no turning back

• six •

elijah

- seven months ago -

The jangle of metal keys stirred me from my intense focus. I placed the book aside and turned toward the chirp of the door lock.

A familiar guard, one of mine now, tipped his head at me.

"Visitor?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, shaking his head, "but not the kind you're expecting."

What the fuck did that even mean?

I rose from the chair and allowed him to clap the handcuffs around my wrists. The familiar cool caress of the metal bit into my skin.

I should have been used to it now, after nearly three years, but I had the sense that I would never grow accustomed to the powerless, helpless feeling of being trapped in a giant cage.

For a man who was used to doing what he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted—these long years had felt like millennia.

We approached the visitor room and my pulse quickened, my mouth turning dry.

I shouldn't but I always found myself hoping I would see a flash of golden hair and whiskey-green eyes behind this door.

Every time I was, instead, forced to converse with my attorneys or one of my few loyal men, I was only reminded of how quickly she had fled.

Gritting my teeth, I stalked into the room. There were two other prisoners here as well, taking up half of the booths.

I walked to the booth with the green light and lowered myself onto the stool. My gaze met a pair of coal-black empty eyes.

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating. I was looking into a mirror. A clone of myself was seated on the other side of this wall.

He lifted a hand to pick up the plastic black phone. Bringing it to his ear, I moved to grab the phone beside me in a daze.

"Brother," came a familiar voice, one just slightly higher and sharper than mine.

"Raman," I growled.

He smirked. "Miss me? Oh, wait," he said, his brows scrunching together. "You weren't because you thought I was dead."

I sighed. This was not the kind of day I was expecting when I woke up this morning.

"What are you here for?" I said sharply.

"Don't you want to know how I'm alive?"

I didn't care so I just said nothing.

I didn't have time for games with this nuisance. Every moment I spent locked up in this place went toward reclaiming my empire.

"Always so dull," Raman muttered. "I was discovered by a woman out looking for her runaway dog. Never found the dog, but hey, I woke up in a hospital with a broken neck."

"No paralysis or brain damage, I see."

"None." He flashed me a gloating grin.