The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fᴏʀᴛʏ﹣Nɪɴᴇ ❊

When I woke up again, Enzo was still sitting in the chair next to my bed. His eyes were closed and he was breathing deep and slow, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. The only light in the room was from the dimmed ceiling lights, which cast dark shadows below his eyes.

The IV pump clicked and whirred beside me, administering another dose of medication. The tube feed pump was silent, but I could tell it was still continuing to work by the dim light it gave off, showing a screen of numbers and complicated buttons. I wondered where I would be if I hadn't been found in time and Enzo didn't have a doctor on hand. I would have probably been six feet underground and he would have had a lawsuit on his hands.

I looked back at him, marveling in the fact that he had been with me through it all, even when he was only watching the videos sent to him. And when I got to his house, he never left my side according to the doctor.

As if sensing my eyes on him, Enzo's eyes cracked open and found mine.

I blinked tiredly, wanting to go back to sleep but not allowing myself to just yet.

He ran a hand over his face and sat up, his other hand finding mine once again. I didn't miss the way he slowly moved it over to mine, just so that he wouldn't scare me. I wondered if the doctor told him to take it easy with me, or if he was just afraid that I was that fragile.

"How are you feeling," he asked, his voice still husky with sleep.

I shrugged one stiff shoulder. I didn't want to talk. It hurt my throat too much.

As if reading my thoughts, he lifted a cup off of the nightstand beside him and put the straw to my lips. Once again, his movements were slow and careful, his eyes watching for any sign of fear. When I didn't show any, he relaxed and gave me a tentative smile as I sucked a small amount of room-temperature water into my mouth.

He pulled it away from my lips, but kept it seated on his knee just in case I wanted more. "You should, you know."

My eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Blame me," he clarified.

I rolled my eyes, which made his soften even more in relief. I was still in there somewhere, I just needed to reach it.

"I don't," I croaked. "So hush."

The laugh he gave me was quieted only by the fact that he bit his lip. But I ruined his happiness by once again asking where Maverick was.

"He's being held in the government facility where my boss works." He offered the water once again and I shook my head. "When I know you're well enough for me to leave for a few days, I'll be heading up there to meet with her and interrogate him."

So he was still alive. The thought made a shiver run down my spine and I had to force the images out of my mind. But no matter how many times I pushed the memories away, they always came back in one way or another. Waking up and seeing Enzo only pushed the thoughts away for a moment.

The fact of the matter was, whether he died or not wasn't going to help matters. Erasing him from the world wouldn't erase him from my mind. Killing him wouldn't get rid of the memories or the fear. Although I would do anything to see him suffer, I didn't think he needed to die for it. He needed to rot in a prison cell with only his thoughts. Thoughts of all his wrongdoings and all of his faults. All of the women he hurt over and over again. Torture for a man who believed that he was a god.

I hummed and turned my attention up to the tube feeding bag, which was about halfway empty.

"I want to kill him." Enzo's admission made me return my eyes to him. His free hand was a fist on the armrest and he was looking at me with so much conviction that I didn't know what to say. I didn't know whether he was asking for permission or if he wanted to see my reaction.

I didn't have any reaction, nor did I give him any sort of permission.

"I could barely watch those videos, Eva." He breathed. "I actually couldn't bring myself to watch the last one. But seeing you lying there on the floor while Maverick acted like he hadn't just raped you...you were covered in so much blood. You were so bruised and hurt and he had the audacity to take advantage of you, and then he just smiled when I showed up."

I squeezed his hand to keep him from saying any more. He looked like he was in pain, remembering what I looked like when he found me. Although I didn't remember anything past the first time Vince showed up with medication, I knew how bad I looked then. Well, at least I knew how I felt.

I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to say, so I kept my mouth shut. I could understand the urge to kill him, because I wanted to kill him on a few occasions myself during my stay in the cellar. But I didn't know how to explain that allowing him to live with himself in prison seemed like worse of a punishment than death. Death was too easy. But having to rot in a cell with nothing but his thoughts would become torture over time, even to the most sadistic bastards.

Enzo wouldn't understand that and I didn't have the energy to try to make him understand. He was a killer at heart. That's the way he was trained. And that's what he would do if that's what he saw fit.

I wasn't sure if my wanting Maverick to suffer made me a bad person. But that month made me hate him. I wanted him to feel the pain that I felt, but I did not want him dead.

Enzo tilted his head, noticing the look on my face.

"Don't." I decided to try anyway. "Don't kill him."

His eyes widened and he looked as if I had just reached out and slapped him across the face.

I shook my head slowly. "Listen. I want him to suffer. Not die."

A look flashed across his face with an emotion I couldn't quite place. Worry? Shock? Confusion? Pride? I didn't know. Maybe it was all four or maybe it wasn't any of those at all.

He seemed to think about it for a while. "I understand that you want him to suffer, Eva. I would too. But if he's done this before, or he's killed before, my boss-"

"Stop." I closed my eyes.

"Eva." His voice was quiet but firm. "He doesn't deserve to live after what he's done to you."

In the end, I didn't truly have a say in Maverick's fate. Enzo's boss would decide and my wants would be overlooked. I was just another person on the face of the Earth who didn't have a say.

I blew out a breath between chapped lips. "Do what you need to do, Enzo. But he doesn't deserve a quick and easy end. He deserves to rot in a cell for the rest of his miserable life."

I would have never believed that speaking my mind would ever leave me feeling too tired to even take in a breath. It was too much work and my body didn't want to do it.

I blocked out the sound of my IV clicking and the sound of my heart rate monitor. I blocked out the sound of Enzo shifting beside me and the sound of his incoherent mumbling. All I needed was sleep. And when I finally felt relaxed enough, I did.