Seize(41)

I pull back into my shell, wrapping my arms around me, pushing my back into the sofa. I feel vulnerable, and I’m not about to let some random doctor feel me up.

He doesn’t even get the chance to come close to me. The first thing Sebastian does as he stalks up behind him and turns him around is punch him in the face.

The man is knocked out and falls to the cold, hard floor.

In shock, I gape at him as Sebastian goes to his knees and drags the doctor through the room, placing him on the floor beside me. The man is bleeding from his nose quite heavily, but Sebastian quickly catches the drops with his finger. Then he fishes out his handkerchief and stuffs it in the man’s nose. I don’t even know why.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Getting us out of here,” he says as he gets up and walks to the cabinet in the room. Rummaging through the drawers, he fishes out a syringe and takes off the cap then he sticks it in the man’s arm.

“What are you giving him?”

“The same thing they gave you.”

Chills run up my spine. That means he won’t be able to feel or move his muscles either, but he’ll hear and see everything that happens around him. It’s a cruel drug.

I think Sebastian notices the guilt and shame on my face as he does this because he says, “There’s no other way. He needs to be out for a while. It won’t harm him.”

“But he’ll remember everything that you did to him later and tell everyone.”

Sebastian peels off the man’s coat and glasses, and then his pants and shoes until there’s nothing left. It’s as if he didn’t even hear me. Or he just doesn’t care.

“They’ll know. Everyone will know what you did, Sebastian. You can’t go back now. Unless you intend to kill him to shut him up, which I will not be part of.” I hold up my hands.

He looks up at me with raised eyebrows, not the least bit concerned by what I just said. “Relax, I’m not killing anyone.”

He stands up and slides on the man’s pants and shoes. Then he tucks his hair into a tight ponytail. I realize what he’s going to do. No wonder he didn’t want the blood to spill onto the clothes; it would look odd to see a doctor stained in blood walking down the halls like it’s nobody’s business. The outfit makes him look freaky, though, like he’s playing a doctor in a show or something. However, his blond hair fits perfectly.

I clear my throat. “Okay … But you realize this is it, right? You just made a decision that can’t be changed.”

“I know.”

I gasp when I realize that he doesn’t seem to care. “The men will find out. Newman will come after you. You said they’d kill you for it.”

He puts on the doctor’s coat, and suddenly he is not himself anymore. It’s like he completely vanished and turned into someone else entirely. Except he still has his quirks, the ones that he’ll never brush off. Like straightening the coat and patting out the wrinkles in his pants.

“Let them try.”

His words bring power. Goosebumps cover my arms. I know this is it. This is the moment where everything changes. The point of no return. Sebastian has chosen me, my safety, and his love for me. Over his own safety. Even over his own life.

I get up from the sofa and let the blanket drop off my body. I no longer need this cover; this sheet will not protect me. If I want a life, I will have to go find it myself. If I want to be safe, I will have to be my own protection. Taking control of my own destiny is what I should have been doing all along.

The sourness in my throat is gone. My senses are back and my body is invigorated. I will deal with my mental instability and emotional breakdown later. Now is the time to plan an escape.

Sebastian takes a step toward me and gazes at me with certainty. Deadlocked. He knows what I feel, what surges through my body, right in this very moment.

Determination and desire. Two words that can bring destruction if acted upon.

I intend to extinguish their breaths.

Maybe even his, too, if I get the chance.

Sebastian rummages in his shirt’s pocket, underneath the coat, and fishes out a knife. The same knife he used to taunt me each and every time.

He holds it out to me.

“Take it.”

It’s like he’s offering me the choice to do it—right here, right now.

Strange emotions flood me as I reach for the blade. I’m appalled at the sight, but somehow I feel honored that he wants to give it to me. This thing he feels is precious and important—his tool for destruction. Now he wants to give me the opportunity to destroy.

I’m really losing any sense of what’s right and wrong.

As I grasp the knife and feel the metal against my hand, I take a deep breath. I take it from him, holding it tight in my fist, feeling the power that it gives flow through me. A thought whispers in my mind. Stab him. Kill him. End it all.