Chained (Caged #2)(25)

“So, you finally accept that you’re not going to kill me?”

“Oh, I accepted it a long time ago. It won’t be my job to take your last breath…”

There was a pregnant silence. I tilted my head, wondering if my hearing had gone the same way as my sight. Then so many sounds. So many things for my frayed senses to concentrate on at once.

The creak of the door.

A shuffle.

Heavy panting.

Chains rattling.

None of it made any sense in my head.

Until my body fell into strong arms when the cuffs around my wrists snapped open. And Anderson finished his sentence in two little words….

“Kloe will.”





HER SCREAMS HURT MY EARS and my soul. She was frantic, her hands slapping at anything that came within her personal space.

Her mind was broken. It had finally given in to the crazy that haunted her every damn day.

“Kloe, please,” Dr Mike Varney coaxed gently as he attempted to catch her flaying hands. “You’re safe now.”

Every part of her shook as she lashed out.

Mike glanced at me questioningly and I nodded. “Do it.”

Taking the already prepared syringe, Caroline, one of his nurses, did her best to hold Kloe down as he quickly but efficiently slid the needle into Kloe’s vein.

Within seconds her body sagged and her screams silenced. Her mind began its rest and allowed her body chance to heal.

Mike blew out a breath. “She really needs to be in hospital, Anderson.”

“No. She stays here. You’re more than capable of caring for her.”

He rubbed his face with his hands. “Other than tending to her physical wounds, I’m afraid there’s not much I can do for her mental state. She needs professional psychiatric help.”

My gaze moved to Kloe as she finally slept. “She’s strong.”

He shrugged, looking with concern over his patient before turning back to me. “Are you in any pain? Caroline can give you some pain relief.”

I shook my head. A knife wound to my gut was nothing compared to what Kloe was going through, and it seemed like a small piece of justice that I took a fraction of pain.

I should have known the cunt would do this. I thought he would bide his time, that he would wait just as I was. I had been so wrong about his feelings towards Kloe.

None of it made sense.

Mike and I walked out of the room, leaving Caroline to wash Kloe.

“I’ll be back in the morning to check on her. But, please, you must rest yourself. Your wound will get infected if you don’t.”

I nodded. I had no intentions of heeding to his request. But he didn’t need to know that.

Rob smiled at me as I took a place next to him on the sofa. It was a troubled smile, one full of worry.

And I knew why.

“How’s she doing?”

Biting into my bottom lip, I shook my head. “I… not good.”

“Anderson…”

“I have no idea what the bastard did to her, Rob,” I stated, cutting him off. “But from what Mike tells me, it’s going to take a damn f*cking miracle for her to come through this.”

He was silent, watching the flickering flames in the fire. His sigh was loud as he drained the rest of his whisky.

“You shouldn’t be drinking that while taking antibiotics!”

I blinked, jerking when his glass sailed across the room and shattered on the wall. “Don’t f*cking ignore this, Anderson.” He was furious, his eyes wild on me.

I understood him. I did. But it was too late. “I did what was necessary, Rob. I couldn’t get her out of there on my own.”

He scoffed bitterly. “So you went against everything!”

Now it was my turn to be angry. I shot up and bent into his face, my fists scrunching into the sofa cushion either side of him. “And what was the alternative? It’s my fault this happened to Kloe. You think I should have just left her there? Left him to do whatever sick f*cking things he wanted to her?”

“But…”

“There’s no buts, Rob. It’s done.”

He shook his head, fighting with his rage and the sorrow that consumed him. “You might as well have traded yourself for her because this is no f*cking better!”

“You really think he’d have stuck to his side of the bargain?” I asked.

“Of course he wouldn’t, but it would have given us more time to sort this shit. Maybe…”

“Maybe doesn’t even come into it, especially with Kloe’s life at risk. I did what I needed to do. It’s done. We speak no more of it!”

He bit into his lip and pushed himself off the sofa, his body jerking in pain at the effort it took.

I knew he was angrier because he couldn’t be the one to help me get Kloe out. But he wouldn’t have stood a chance against Terry in that state. I couldn’t risk him as well as Kloe. And I knew Robbie wouldn’t ever forgive me for that. But one day, he’d understand.

“I’m going to turn in.”

I nodded. “Night.”

He didn’t answer me. I watched him walk away. My stomach ached for my best friend. Apart from his sister, Rob had no one but me. But I hoped he and Kloe, when I had gone, could be there for each other. They would need each other. I didn’t mean in a sexual way, but as friends. Robbie was loyal and protective, and I wouldn’t trust Kloe’s life with anyone but him.