I can't just tell him that I was too terrified of him to see my parents. It's the truth but I can't bring myself to tell him that truth. We're doing so well in our relationship and I don't want to fuck it up by insulting him like that.

At this point, he's all I have left and I truly do love him, a sick twisted love I know but I can't help it. I'm sure Jackson left Castle City by now or maybe even forgot about me.

God... I'm such a selfish piece of shit.

"Marti?" He asked, snapping me from my thoughts, "what were you scared of?" He asked me again.

"J-Just..." I said and sighed, I put my head back into his shoulder and cried harder as he rubbed my back.

"You can tell me anything," he whispered to me.

I have to lie to him. I can't tell him the truth.

"T-the cops... I-I didn't want them finding out I was a-alive," I said nervously.

It's kind of true, but I was mostly terrified of Trevor more than police.

Trevor sighed annoyed and grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my face back and looked at me with cold eyes, "why are you lying to me?" He asked.

"I-I'm not," I said and tried to avoid looking into his eyes.

"You're a terrible liar Marti," he said sternly. "Tell me the truth."

"I can't," I said and tried to get off him, but he pinned me down on the couch and glared into my eyes.

"Why can't you?" He asked, aggression lingering in his voice.

"I just can't," I gulped and looked away from him with my eyes shut tight.

I felt him move away from me, I peeked and saw him walking away from me and into the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him, leaving me in a silent room.

———

The next few days in the hotel were awkward. He just kept staring at me with everything I did. The only alone time I got was when I was using the bathroom. Even when I took baths he would sit on the counter and stare at me as I was trying to relax. I couldn't tell what was on his mind at all. His state didn't seem aggressive, but also aggressive at the same time.

I couldn't even eat properly because he would stare into my soul as I was trying to take bites. He barely said a word to me, even when food came up, he would just tap my shoulder and point. I can't describe the emotion that was emitting from him. I couldn't tell if it was concern, anger, or confusion. Maybe all three.

While we were checking out, the masseuse from before had walked up to us, "Hello Mr. Ivanov, how are you today?" She asked while twirling her hair on her finger.

He ignored her completely as he thanked the desk lady for us checking out. I kept my head down still trying to process everything that was going on.

"Aw, are you upset because you didn't have enough sex?" I heard behind me. I turned slowly to look at the masseuse and saw she had a cocky smile on her face.

"No, I'm upset because I didn't get to kill you," I said blankly and walked off, following Trevor as we walked out to his truck.

"Hey you fucking idiot!" She screamed at me as I was getting in the truck.

"What the hell?" Trevor asked confused as he was placing the suitcases in the back seat.

I imagine he didn't hear what I had said as he was walking away.

"I'll kill you," she snarled at me and stomped back inside.

"Please do," I said as I closed the car door behind me.

Trevor got in the truck and glared at her as she stomped away. "We'll be staying until night time," he said irritated as we drove off.

"Wait... What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Because I'm going to bring that bitch back to Castle City," he said as he parked in the lot next to the hotel.

We waited all night until we saw the masseuse walking out of the hotel, she got into her car and Trevor followed her quickly. We arrived at an apartment complex, it was quiet and seemed empty. Almost abandoned with no other cars around. I could only see one and it looked like it was run down.

Trevor pulled a first aid kit out of the glovebox and pulled out a syringe. "What is that?" I asked staring at the liquid.

"Horse tranquilizer," he chuckled as he flicked it.

"Oh, good to know," I said nervously.

"So she threatens to kill you, yet she didn't notice once that we were following her, not even taking four right turns to see, she truly is stupid," he said annoyed as he got out of the truck, "stay in the car," he said to me and ran over to her.

She didn't even notice him running up on her. He grabbed her by her mouth and pulled her back, she was screaming but it was muffled by his hand. He pushed the needle into her neck and let her fall onto the ground with a hard thud that I could hear from the truck. Then grabbing her wrist and dragging her over to the truck, letting her body scrape against the ground.

He threw her into the bed of the truck and we drove off back to Castle City.

———

When we finally arrived, he grabbed her by her hair and started dragging her still unconscious body into the house. "Marti, bring in the luggage, I'm bringing this bitch to the basement," he said.

I grabbed the luggage and quickly brought it inside and set everything in the living room. I walked towards the basement and stopped for second.

Do I really want to go down there? Why do I want to go down there? All she did was make snarky comments and be rude. At least Josh is deserving of his torture.

I guess I should check on Josh and see if he survived the weekend here. I know he didn't get any food for about four days. So he might be dead. We'll have to move his body elsewhere so we don't get sick from the corpse.

I walked downstairs and saw Trevor chaining the woman to the wall right next to Josh. Josh had his head hung low. I used my foot to move his face up and saw his one eye was closed. His other eye that was hanging from its socket was shriveled up and dried out. His breathing was faint and the sound of his breath was hitched and heavy.

"Wake up scum," I said to Josh as I moved my foot back and let his head jerk down.

He shook awake and looked around distorted while breathing heavily, "p-please," he started with a hoarse voice, "please give me something to eat, I feel like I'm dying."

"That's because your fat ass used to eat 10 meals a day," Trevor said annoyed as he stood up next to me.

"I-I haven't eaten in four days," Josh said.

"Eat her," Trevor said and pointed to the masseuse.

Trevor are you serious?! This is disgusting even for you... he's gotta be joking, even Trevor can't be that horrid to want to see Josh eat a human being.

Josh looked over in horror, "I-I'm not a cannibal!" He yelled.

His yelling woke up the masseuse. "W-Where am I?" She asked confused and looked up at Trevor and I. "Mr. Ivanov?" She asked as she pulled at the chains on her wrists.

"Sup ya ugly slut," Trevor said and crossed his arms. "If you're so hungry, eat her Josh," Trevor said.

The masseuse panicked when she looked at Josh, she stared at him, looking him up and down then moved herself as far as she could while screaming out in terror. "You're a bunch of fucking psychos!" She screamed. "Why did you bring me here?!" She yelled.

"Didn't papa ever teach you not to ask too many questions?" Trevor asked slyly.

"Oh what is this cause I threatened to kill your stupid boyfriend? I wasn't being serious!" She squealed.

"I took it pretty seriously, no one gets to touch him but me," Trevor growled as he punched her in the nose, causing it to pour blood. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her closer to Josh, "go ahead piggy, eat up," Trevor said.

"I told you, I'm not a cannibal," Josh pleaded.

"Then you don't eat," Trevor said as he wrapped an arm around me, "lets leave the two lovebirds alone, they've got a lot to learn about each other after all." I nodded and we turned away.

They were both screaming at us as we walked upstairs and closed the door behind us. "I'm so glad I got a sound proof door," he sighed annoyed as he turned locks on the door.

I walked upstairs to our bedroom and Trevor followed me in. "Marti," he said suddenly.

"Y-Yes?" I asked and turned around. He was already towering over me, he put his hands on my shoulders.

"I'm not gonna force you to tell me what you're scared of, but I hope one day you feel comfortable enough telling me," he said softly and kissed my forehead, then my lips and pulled me in for a tight hug.

"T-thank you..." I said and hugged him back.

There's no way I can tell him. I'll have to get better at lying or at least tell a half truth so I won't be lying entirely.

But it all comes back to him. He's the reason I haven't left on my own accord. He's the reason why my emotions are so dead right now...

Is he though...? I feel like I allowed myself to be brought into these dead emotions because they're easier to deal with than real vivid ones.

I don't know what I want to do anymore. I won't blame my parents death on Trevor because it wasn't his fault.

It's mine for being a coward.