Married to the Devil

Chapter 58

I parked Marissa's car in the parking lot of the hospital and before I'd even stopped, Derek was out of the car.

I fumbled with my seatbelt as I called out to him, "Derek wait!"

He didn't look back and once I'd gotten my seatbelt off, I ran after him. My shoes slapped against the concrete pavement as I sprinted hard. Due to my athletic lifestyle as a teen, that carried on to my young adult life, my body could easily handle the pace I was going at. Soon I was running alongside Derek, my pace matched his, and we ran together to the front entrance.

Once we got there, Derek stopped so suddenly that it took me a few minutes to realize that he wasn't beside me anymore. I turned around and jogged back. When I reached him he was staring at the hospital with a grief-stricken expression. I entwined my fingers in one of his hands and found that it was cold and clammy. He quickly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" I asked with concern.

He didn't answer me and instead kept staring at the hospital with that same horrified expression.

"Derek?" I asked again.

He crumpled to the ground with his head in his hands. I bent down on my knees, scraping them on the pavement, and rubbed my hand on his back in slow circles.

He looked over at me with tears threatening to spill. Derek was always strong and he was always there for me when bad shit was going down in my life. He was my island of strength and calm that I visited when I needed it the most. While this wasn't the first time that I'd seen him upset, it was definitely one of the worse times for him. His strength was crumbling beneath my eyes and he seemed to be fading away.

"This is all my fault," He muttered.

My brows furrowed, "No, it is most certainly not your fault. This one's on Mark."

He dug his palms into his eyes and rubbed the tears away, "It is though. I should've fought harder. I should've saved her. And now she's hurt, alone and miserable because of me."

"Derek-" I tried to say.

He shot me a look that sent me into silence, followed by, "For ten years I've left her in Mark's care. Who knows how many times she's cried. Just how many times did she try to escape only to fail and fall back into that bastard's hands? How many times did he drug her, manipulate her, brainwash her, and violate her body with his?"

He let a few rough tears slip down his face, "I'm horrible Katie. I stood by and did nothing," He let out a strangled noise, "Just like my dad."

I grabbed his hand and pulled it into my lap,"Hey, you are nothing like your father okay? Nothing like him. You're not the one who sold her for drug and alcohol money. He did that. As for not doing anything, you made posters to find her didn't you? Remember that road trip we went on to Salt Lake City to get her back? You made that happen. Heck you managed to get money from Evelyn to trade for your sister."

He laughed a little at my last sentence, "Yeah, I did. Best decision I ever made," He said as he smiled at me and squeezed my hand.

His expression faded into something more serious, "You don't know this part Katie, but I really did try everything. I tried to talk to Mark so many times. I even offered to take her place once but he laughed in my face and kicked me out. Then I tried a different approach, since talking to him wasn't helping. Later that night, a friend and I snuck into his house to try and get Liliane, but we were caught. Mark and his ruthless drug gang beat us up until we were black and blue. He made me watch while he shot a bullet through my friend's head. He died instantly. Mark told me that if I was ever seen in his town again, he would kill my sister."