo’s, I look down at the scene he moved away from when he realised I’d joined them.
For a couple of seconds, I’m unable to register what I’m looking at.
There’s blood. So much fucking blood.
My stomach turns over at the sight of it.
But that’s nothing compared to what happens when I get a look at the face of the person the blood belongs to.
“Mum,” I cry, my eyes burning with tears as I stare at her lifeless form on the cold floor.
“I’m losing her.” The doctor’s words come back to me.
“NO,” I scream, unwilling to let her go out like this, whatever this is. I rush forward, falling down, abandoning the folder.