IT FEELS LIKE I JUST woke up from a hundred-year dream.
The air is cool, but my skin is on fire. It’s the first time I’ve been outside in I don’t know how long. The sky is clear and dotted with thousands of stars and the moon is a thin crescent above our heads. Jett is talking to me, but I can’t decipher a word he’s saying. My thoughts are just a mess.
“Ellie!” I hear Kayne’s distraught voice echo behind me as Jett tries to usher me into the back seat of a blacked-out SUV. “Ellie, wait, please, just listen to me!” When I feel him grab my arm, something inside me snaps.
“Get your hands off me!” I screech, batting him away. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say! I hate you, you asshole!” I start throwing punches. Kayne deflects my fists with his forearms in an attempt to shield himself from my physical explosion. I do manage to get one good shot in. My open hand connects with his face; the loud slap rings out and my palm stings just before Jett encircles his arm around my waist and tosses me into the back of the Suburban. I breathe erratically as I crash against the leather seat.
“Jett, get out of my way.” Kayne tries to climb in after me, but Jett blocks him with his body.
“Kayne, back the fuck up.” He shoves him hard and Kayne is forced to take a step back. Jett uses the split-second separation to hop into the car and slam the door. “Drive!” he barks at the man behind the wheel. Less than a moment later we peel out, tires screeching as we pull away from the house. I glance back to see Kayne’s shrinking figure crouched on the driveway with his hands laced behind his head.
Ellie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you, I’m sorry for hurting you, I’m sorry for falling in love with you. I take one look at Jett and unstoppable tears start to fall. He pulls me into his arms as I begin to sob. For God’s sake, it feels like I have been crying for an eternity. It’s a wonder my body doesn’t just give out from dehydration.
As we drive, my life comes into sharp clarity. Like a fog has lifted. You’ve always been free. I cry harder and I don’t understand why. I’m free, but I have the heaviest feeling of loss crushing my chest. It’s almost suffocating me.
“Shhhh, Ellie.” Jett comforts me. “Everything is okay. You’re okay.”
“I’m far from okay, Jett!” I explode. “I was just held captive for I don’t know how long and forced to do unspeakable things with a man I once worshiped. I feel betrayed. I feel humiliated. I feel …” Alone.
“He did it to protect you.” Jett defends Kayne.
“There had to be another way!” I demand, my emotions overflowing everywhere. There’s no containing them.
“There wasn’t. It was a split-second decision and we ran with it. Kayne couldn’t allow you to be tortured at the hands of a monster. It was the only way to keep you safe. We both agreed.”
“You both agreed to what? Him becoming the monster?!” I shout. The man driving the car never turns his head to look at us. He just steers the car, keeping his attention on the road. I’m grateful for his disinterest. Or his feign of disinterest. I’m sure I look and sound like a raving lunatic right now.
Jett scowls at me. Like he has any right. “Let me paint you a picture, Ellie. Say Kayne did tell you exactly who he was and exactly what was going on. And Javier came into your room that night and found you munching on popcorn and watching a movie instead of chained to the bed. Do you know what he would have done?”
I shake my head slowly.
“He would have tortured you until you talked. Until you divulged every one of Kayne’s secrets. Do you think you could have handled him yanking out your teeth one by one? Or carving you up one tiny slice at a time? Because that’s the kind of fucking animal he was.”
I swallow hard, my throat sore from trying not to cry, my eyes wet with residual tears. “And after he finished with you, he would have gone after everyone else in the house. There was more than just your life at stake. So yes, we mutually agreed it was the best way. It wasn’t premeditated. If you belonged to Kayne, theoretically Javier should have stayed away.”
“Well he didn’t stay away!” I wipe away the tears that are now escaping down my cheeks, reliving the aggressive, inhumane way he orally raped me.
“Evil is unpredictable. But he got what he deserved. Javier’s death will ripple through the trafficking community. Countless lives will be saved.”
“At what expense?” My voice is an agonizing whisper.
“Ellie, the world is at war, and sometimes innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire. What happened to you was unfortunate, but you can’t tell me you honestly believe Kayne is a monster.”
“I don’t know what to believe.”
“Yes, you do. Believe what’s in your heart. Over the last month I watched the two of you fall in love and now he’s falling apart because you left him.”
“He doesn’t love me,” I reply desolately. He can’t. None of it was real.
“No, you’re right. He doesn’t love you. His feelings run so much deeper than that. He’s obsessed with you. He always has been. Since the moment he met you, you’re all he’s ever wanted,” Jett informs me directly. “And for Kayne to feel that way is huge. Beyond Mt. Kilimanjaro huge.”
I shake my head furiously. “No.” I don’t want to believe it. I want to believe Kayne is a monster who doesn’t deserve me. No matter where you go or who you’re with. You’ll always be mine.
“Javier wanted you.” Jett clutches my arms and shakes me. “He would have stopped at nothing to get you, and once that happened, Kayne wouldn’t have been able to intervene. Javier would have killed you. Do you understand? It was the only way.” Jett’s phone rings in his pocket and we both pause. He pulls it out and glances at the screen then looks up at me; his aqua eyes illuminating from the oncoming headlights on the opposite side of the road. “Kayne.”
“Don’t!” I frantically smack the cell phone out of his hand before he can answer it.
“Ellie!?” Jett chastises me.
“I don’t want you to talk to him!” I don’t even want to hear a susurration of his voice.
“I never want to see him again.”
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