“Castello? Is everything okay?”
“That’s a funny question,” he replied without turning around.
“Why is it a funny question?”
Slowly, I moved toward him, and as I reached him, he stepped forward staring out the window into the belly of darkness outside.
“I just think it’s a funny question to ask when you know that everything is not okay.”
“Is it about what happened at The Capitol?”
The broad expanse of his back moved under the white dress shirt as he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s about everything. You. Me. Us. My family.”
I narrowed my eyes, not liking the way he sounded or his choice of words.
“Castello?”
He turned slightly and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Nothing has been okay since you walked into my life.”
My heart started to race, panic slowly creeping up my throat. “What are you saying?”
He turned around, and when I saw his face, I knew everything was about to change. Shadows fell across his face, his eyes hard and cold. Even the scar along his eye seemed more prominent, angry.
“What is going on?” My voice quivered, my spine tingling.
With his hands in his pants pockets, he stood firm in front of me, his eyes as stone cold as the expression on his face.
“I’m sorry, Tatum. It has to be done.”
“What are you—”
Two strong arms came up from behind me, fabric being shoved in my face.
And then there was…nothing.
***
My head pounded against my skull. My mouth and throat felt like I swallowed sandpaper. I moved, and my muscles protested with an ache that moved from my arms, down my spine to my legs.
Confused and disorientated, I sat up and tried to open my eyes. Heavy eyelids caused me to blink a few times before I was able to open them. I wiped at my eyes, trying to get rid of the fog in my vision.
Dear God, I wish I hadn’t done that.
The second I saw where I was, my heart crashed to the soles of my feet, my stomach turning upside down inside my gut.
This is not happening.
Gray, unpainted cement walls surrounded me, the cold seeping through my skin causing my bones to shudder. The sheets beneath me scratched my skin while my mind reeled, unable to make sense of all the panicked thoughts rushing through my head.
Then I heard it. The god-awful sound, the familiar sound…of air escaping a tube.
I was back.
I was back inside the room where I woke up months ago only to find out that my life would never be the same again. The room where I first met Castello Fattore.
My chest felt like it had cracked wide open, my insides turned and squeezed with barbed wire. The panic and the fear that took hold of every bone in my body caused me to breathe rapidly. The wall moved, and I scurried back, pressing my body against the wooden headboard. Only then did I realize I was wearing an exact replica of the rag I was clothed in when I woke up in this godforsaken room for the first time.
Please God, this is not happening.