𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝘿𝙪𝙤 ; 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙮 [ BOOK 2 ]

NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN; TAINTED LOVE

One humongous tremor in the ground's movement and Caroline awoken, completely and utterly startled. Even paranoid in her dreams, she didn't need time to adjust to the scenery, because when she peered around the small space that engulfed her form in darkness, she let out a loud bellow.

Caroline darted towards the van's windows, furiously pounding on its metal bars that allowed rays of early morning sunshine to draft through, creating beams against the cream coloured container. 

Her temper was on a hair-trigger. The smallest thing would have her flying into a rage, yelling, saliva spitting out with each jagged word, but perhaps in this situation, her rage was justified. Having awoken in the back of a transit van, she was unaware of where she was nor where she was going, but most importantly, how she ended up in such a position.

"Good morning, missus Shelby." A woman's soft voice didn't calm her in the slightest. "I'm sure you have many questions, but the most important thing to inform you on is that your children are in safe hands."

"Are they with their father?"

"Yes."

"Then they are not in safe hands." Caroline ran a shaky hand through her hair before she repeatedly punched the van's wall. "Where the fuck am I? I am Caroline fucking Shelby, how dare you capture me like this!"

A man spoke, presumably the driver who seemingly sped up. "Missus Shelby, it is important that you contain your anger."

"Are you going to fucking make me? I'd like to see you try!" She seethed, her fists curling, imagining their necks in her grip. "Pull over and I'll show you the fight I would've put up if I was bloody conscious!"

The woman sighed. "Thing is, missus Shelby, you were unconscious for a reason."

Caroline glared through the wall, hoping to pierce them with her dagger-like eyes. "Who the hell would do that?"

"It's highly confidential."

"And your deaths will be highly confidential. I will cremate your bodies and sprinkle your ashes amongst the trees in the forests."

The man spoke despite the woman's silent protest. "Polly Gray drugged you in order for us to take you."

Caroline froze, betrayed. "Why?"

"It was out of concern, missus Shelby, so do not fret. She is doing what is best for you, and we are here to take you to Saint Matthew's Institution for the Criminally and Mentally Insane, London."

She had nothing to say in response, because surely, her vicious words were confessions for the heinous acts she'd committed. Rather than being sent to jail to spend the rest of her life rotting in a cell, she would wither away into nothingness in an asylum - somewhere that she knew in her heart that she had no right to be in, monster or not. So, until the journey was over, she slumped back against the wall and cried.

***

"What gives you the impression that I am a mental case?" Caroline hummed, targeting a male member of staff with her seductive attempts of escape. "You see, I have lost my baby, not my mind."

The timid doctor coughed, examining his files. "Caroline - missus Shelby - I, we, this institution recognise your symptoms of psychosis and agree with Polly Gray that you must spend time here in order to obtain full stability of your health."