The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 185

Coban’s POV

The walk to medical felt longer than any walk I had ever taken in my life.

Every step down the corridor made the weight in my chest feel heavier as the dread grew bigger with each passing second…

The guards moved quickly ahead of us, boots thudding against the floors, but to me the whole place felt like it had slowed down. Like the world itself had thickened around us.

I couldn’t breathe right.

Couldn’t think straight.

For the first time, I couldn’t even muster up a plan…

I still hadn’t asked them what had happened to her either…

Not once did I ask…

Because if I heard the words before I saw her… if someone told me what had been done to her before I knew she was alive and breathing… I’d lose whatever control I still had left right now.

And if that happened…

I’d tear this entire prison apart before we even reached the damn room. I’d ruin every last chance of ever getting out of this place to destroy whoever had done this to her….

My jaw tightened as we turned another corner before the medical wing sign finally came into view.

My stomach dropped lower.

I left her to survive this place on her own…

I shook my head down toward the floor. “I’m a fucking idiot…” The words came out rough, meant only for myself to hear.

But Leo heard me…

He stepped closer, grabbing my shoulder firmly.

“It’s going to be fine,” he said quickly. “You need to just breathe through this, man.”

The second his hand touched me my muscles locked. I felt like a loaded gun. My nerves were so tight that any wrong move could and would set me off.

My knee started bouncing impatiently as we reached the elevator outside the medical wing.

The guard pressed the button.

The wait for the doors felt unbearable.

Cara hovered nearby, shifting nervously from one foot to the other too. Her hands twisted together so tightly her knuckles had turned pale. She was chewing her lip raw, a bag of nerves beside us.

For the first time since I’d known her. Cara looked really scared…

Leo noticed too.

After a moment he reached over and took her hand.

She didn’t protest.

Didn’t snap at him.

Just squeezed it like she needed something – anything to hold on to.

He was acting as the middle weight between us.

Trying to keep us both grounded.

Trying to stop either one of us from exploding.

The elevator finally dinged and the doors slid open.

We all piled inside before the ride up felt suffocating…

The small metal box hummed as it climbed higher, and the silence inside it was deafening, nobody daring to speak amongst the tension.

My knee kept bouncing.

My fists clenched and unclenched.

Every possible nightmare scenario played through my mind whether I wanted it to or not.

Margot crying.

Margot bleeding.

Margot hurt.

Someone touching her.

Someone forcing…

My jaw snapped shut so hard my teeth clicked.

No!

Don’t go there…

Don’t think that…

The elevator finally slowed.

Ding!

“This way, Santorelli,” the first guard said, stepping out.

I moved immediately.

The second my boots hit the floor my eyes started scanning the hallway desperately.

Looking for her.

Looking for the room.

Looking for any sign that she was okay….

But instead, I saw someone else standing behind the nurse’s station with the biggest smile plastered across her face…

And unlike hers, my own face fell completely flat.

Not Margot.

Not a doctor.

Just a desperate whore who goes by the name of Addison.

The nurse I’d screwed around with many weeks ago…

The same nurse I’d used to get the attention of the suits before the prison swap…

The last damn woman on earth I wanted to see right now…

My eyes snapped to his face, noting that his expression was cautious.

“Miss Belle is currently unconscious,” he continued on slowly, “but please be assured that the doctors have confirmed she is stable, despite how she might look.”

Unconscious?!

The word slammed into me like a sledgehammer.

My throat tightened instantly.

I moved toward the door again.

But the guard stepped in my path.

“Perhaps Miss Owens should go in first,” he suggested gently, nodding toward Cara. “Give us a chance to explain to you what’s actually happened…”

Everything inside me screamed to shove past him.

To kick the damn door open.

To see her with my own eyes.

To make sure she was breathing.

But I forced myself to stop.

Forced my fists to unclench.

Because if I didn’t, someone here was going to get hurt and I wouldn’t get to see her at all!

I exhaled slowly through my nose.

Then nodded once.

“Go. Cara.” I muttered.

Her shoulders dropped slightly in relief as she pushed past us quickly and opened the door, leaving Leo and I alone with the guard in the hallway.

“Okay,” the guard said quietly, motioning toward row of chairs near the window. “Let’s take a seat and I’ll explain.”

My legs suddenly felt heavier than usual as we followed him…

This was the part I’d been dreading…

The details.

My elbows rested on my knees as we sat, my hands clasped together.

Leo sat beside me.

Neither of us spoke.

The guard remained standing, watching us both carefully for a moment.

Waiting for the right moment to begin.

But honestly…

I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready to hear whatever the hell he was about to say…