53
Chloe
I’m in hell. Either that or trapped in a nightmare. My arm is on fire, my insides are roiling, and each time the dark haze in my mind clears and I crack open my eyelids, I see Nikolai doing something ever more terrible as his deep, smooth voice utters threats that make bile churn in my throat. And the screaming that follows… My stomach lurches, and it’s all I can do not to roll over and vomit.
This isn’t real.
It can’t be.
The dark haze threatens to swamp me again, and I focus on taking small, shallow breaths and keeping my eyes closed. It has to be a dream, a horrible, graphic dream, or a hallucination brought on by extreme terror. How else would Nikolai be here? How would he have found me?
Then again, how did my mom’s killers?
My consciousness must cut out again, be
