Unleashing Sin - A. M. Wilson Page 0,65
and one office straight ahead. She takes us to the second door on the left and steps aside to let us in.
We enter a sterile-looking exam room, complete with an adjustable table with the papery shit on it. Instead of a computer, there’s a small desk with a manila folder on top.
“It’s a small practice,” Dr. Cruz remarks. “It’s not hard to maintain paper files with the number of patients I have. It’s also more secure.” Her eyes flit to Shelby before returning to me. “There’s always the risk I’ll lose something, but without computers, nothing is hackable.”
Shelby and I take a seat, and Dr. Cruz sits at the desk.
“You must be Alex. We spoke on the phone.”
“I am.”
“Well, Shelby, I would like to start with an exam, but first, I need some information. I hear you’ve been having some pain. Can you tell me more about where it is and when it started?”
Shelby’s spine is rigid, and she looks about ready to bolt. Her shoulders rise with a deep breath. “It’s here.” She points to her lower abdomen. “It started about two years ago.”
“Two years is a long time. How often does it hurt?”
The shake in her hands is visible as she cups her stomach. “A few times a month.”
“I see.” Dr. Cruz jots something down. “Can you tell me more about when it started?”
Shelby flinches. “No. I-I don’t know why it hurts. It just does.” She looks frantically between the doctor and me before twisting in her chair and grabbing my hand. “We should go. Please, Alex. I told you she can’t help me.” She yanks on my hand and stands from her chair. “Let’s go.”
I’m torn between giving her exactly what she wants at any cost and making her hear what the doctor has to say. The war within me is interrupted.
“Shelby,” the doctor starts carefully. “It’s okay. I want you to take a deep breath for me.”
“No! Please. I’m sorry, but I can’t do this.” Her eyes fill with tears as she tugs again. “Please.”
I stand at her pleading tone, but before I can acquiesce, Dr. Cruz speaks again.
“I know you’re scared, but you don’t have to be. I know some of the things you went through. Alex shared only what he had to in order for me to understand the urgency. Perhaps my questions startled you, and for that, I apologize. I’m only trying to gather information. Okay?”
“What do you know?” Shelby whispers.
“I know there were men who hurt you. I need to know how bad so I can help.”
“The first thing he did after taking a woman was to make sure she couldn’t get pregnant.”
“Was it birth control? An implant or a shot?”
“No.” The dead quality to her voice raises my hackles. “The failure rate was too high for that. He had to make it permanent.”
“You mean surgery,” Dr. Cruz states plainly. I’m glad she’s here to ask the questions. My control slips with each piece of information revealed. I feel seconds away from storming back to that compound with as much ammo as I can carry and eliminating as many of those fuckers as I can before I’m killed. They’d deserve it. Every one of them.
Shelby regains her seat and huffs without humor. I follow suit. “If you can call it that. It wasn’t sterile. I don’t know how he got the right drugs to knock us unconscious, but he did. The rumor was pregnancies were costing him too much business, so this was his solution. Recovery took around a month, but that was only how long they left us without intercourse. We still had to use our hands and mouths. He used our healing as an opportunity to get us hooked on drugs. It made me forget the pain in my stomach, and at the same time, I became desperate for my next fix.”
Once the flood gates opened, she couldn’t stop sharing. But fuck, I needed her to stop sharing. Imagining her going through hell at the hands of that monster is enough to make me sick. Remembering that my sister was there too? Downright unbearable.
I’m pissed as shit and have to lock that down tight before I scare not only Shelby but the doctor too.
Dr. Cruz telling Shelby her plan cuts through my rage.
“I want to start with a pelvic exam, and then we’ll do an ultrasound if you’re comfortable enough. Both are invasive, to be frank. If you can’t handle it, we can look into other options, but this will