Carter sat beside me on the couch with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. My legs were pulled over his thighs, and we cuddled on the couch together like a couple enjoying their evening together. His hand rested on my thigh, and his bare chest rose and fell gently with his even breathing. Instead of focusing on the TV, he glanced at me from time to time.

It felt so normal.

It didn’t seem like I was a prisoner anymore. It seemed like I was just a woman with her man. We’d already screwed on the couch, and now we were just enjoying each other’s company. He drank his scotch while I had my wine. I pulled my panties back on so his come wouldn’t drip down my thighs and onto the fabric of his furniture.

If I didn’t have a life to get back to, I would actually want to stay there.

My life had been stressful since I was young. A lot of stupid decisions put me in bad situations. Every day was a struggle, and I constantly worked to have a better life. Being a guest in Carter’s home showed me a luxurious life I’d never imagined. There was no such thing as stress, not when a man like him took care of me.

But it didn’t matter how much I loved being there. It couldn’t compare with the life waiting for me.

The true place where I belonged.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he fished it out to see the name on the screen.

Ever since I came into his captivity, I always looked for an opportunity to escape, to gain more knowledge about Carter and his behavior. So naturally, I looked at the screen even though I didn’t expect to see anything relevant.

But the name on the screen was very relevant.

Egor.

Carter immediately repositioned the phone in his hand to hide the screen. “I have to take this, sweetheart.” He left the couch and headed up the stairs, his black sweatpants hanging low on his hips.

Was that a coincidence?

What were the odds that he would be in contact with the same Egor?

It seemed unlikely, but that didn’t chase away the dread that settled in my heart. Carter and I had just experienced an evening of peace and quiet, but all of that faded away the second that phone rang. My body became heavy with terror, and my heart thudded with palpitations.

It couldn’t be the same Egor.

It just couldn’t.

The only way I was going to find out was by asking him or spying on him. If it really was the same Egor, Carter would probably lie about it. This whole situation had been a lie. The only true way to get my answer was to eavesdrop, to hear the conversation myself.

I sprang off the couch and sprinted across the rug until I reached the hardwood floor in front of the staircase. I was careful with my footfalls, making them quiet as I ascended to the next floor as fast as possible. When my feet hit the rug in the hallway, I moved quickly again, the sound muffled by the thickness of the rug. I stopped in front of his office door, which was closed. His voice was immediately audible.

“Friday, then?” Carter’s deep voice was calm as usual, borderline indifferent. He was quiet as he listened to the person on the other line. When he spoke again, it was nearly a minute later. “Yes, I’ll bring her. We’ll make the exchange at the border.”

My heart dropped into my stomach like a heavy stone. He never said my name, but his words were all the evidence I needed. Carter worked for Egor, and he was bringing me back to him like he planned.

Everything had been a lie.

Carter had never bought me for himself.

I ran away from Egor, throwing myself into the arms of crueler men in the hope I would be able to get away. But of course, Egor tracked me down, had someone else buy me, and now I was returning to him.

How could I have been so stupid?

I panicked in front of the door, the perspiration immediately marking my brow and palms. The adrenaline was so intense it knocked the energy out of me. I felt weak in the knees, felt my fingertips go numb, and lost all sensation in my lips. I couldn’t feel anything, but I could also feel overwhelming pain.

I thought Carter was a good man…but I’d been so wrong.

So fucking wrong.

He’d lied to me every single day, making up excuses for why he was keeping me. He was just babysitting me until Egor returned from one of his complicated business trips. Now he was back in the country, and he was ready to claim me.

I couldn’t believe I’d slept with Carter.

I couldn’t believe how fucking stupid I was.

Carter must have finished up the conversation because nothing else was said. His footsteps were audible on the other side of the door as he approached the hallway.

A part of me wanted to stand there and confront him, to scream at him for this terrible betrayal. But then I remembered my words wouldn’t matter because Carter didn’t give a damn about me. He’d been lying to me every single day. The time for conversation was over. I knew what I had to do.

I had to kill him.

That was the only way out of this nightmare.

I would kill him, use his thumb to unlock the security system, and then use it again to start one of his cars.

Then I would get the hell out of there—and disappear.

I sprinted down the hallway without worrying about the loud sounds I was making. I took the stairs rapidly and then made it into the kitchen. The knives were on the counter, so I grabbed the biggest one I could find, gripped the handle as tightly as possible, and then prepared to butcher my captor.

Even without a weapon, he was a serious opponent. Bigger and stronger than me, he would be able to take me down if I made the wrong move. I had to slice him across the throat or stab him in the heart. My movements had to be precise. The only comforting thought I had was my invincibility. Regardless of what I did, he wouldn’t kill me.

Egor wanted me alive.

I stepped out of the kitchen and spotted him at the bottom of the staircase. With the knife gripped in my hand, I was prepared to slice that beautiful skin until he bled out and died on the elegant Turkish rug. He had been a man I was fond of, someone I even liked, but now, he was just my enemy. I should have killed him in his sleep when I had the chance.

I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

He turned his gaze away from the couch, where he’d been searching for me. The instant his eyes settled on me, seeing the large knife in my hand, he knew exactly what had transpired. He saw the rage in my eyes, the intent of murder. He stared at the knife for a moment, not showing a hint of fear even though he was the one unarmed. When he lifted his gaze to meet mine, the same look of calmness was settled there. “Sweetheart, I don’t want to hurt you.”

I gripped the knife tighter, wanting to slice his heart out and watch the light leave his eyes. “You can’t hurt me when you’re dead.”

He stepped closer to me, his thick arms remaining by his sides. All the muscles of his body were tense in preparation of the fight about to ensue, but his handsome features remained as stoic as ever. “Even if you cut me, it’s not going to slow me down. And you’re more likely to cut off your hand in the process.” His brown eyes narrowed in hostility. “So just put down the knife down, sweetheart. I mean it when I say I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You mean it?” I asked coldly. “You expect me to believe that? You’ve been lying to me this entire time. I thought you were some kind of good guy, but now I know you’re just Egor’s bitch.”

His eyes narrowed even more as both of his hands tightened into fists. “Be careful, sweetheart.”

“I will,” I hissed. “The only way I’m getting out of here is by killing you. And I’m not gonna stop until—”

He charged me. His lean but ripped physique came at me quicker than a bullet. His heavy feet pounded against the hardwood floor as he propelled himself with a formidable momentum.

I barely had a second to react.

I steadied the knife and sliced at him, but my blade only hit air. I pointed the blade right at his heart, ready to claim his life. I was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for my freedom—by taking someone’s life.

I missed.

Carter moved with stealthy speed. He grabbed my wrist, slammed it hard onto his knee, and forced me to drop the blade on the floor.

“No!”

He kicked it away then shackled both of my hands behind my back with one of his. Without the same gentleness he showed me before, he shoved me against the wall and pressed his chest into my body, keeping me in anchored in place.

Just like the last time he pinned me down, I could hardly move.

I was completely at his mercy.

He breathed heavily in my ear, his massive hands so strong I couldn’t even flinch. “You never had a chance, sweetheart.”

“I’ll make another chance.” My cheek was pressed against the wall, and I felt his hard-on through his sweats. My loss fueled him in many ways. “I’m not going back to him. I will never stop trying to kill you, asshole.”

He gripped the back of my neck, keeping me in place so easily. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way.”

“And I’m sorry for sleeping with you. I’m sorry for thinking you were a good man. You’re no better than him…”

He kept his mouth pressed to my ear. “You don’t have the full story, sweetheart.”

“I don’t care about the full story.” I tried to buck off him with my hips, to catch him off guard with my words. “I hate you, Carter. You can’t send me back to that monster. You have no idea what kind of shit he does to me.”

He pressed his forehead to the back of my head. A quiet sigh escaped his mouth. “Trust me, I don’t like this.”

“If you meant that, you would let me go.”

“It’s not that simple. My hands are tied.”

“No,” I hissed, bucking against him again. “My hands are tied.”

His hands loosened on my wrists, and he forced me to turn around. Pressing my back against the wall with my hands pinned beside me, he looked into my face. With a clenched jaw and remorseful eyes, he didn’t seem like the monster he’d just revealed himself to be. “I hate this, sweetheart. I mean that.”

“No, you don’t. You would let me go if you did.”

He clenched his jaw. “I can’t.”

“You can do anything, Carter. If you really give a shit about me, do the right thing. Be a good man.” A slight jolt of hope moved into my heart when I saw the sadness in his eyes. His feelings seemed sincere, as if he didn’t like the situation we were in.

“I can’t.” This time, his voice emerged as a whisper. “If I let you go, Egor will come after my family. I can’t allow that to happen. They’ve already been through enough.”

“And you don’t think I have a family?” I hissed. “Why is your life more important than mine?”

“I never said it was. But my family’s life is more important to me than yours.” He cocked his head to the side slightly, his eyes narrowing in pain. “I have to choose—and I have to choose them. When I bought you, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

I listened to every word, wanting an explanation for our situation. How did Carter get mixed up with Egor in the first place?

He sighed before he continued. “My cousin and I buy trafficked women from the Underground. We’ve been doing it for years. Their families pay us to get them out of the situation. We pretend to be genuine buyers. Once the money is transferred, we keep them for a while to avoid suspicion, and then we return them, untouched by us, to their families.”

It was so selfless and sweet, I could hardly believe what I was hearing. “What…?”

“When Egor asked me to buy you, I’d already retired from the business. My family and I decided it was too risky. But he gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse, more money than anyone had ever offered me before. He told me he was your brother…and I believed him.”

Fucking asshole.

“It wasn’t until I had you in my captivity that I realized he was lying. He had business to attend to, so he asked me to keep you for a month before I handed you over.”

It’d been almost a month since I’d arrived here. That meant I only had days left.

“Here we are now…” He sighed as he looked at me, his jaw tight. “I tried to interact with you as little as possible. I didn’t want to get attached to you, especially since I’ve been attracted to you since the moment you jumped out of my car. You’re like a lamb that’s about to be slaughtered…I shouldn’t make you a pet. But of course, that didn’t happen. I wanted an excuse to have you, to keep it violent and nonconsensual so there would be no emotion involved… That didn’t work. I wanted to be a bad guy for once, to live out a fantasy since the situation was perfect. But I couldn’t go through with it…and here we are.”

My hands were still pinned to the wall with his strength. Even though I wasn’t fighting him, he never relaxed his hold. He knew I would do anything to escape, and this story wouldn’t change my objective.

“I’m not as evil as you think I am. I just made a mistake.” He moved in closer to me, his lips close to mine. “I never would have bought you if I’d known. I should have been smarter. I should have been less greedy. I shouldn’t have cared about the money, especially when I don’t even need it.”

Now everything made sense. He didn’t strike me as an evil guy. I would know since I was always in the company of the cruelest men in the world. His love for his family suggested he had empathy and compassion, and judging by the fact that he wouldn’t rape me, it indicated he had a soul under that hard chest.

“I’m sorry, Mia.” He looked me in the eye as he said it. “I hate this. It makes me sick to my stomach to hand you back to him. You deserve better than that. You deserve to be free… I’ve always thought that.”

I could feel his sincerity in his touch as well as his words. I could feel the remorse, the overwhelming sadness.

He bowed his head and stared at the ground for a moment, his fingers relaxing around my wrists. “If I could let you go, I would. But Egor is the kind of man I don’t want to cross. My family is in the middle of some serious shit with the Skull Kings. My cousin almost died because of it. If I provoke Egor, I’ll drag my family into another war…and we can’t fight on two fronts.” He lifted his gaze and looked at me again. “I’m sorry. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

I looked into his gaze and somehow found comfort in the look. I knew he was at war with himself, wanting to protect me as well as his family. He was in a difficult situation, and no matter what he decided, he lost.

But I shouldn’t feel bad for him, not when I had to worry about myself. “I believe everything you said…but you still have to let me go. I know you need to protect your family, but I have a family too. I can’t go back to him. I won’t go back to him.”

He released my wrists, assuming I was subdued. “There’s no other way, Mia.”

“I will kill you, Carter.” I looked him in the eye as I unleashed my threat. “I don’t want to, but I will. Nothing is gonna stop me…not this time.”

He gave a slight nod in understanding. “Then I’ll have to chain you up until it’s time—not that I want to do that. I was hoping we could enjoy each other a little longer…that you could be happy for a little longer.”

“You think I’m happy?” I asked coldly.

His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into mine.

I’d never told Carter the truth about my life because I was too afraid he would use it against me. But now that his true colors were revealed, I knew exactly who he was. “You have to let me go…because I have a son.”

Carter stiffened noticeably at the revelation, his eyes stilling as they focused on me. His arms rested by his sides, but his shoulders were tight with the revelation. He took in a deep breath, like the information pained him.

“He’s eight. I haven’t seen him in three years, not since Egor captured me. There were times when I wanted to kill myself in Egor’s captivity. The only reason why I didn’t was because of my son…because I have to survive for him.” My eyes watered as I remembered my darkest times, when I thought about hanging myself in my own prison cell. The temptation rose several times. Death sounded so sweet, sounded so wonderful. My little boy was the only reason I resisted. “Please help me, Carter. My son needs me. You love your mother…imagine life without her. Even as a grown man, you still need her.”

He bowed his head, unable to look at me.

I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me.

He complied, but his eyes were still full of self-loathing.

“Please,” I whispered.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“And risk you using him against me?” I whispered. “Egor threatened to do it all the time, but he never did because I always complied with his demands.”

He pushed my hand away, forcing my fingers off his chin.

“Carter, do the right thing. My son doesn’t have a father. All he has is me. I don’t want him to grow up and forget about me…” Tears built up in my eyes until they started to fall down my cheeks. “I want to raise my son into a man. I want to go to his soccer games. I want to be there every day, to make up for all the time I lost. I can’t do that unless you help me. So please help me.”

He stepped back, his hands moving to his hips. “You know I would help you if I could. But if I set you free, he’ll come after me and my family. My family is innocent. I can’t involve them in this.”

“And my son is innocent,” I said. “I’m innocent. You said you would help all those women… Now help me.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Doesn’t matter. My only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Egor spotted me in a bar, and in that moment, he decided I was his and he would never let me go. I had no power to stop him. He put a bag over my head as soon as I walked outside, and his men threw me in the back of a van. How can you let him get away with it?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “I won’t change my mind, Mia. My family is everything to me.”

“So is mine…”

He dragged his hands down his chest, his movements accompanied with a sigh. “You’re asking me to make a sacrifice I can’t make. I’m very sorry that you’re in this position. I’m sorry that your son is out there somewhere without his mother. I really wish things were different…I mean that. But you’re asking for more than I can give.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, knowing the knife was too far away for me to reach. “If you do this for me, I will do anything for you. I will be your maid and your fantasy. I will do whatever you ask…for the rest of my life. I would be eternally bound to you…always.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, intrigued by the request.

“I will let you whip me whenever you want. I will let you do whatever you wish. I will be obedient and grateful. I will make your house spotless and put dinner on the table every night. I will be your servant for as long as you want. Just give me back my son…give me back my life.”

He dropped his gaze again, remaining silent.

I took his silence as a good sign. Instead of rejecting me right away, he actually considered my request. I was giving him something he wanted, a dark fantasy he wanted to fulfill. He wanted to ruin my skin with more scars. He wanted to make me cry as he fucked me. He could have all of those things, turn me into his private whore, if he made this sacrifice for me. It was something I would gladly give…in exchange for my son.

He shook his head slightly. “It doesn’t change the problem. I’ll never be able to enjoy you if I’m constantly at war with Egor.”

“Then figure out a way to avoid the war.”

“How so?” he demanded.

“Pretend I killed myself.”

“He’s going to want to see proof.”

“Then give him proof,” I said. “Make it happen. Do something.”

He sighed again, frustrated to his core. “You’re simplifying everything.”

“No. I’m giving you solutions.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s still a risk I’m taking.”

“If you give me back, you’re still taking a risk.”

He dropped his hand, his eyebrow raised. “How so?”

Carter wasn’t evil the way Egor was. The second he handed me over, the guilt would eat him alive. Knowing my son would always be alone in the world would be a burden he would have to carry. He would have to live with the fact that a mother and son were permanently separated. “Because you won’t be able to live with yourself.”