My Rescue Was Their Reunion, My Hell Was Their Project Chapter 05

My Rescue Was Their Reunion, My Hell Was Their Project Chapter 05

The night before the wedding, Chloe grabbed my arm. “Elena, I’m so nervous — can you come to the hotel with me? Just to try on the dress and do a final check on my hair and makeup. Please?”

“No.”

For once, all three of them took my side. “We don’t want you alone with Elena. She’ll hurt you.”

But Chloe wore them down. The compromise was simple. They’d wait in the room next door. I ended up in the hotel suite whether I wanted to be there or not.

The second the door closed, Chloe dropped my hand like my skin burned. The sweetness drained from her face, and something feral took its place.

“God, you really are pathetic.” She smiled, but there wasn’t a trace of warmth in it. “They threw you away like garbage and you’re still clinging to Julian? Still trying to steal him from me?”

I looked at her. “After tomorrow, I’m gone. Somewhere you’ll never be able to find me.”

“I don’t trust you to disappear quietly.” Her eyes narrowed. “I want Julian to hate you so much he forgets you ever existed.”

She clapped her hands.

The door opened. A group of men shoved their way in — grimy, leering, reeking of cheap liquor and the streets.

Chloe moved before I could react. She ripped her own blouse off her shoulder, crashed into me, and screamed. “Help! Elena hired them — she paid them to attack me! Help me!”

All three of them burst in. Chloe collapsed into Julian’s arms, sobbing.

“Julian — Elena doesn’t want you to marry me — she brought these men here to destroy me —”

Julian’s face went white, then red, then twisted into something worse.

“You’re sick.” His voice shook. “Twisted all the way through. The engagement is over — I never want to see your face again.”

Arthur crossed the room in two steps and shoved me hard into the wall. My head snapped back.

“You’re not my sister. Not anymore.”

Nolan pulled his wallet from his jacket and hurled whatever cash he had at my face. The bills scattered across the floor.

“Consider your ‘charity’ repaid. I owe you nothing.”

I opened my mouth to explain. They didn’t let me get a word out.

Julian pulled Chloe closer, then looked at me over her head. Cold. Final.

“You brought these men here yourself. So enjoy their company.”

He walked out without looking back.

Ravens Hollow. Every nerve in my body knew what came next.

I dropped to my knees. “Julian — please — don’t leave me here. Please don’t —”

His voice drifted back from the hallway, already fading. “They’re your kind of people. You deserve each other.”

Arthur and Nolan pulled the door shut behind them. The lock turned.

The men moved in.

I didn’t scream. I stared at the ceiling and sent my mind somewhere else.

By morning, the sheets were soaked through with blood. The men were gone.

I lay there, not moving. Barely breathing.

[Host. Detachment countdown: 10 minutes remaining.]

I got up. My clothes were torn, blood still soaking through the fabric. I walked out of the room.

People screamed when they saw what I looked like. I didn’t hear them. I climbed the stairs to the roof, one flight after another, leaving bloody handprints on the railing.

My phone rang.

“Have you lost your mind?” Arthur’s voice, sharp and irritated. “You didn’t come home last night — what, are you still performing?”

Then Nolan. “You hired those guys yourself. What exactly do you think happened? Drop the act.”

Then Julian. “If you’re done with the theatrics, get over here. Today’s the wedding and you’re showing up.”

I stood at the edge. Eighteen stories of open air waited beneath my feet.

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

I hung up and let the phone slip from my hand.

The countdown hit zero. I stepped off.

Below, the wedding car rolled up to the hotel entrance. Julian, Arthur, and Nolan inside, dressed for the ceremony.

My body hit the hood like a bomb going off — glass cracking, metal buckling, the whole car shuddering from the impact.

The three men looked up through the shattered windshield.

My face stared back through the glass, blood pooling from my shattered skull, my eyes completely vacant.