Chapter 718
“Demi, Demi…” I bolted out of the car and grabbed her, calling her name in panic. No response. I tilted her face toward me, hoping for some sign of recognition, but when I saw her clearly, my breath hitched. Her face was unrecognizable—swollen, bruised, her eyes barely open. There were gashes on her cheeks, and her lips? So busted they didn’t even look human.
I didn’t need a detailed story. I knew. Hayden was right; I was too late.
“I’m calling the cops,” I said, my voice shaky as fury and heartbreak churned inside me.
“No, don’t…” Her hand weakly gripped my arm.
I froze, staring at her. She managed the smallest smile, but it was broken, jagged, like it hurt her more than it comforted me.
“Why?” My voice cracked.
“Because… I need evidence,” she whispered, her tone faint but steady.
I just stood there, stunned. In that moment, it all clicked. Her fear of returning, her decision to get referred to Draco Lux—she wasn’t running anymore. Demi wasn’t going to live as a victim, not when she could expose the monsters behind it all. Just like Hayden.
What could I say? I pulled her closer and murmured, “We’re going to the hospital. Now.”
She didn’t fight me. I got her in the car, then slid into the driver’s seat, ready to peel out of there. But something caught my eye—a dark, wet stain where she’d been standing. Blood. My hand trembled on the door. I glanced at Demi slumped in the passenger seat, her eyes closed, her body limp like a doll someone had discarded.
Monsters. I’d heard the rumors—what those men did to women. But this? This was worse than any nightmare I’d let myself imagine. I called Lena and sped to the hospital like my life depended on it.
Chapter 118
When we pulled up, Lena and her team were already waiting. The second I hit the brakes, they got Demi onto a stretcher and rushed her inside. And just like that, I was back in the cold hallway outside the ER, waiting.
Three hours passed. Each one felt like a lifetime. Finally, the light above the door flicked off, and Lena walked out. She looked exhausted, but there was something else—something dark in her expression. She didn’t speak. The silence, combined with her expression, sent an icy chill spreading through my chest.
“Lena, how is she?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she nodded at a nurse behind her. The nurse stepped forward with a tray full of… things. Bloody, mangled things I couldn’t even identify.
“These were removed from her body,” Lena said, her voice tight. “From her lower body.” My stomach turned as I stared at the tray, my mind refusing to process what I was seeing. “She has over a hundred wounds,” Lena continued, her tone cold and sharp. “Her lower body is severely torn. Uterine rupture. Massive internal bleeding. A fractured cheekbone. And…” Lena hesitated, her voice dropping, “…her left breast—part of it is gone.”
It felt like the ground was ripped out from under me. Demi hadn’t just been hurt—she’d been tortured. I thought I’d seen the worst of it when I found her, but Lena’s words painted a picture of unimaginable horror. And yet, even after all that, Demi had smiled. Not out of strength, but because that was all she could give.
I couldn’t even speak. Lena, always calm and collected, was shaking with anger.
“You have to call the police,” she said, her voice sharp and steady.
“I… I can’t,” I mumbled, remembering Demi’s words. “She doesn’t want me to. She said she still needs to investigate.”
Because there were others. Still stuck in that hell. It wasn’t about being a hero. She’d lived through hell, and she couldn’t let anyone else suffer like that. Her fight wasn’t for herself—it was for all the women still trapped in that nightmare. And she was willing to keep fighting, no matter what it cost her. Even if it killed her.