Broken

• Chapter 131 •

I huff and shut my eyes tightly. Red flag. Something's definitely not right here. I remain calm on the outside, while internally thinking of ways to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Come on, now. First, you don't drink the tea and now you're on your phone? Very rude."

"Says the woman who just walked out to take a phone call," I snap.

She gives me a sheepish look, "You're right. Let's just... Put our phones away and have some tea."

I look down at the cup of tea, she's so hell-bent on me drinking it. I clench my jaw to myself. She must work for Derek or some shit. This is bad. I look up at her, "Fine. But I need to use the bathroom, first. Where is it?"

"Down the hall, to the left," she tells me.

I nod, "Thanks."

I hop up and trudge down the hall, trying to find my siblings. I look into a room, but they're not there. The door shuts behind me and my eyebrows knit in panic. "Look who we have here," a disgusting voice rings from behind me.

I turn with a gut filled with fury to face Hassan. I thought he was dead. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Think I got locked away, huh?" he snorts. I clench my jaw, "No. Thought you were dead, otherwise, I would've bailed you out and killed you. Move out of my way," I bark. I'll kill him anyway, but I need to find my siblings first. I swear to God if they did anything to them I'll—

"Not gonna happen," he snorts. "Derek wanted me to give you a little message," he shrugs, "And I wanted to give you a little taste of your own medicine."

I clench my jaw and punch him, causing him to crumple to the floor like a little pussy ass bitch. A sharp stinging sensation at the back of my leg causes me to wince, "W-what did you do?" I fall to my knees. The room spins as Marchelle hovers above me. I attempt to speak, but words won't come out. I'm completely paralyzed.

"Temporary paralyzation. Won't be able to speak or move for a couple of hours. But you'll be completely conscious through this," Marchelle tells me.

Hassan laughs a chest-curling laugh. Marchelle sighs. "So am I done? Is my debt repaid?" she asks him.

Hassan nods and pulls out a gun, "Yes. You're done."

The gunshot goes off, and Marchelle collapses to the floor. He sighs as he looks down at her lifeless body. "Always hated that stuck-up bitch. Glad Derek let me kill her, eh?" he laughs as he turns back to me, "Now Ashton. Ready to have some fun?"

I watch in horror as Hassan takes off his jacket, revealing knives on both sides. He sets them down slowly on the dresser, smirking at my paralyzed state. I try everything I can to move, and I manage to budge. Hassan laughs and kicks me in the face. I can't feel anything, but I know it'll be bad when the poison wears off.

"So, where should I start with you? Hm?" he pulls out a small knife and crouches to me. He smirks, "Let's ruin your pretty face, shall we?"

He holds the blade to my face and slides it across slowly, smirking maliciously. He brings the knife down to my chest, tracing lines of crimson across my body. I lay in silence, paralyzed and unable to rectify the situation.

Hassan stands and snorts, "This is no fun. You're not feeling anything, are you?"

He shakes his head, staring down at me with a bloody knife in hand. I'm glad I can't look at my body right now. He purses his lips, "This is pathetic, you know? We could've been partners in crime."

He shakes his head, "Actually, I never liked you. I envied you. You used to be so strong and ruthless, Derek always liked you. You had the man's approval, and you went and ruined it. And for what?" he snorts, "For some bitch? Look at you now. Pathetic and weak."

He squats down to me and tilts his head, staring at me dead in the eye before leaning in and whispering, "You didn't need to quit for her to put out, you know... I made her scream."

My stomach tightens, I can feel my blood boiling as a familiar rage bubbles in my chest. I want him dead. I want to kill him, in the most painful, slow way possible. Hassan sanitizes the knife and sets it down, reaching for another one. He stares at his reflection in the knife and smirks before setting it back down.

"Remember the shit we used to do to the others, huh? That was fun, wasn't it? And we didn't even need shit. All we needed were our fists and feet. Like this."

Hassan begins kicking me in the stomach with a ferocious force. He kicks mercilessly, sweat drips from his forehead. He screams and shouts, memories I've buried in the back of my mind swarm through involuntarily as I begin losing consciousness.

I clench my jaw and shrug. "He deserved it," I say as I wipe my fists with a rag. Derek studies me slowly, a smirk forms on his face as he gestures for me to roll up my sleeve. "That's five," he snorts. He blows out smoke and adds a line to my bicep. I wince in pain, then turn to face him. His icy eyes lock on mine. He nods, "I like you, kid."

I feel like I can't breathe. My chest heaves. I remember things I've done that I tried to desperately to erase from my memory. I'm not that person anymore. I don't want to be that person anymore. I fight against the poison, trying my hardest to mutter a word, make a movement of any kind. But all I get is an ounce of pain. Hassan is still kicking me, in the back this time.

I can feel myself slipping away. It seems as though the pain from my body is getting overwhelming, and my body is shutting down for delayed recovery. Hassan pauses as my eyes begin shutting slowly.

"Don't fucking sleep!"

He punches my face, his knuckles are bloody and busted. Has he been punching me as well? I can't tell by this point. My mind is elsewhere. Hassan curses under his breath and clenches his jaw when he realizes I'm losing consciousness. He stares at me with hatred before kicking my face into a deafening darkness one last time.