Chapter 35

Elle

Elle looked at the door. It was orange with an electronic lock. At eye-level there was a small window of reinforced glass. Hesitantly, she walked up to the window, then peered through it. What she saw took her breath away.

Beyond the door was a corridor, and at the end of it was a jail cell. Standing outside the cell was Gris, and behind the bars, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, was Forrester. She gasped and had to stop herself from making a sound. What had they done to him? What had they done to her Forrester? She’d kill them. She’d kill all of them.

They were talking, and she held her breath so that she could hear what they were saying but it was no good. She couldn’t hear a word. She saw that there was a speaker by the door and hit the green light on it. Then she could hear them.

“Well, it will all be in vain,” Gris said. His voice made her want to scream. “She might have waited for you this long,” Gris continued. “To be honest, I’m surprised. I thought she’d have come running back to me by now.”

“She’s not the girl you think she is, Gris.”

Her heart pounded in her chest at the sound of Forrester’s voice. She’d thought she’d never hear him again.

“Maybe not,” Gris said. Gris had been holding a video camera in his hands and he put it away. “But she will be. I know her. I know how to work her. I’ll grind her down, break down her confidence and self-esteem, until she believes she’s the worthless piece of shit I know she is.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“What do you care, fucko? You’ll be rid of her. Her and me, we’ll be gone. You’ll never have to think about her again.”

“I won’t forget her.”

“Well, let me give you a little bit of incentive to move on with your life. I want to make sure you forget all about her.”

“I’ll never forget about her.”

“She was a whore, Forrester. Before you knew her, before even I knew her. She was a whore. She was the property of Los Lobos. They owned her, and they did whatever they wanted with her.”

Elle couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. There was Gris, the man she’d trusted with everything, and he was telling her deepest, darkest secrets to the man she was in love with. This would change everything. Forrester would never look at her the same way again. He’d lose whatever love he’d had for her.

She watched, mouth open, as Forrester said nothing. Gris only nodded.

“What’s the problem, fucko? You got nothing to say? Cat got your tongue?” Gris taunted.

“Fuck you, Gris.”

“Oh, you seem upset. Was it something I said?”

Forrester moved on the ground but he was too injured to get to his feet.

“Fuck it,” he said. “Fuck it all. Have a good life, Gris. I hope I never see you again.”

And that was the moment Elle’s heart broke. That was it. As simple as that. Forrester had stopped loving her. He didn’t want her. He was done with her. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. What man in his right mind would want a girl with her past?

Forrester lay there on the ground and shut his eyes.

Elle couldn’t see. Her eyes were too full of tears. She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t move. Her heart felt as if it had just been squished by a boot. Her stomach was in knots. She wanted to run out into the corridor and tell Forrester not to stop loving her. She wanted to beg him to give her a chance. She was more than her past. She was so much more than that. She wasn’t what he thought.

The quote, from the French author, it kept running through her mind.

* * *

It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not.

* * *

And then the door opened. The force of it knocked her back off her feet. She fell to the ground and when she looked up, there was Gris, standing above her, his jaw set in a cruel snarl. It was exactly the look he always had before he laid into her. She rose her arms in front of her face to protect herself from the barrage of abuse she knew was coming, but it didn’t come. Gris just laughed. He made sure to shut and lock the door carefully behind him. He saw that the microphone was turned on and that just made him even more amused.

“So,” he said, “you just heard all that?”

Elle nodded.

“You see, Elle. I tried to warn you. I knew once your lover boy heard the truth, he wouldn’t feel the same way about you anymore. You saw it with your own eyes. When I told him what you really were, it just took all the wind out of his sails. It took the love out of his heart. He feels nothing for you now.”

“That’s not true,” Elle said, but even as she said it she could hear the doubt, the fear, in her own voice. She was already beginning to doubt herself. She was beginning to doubt Forrester’s love. She’d held fast through so much. She’d refused to give up on him. But now she could feel all her certainty, all her confidence, evaporate.

How could Forrester ever love her? She was worthless. She’d been sold as a slave by her own mother. She was nothing more than a whore, and the daughter of a whore.

“And besides,” Gris went on. “You saw him. I’ve beaten the shit out of him. If you don’t let him go, he’ll be dead soon. I’ve got the whole police of this town on my side. If you don’t come home with me, I’ll tell them never to let him out.”

“You can’t do that,” Elle gasped.

“I can do that, and I can do a lot worse. I can get him killed, Elle.”

“The police would never let you do that.”

Gris bent down to her and pulled her to her feet. Then he shoved her up against the door and pressed her face to the window.

“Look at him, Elle. He’s almost dead already. They let me do all that, you think they’re going to stop me now.”

Elle shook her head. She couldn’t bear to look. Forrester looked like he’d been attacked by a pack of wolves and left for dead. She knew he wouldn’t be able to survive too much more abuse at the hands of Gris and his friends.

“How about this?” Gris said. “Either you get in my car right now, and come home with me where you belong, or I go back into that cell and kill lover boy.”

“Gris,” Elle cried.

“I’m not kidding, you little slut. I should kill him just for what he did. He touched you. And you’re mine.”

Elle couldn’t believe what was happening. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do, but she had no choice. Forrester was in no position to be able to defend himself. If Gris went back into that cell, it could mean the end for Forrester.

Even still, something inside her resisted Gris. She couldn’t bear the thought of going home with him. She couldn’t bear the thought of being dragged back to the life she’d struggled so hard to escape. Going back with Gris would mean death for her heart. Could she really do that? Could she allow herself to give up her own future to protect Forrester?

And she knew the answer.

A hundred times, yes.

Of course she could. She loved Forrester, more now than ever. If Gris went back in there and killed him, she’d be dead anyway. The body can’t live without its heart.

Gris shoved her aside. “Need time to think?” he barked. “Let me go stomp on lover boy’s face while you make up your mind.”

“No,” Elle said, her voice strong and clear. “I don’t need time to think. I’ll come with you. Just don’t hurt Forrester any more.”