Novel Payback 276
Chapter 276
OLIVIA
When we got to the cemetery and Xander placed a knife on my throat. I lost my mind; I didn’t know what happened, but I think my brain blocked off everything for e. he numbed me because he wanted me to watch as he slaughtered me like a cow.
The man was sick and twisted beyond measure. Every moment that passed with the cold steel of the knife pressed against my skin only served to remind me of the darkness within him. He didn’t just want to kill me, he wanted to watch me suffer, to break me mentally before he ended it
I knew that I wouldn’t feel anything once it was over. The far, the dread, it would all go numb once my body gave in. Yet, that knowledge didn’t bring comfort. I didn’t want to endure it, not in the way he was forcing me to. Yes, death was inevitable, but I didn’t want to feel the cruelty, the violence of the act. I didn’t want to experience it, even if it was the last thing I would ever know.
Then, the gunshot rang out. At first, it seemed distant, almost like it wasn’t meant for me, but then the sound of it crept into my awareness, and I realized it was happening. I was frozen in that instant, suspended in an eerie silence. It was as if the whole world had stopped around me and in that moment, it felt like I wasn’t even there anymore. Only my body remained an empty vessel. My mind had shut down, overwhelmed by the sheer terror of what was happening.
Then, through the haze, I saw him, Marcus. My heart leapt in a strange, unfamiliar way. But as I focused, a wave of uncertainty washed over me. Was it really him? Or was my mind simply playing tricks on me? People say that when you are about to die, your life flashes before your eyes, that you are flooded with memories and faces of those you love.
I thought this was it, that seeing Marcus was my mind’s final act of grace, a reminder of the love and life I had lived. But instead of seeing everything, everything that I thought would matter most in that moment, I only saw him, Marcus. I waited for the next image to appear. I waited for the faces of my children, for the memories of our life together, but instead, all I saw were men in black suits, their faces shadowed and cold. It was an image so strange and unsettling that it almost felt like a nightmare couldn’t wake from.
Why were they there? What did it mean? The figures in black loomed over me, their presence making my heart race, but nothing made sense. This wasn’t what I expected, not the comforting images of my children’s laughter or the warmth of home. It was unsettling, wrong, even. And yet, there they stood, distant, faceless men who seemed to represent something far darker than I could comprehend. My mind struggled to piece it together, but the reality of the situation was slipping further from my grasp.
I didn’t know what was happening, if Xander managed to sit my throat and I was dying or if he shot me instead. I didn’t know, I kept hearing Marcus’s voice in the distance, soft and reassuring, telling me everything was going to be alright, that I was safe. It felt so real, so comforting, and I clung to it like a lifeline.
In the chaos of my racing thoughts, I decided to focus on that voice, no matter how fleeting or distant it sounded. Even if my mind was playing cruel tricks on me, weaving illusions to shield me from the truth, I refused to acknowledge the fear that clawed at me, that I might be slipping away, that death was drawing nearer. Instead, I focused on the calm in his words, on the promise of safety, even if it was just a figment of my imagination.
I was lifted gently, almost weightlessly, and then, as though moving through a dream, I felt myself being carried somewhere. The world around me was hazy, disjointed, like a memory I couldn’t quite grasp. I could feel the motion, the movement, but everything else seemed blurry and distant.
Η
Suddenly, there were bright lights, piercing and overwhelming, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw the “L that people talk about, the one youare supposed to see when you are on the verge of death, the one that leads. you to the afterlife. But the lights above me weren’t a single beacon. They were scattered, disorienting, pulsing in
A:Chapter 276.
every direction, as though I was floating among stars in some unknown place, unable to tell what was real and what wasn’t.
In the midst of the light, the voice disappeared. That absence, that silence, sent a wave of panic crashing through me. Where had it gone? Was Marcus really there, or had 1 lagined him all along? My heart pounded, my chest constricted, and the emptiness of the moment began to swallow me whole. The sense of abandonment was unbearable. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was slipping away into something I couldn’t control, something far beyond my grasp.
Just then, out of the fog of confusion, I saw someone approaching, a figure moving toward me with a needle in hand. The sight of it was enough to send a jolt of pure terror through my body. I screamed, my voice raw and desperate, a primal sound that tore through the silence. I wanted to be free. I wanted to feel something, anything, pain, fear, anger, because the numbness, the emptiness, was worse than death itself. If this person wanted to end my life, then why torture me further? Why leave me in this suffocating void?
But then, from the chaos of my mind, the voice returned. “Clivia, my love,” it said, gentle and soothing, like the warmth of sunlight breaking through the darkness. “Calm down. I’m right here, baby. You are safe. You don’t need to fight anymore. I’m here with you.”
The familiar sound of Marcus’s voice broke through my panic, and despite every logical part of me screaming that I might be hallucinating, I felt a strange peace settle over me. It was as though, in the darkest moment, I had found a glimmer of light.
I didn’t know if I was truly hearing him, or if my mind was creating the illusion to keep me from losing myself entirely, but it didn’t matter. In that moment, I chose to believe that it was real. I chose to believe that my husband was there, even if I couldn’t see him, even if I didn’t understand what was happening to me.
The mind, after all, is a powerful thing. It has the ability to protect us, to make us see what we need to see, hear what we need to hear, even when the reality is too much to bear. It can create comfort in the most unimaginable Circumstances, making us believe in the impossible. I wasn’t sure if Marcus was really there, or if my mind had simply conjured him to ease my fear, but I held onto his words with everything I had.
“Stay with me,” his voice whispered, soft and steady, just like it always had been. “You are not alone.‘
And for the first time in what felt like an eternity, I believed him. noveldrama
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