The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 144

**Keeper 144**
**Chapter 144**

**Margot’s POV**

The guards’ announcement reverberated in my mind long after their shouts faded into silence.

Fifteen minutes… Fifteen minutes… Fifteen minutes…

My breath was erratic, a wild creature trapped within my chest. My hands trembled, refusing to find stillness. Coban was still absent.

I was glued to the canteen doors, my gaze fixed on them as if he might burst through at any moment—bloodied, furious, yet alive, ready to pull me from this nightmare.

But he didn’t come.

“Come on,” Leo muttered, standing up with a suddenness that made the air around him feel charged. His jaw was clenched tight, and the tension radiating from him was palpable. “Both of you. I’m taking you back now, Margot. Maybe he’s waiting for you there?”

His voice cut through the fog of frozen panic that enveloped me, if only for a fleeting moment. Cara, sensing the urgency, grabbed our trays and tossed them aside, while Leo’s eyes darted across the room, assessing every potential threat with a fierce intensity.

His shoulders were rigid, muscles taut beneath his shirt, and I could hear him mutter under his breath,

“Where the hell is he…”

A wave of dread washed over me, knotting my stomach. If Leo—the calmest among us, the one who always seemed to have everything under control—was showing signs of anxiety, then the situation was far worse than I had imagined.

Cara linked her arm through mine, her grip a faint comfort as Leo led us toward the cell block. I barely registered her presence, nor the distant chatter of inmates or the heavy footsteps of guards preparing for the swap.

All that consumed my thoughts was the hollow ache in my chest.

Where was Coban?

Why wasn’t he here?

Why did he leave me to face this alone?

When would I see him again?

As we approached the corridor leading to our cells, my heart raced, pounding so loudly that it echoed in my ears. Leo moved ahead, his posture tense, muscles coiled like a spring ready to snap.

Then, the door to our cell came into view, and my breath hitched in my throat.

My steps faltered, an instinctive warning flaring within me. Something felt off; the air was thick with an unsettling heaviness.

Leo must have felt it too.

He halted so abruptly that I nearly collided with him.

“What is going—” I began, my voice barely above a whisper.

But then, I saw it.

Or rather, him.

A body lay crumpled in a grotesque heap just outside my open cell door.

Face down.

Arms sprawled lifelessly.

Blood smeared across the threshold, as if someone had dragged him from inside and unceremoniously dropped him there.

For a horrifying moment, my heart ceased its rhythm.

It simply stopped.

Because the body was large.

Broad-shouldered.

Dark-haired.

Dressed in inmate grey.

*COBAN!*

The scream erupted from my throat before I could even process the horror before me.

I lunged forward, instinct and terror propelling me toward him, desperate to help—

But Leo’s arms were around me in an instant, gripping my waist with the force of iron bars.

“Don’t!” he shouted, yanking me back as my legs flailed in a futile attempt to break free.

“LET ME GO! IT’S HIM! GET HELP!” I screamed, my voice cracking, my throat burning as tears blurred my vision. My nails dug into Leo’s forearms, a desperate plea to be released. “NO, NO! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM? IT’S COBAN… WHY WON’T YOU HELP HIM, LEO?!”

Cara was sobbing too, her voice a high, panicked gasp as she covered her mouth with both hands, staying close to Leo’s protective stance.

Guards came rushing into the hallway from every direction, alerted by the commotion.

Batons drawn. Radios buzzing. Footsteps thudding against the concrete as they scrambled to respond…

Two guards shoved us back against the wall, while another dropped to his knees beside the motionless body.

“What’s happened to him?!” I shrieked, sobs wracking my body, making it hard to catch my breath. “WHO DID THIS?!”

I tried to lunge again, reaching for the man on the floor, but Leo’s grip tightened painfully.

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