I know in my gut Liam is tearing apart Austin looking for us. Tears stop flowing, determination setting in my bones. I’m grinding the cuffs along the wood of the chair, slowly giving my hand more space to slip through. I will get Olivia out of here, even if I die trying.

Aiden comes back into the warehouse from that door he keeps disappearing into. He walks up to me, lifting my chin.

“I can’t wait until Liam gets here, so I can kill him in front of you. It will be so fun to destroy the last person standing in our way. We need to have a little chat before he gets here, though. Tell me you’ll behave if I take this gag off of you.”

I harness the flames I’m dying to unleash, needing him to take this gag off. I have to get out of these binds. He slowly unstraps the gag and peels it away from my mouth.

“Hi, love,” Aiden whispers.

“Fuck you,” I spit back. His blood from when I bit his tongue is still sitting in my mouth, pooling with saliva. I spit it in his face.

He slowly wipes it away, choking me again. He holds my neck while alternately slapping and punching me in my face and sides. “You will listen to me, you ungrateful whore. Look at everything I’ve done for you. Don’t you see how much I love you?” Each statement is punctuated with a slap or punch somewhere on my body. I hear Olivia’s cries, but I never take my eyes from Aiden, challenging him every step. I don’t let out my whimpers of pain. I hold them in, facing him down. “I’ve watched over you this whole time. I’ve always been with you. You will listen to me.”

I gasp out around his hand clutching my throat, “I’ll do anything you want if you let her go.”

He releases his hand. “Say that again.”

“I will do anything you want if you let her go.”

Aiden stares at me, never breaking eye contact. “You mean that.” It’s not a question. He sees the sincerity in my eyes.

I will. I will do anything to get Olivia out of here, and then I will battle to the death for my life over his.

He sighs. “Unfortunately, I can’t let her go. I promise that if you keep your promise, I won’t hurt her. She’ll survive this. I can’t say the same for her brother, but she will survive as long as you keep your word.”

I nod, agreeing that Olivia will survive. I don’t voice that Liam will also survive. I’ll do anything to ensure that happens.

“How?” I bite out.

“Ah, my curious little love, you’ve always been that way.” Aiden smiles proudly, looking at the pictures filling the walls from top to bottom. “This is my masterpiece.”

I don’t say anything, and I refuse to look at the pictures gracing the walls. I will not take in all the moments he stole from me, stalking me.

“You left me, but my friends didn’t. They’ve helped me so much while I was away. I told you, you are mine, Savannah. You shouldn’t have sent me away. I did what I had to do to keep you. And how do you repay me?”

He steps up to me, pulling a knife from his pocket. He flicks the blade open. Bile rises in my stomach—this scene is too close to the memories that haunt me. Aiden slices my dress completely down the front. He touches the blade to the hollow of my throat, my breaths that I can’t stop press me farther onto the point. The first drop of blood spills. Aiden smiles when the knife breaks my skin.

“You look so pretty when your blood washes over your creamy skin.” His eyes are dancing. Sanity left him years ago. He’s utterly mindless. He probably thought about this day every day for the past several years.

He pulls the knife from my neck, using the tip as a pointer. He flicks his wrist, moving the knife up and down my body. “How dare you do this to my body. Your body is mine. For my pleasing. You don’t mar it without my consent and you sure as hell don’t cover my brand.”

I continue to stay silent watching him, trying to school my features as if I am taking all of this in, listening to him. Understanding him. I have to get him to release me.

“By the end of the night, I will cover your body with my name and come so many times, that you’ll never again forget who you belong to.”

Bile once again rises in my throat. I can’t stop my legs from trying to close. He mistakes the movement for something else. “Do thoughts of that night get you hot, too? That’s what kept me going in prison, thoughts of you on those crisp, white sheets in the log cabin. I love when you clench your thighs.”

I don’t correct him that I was trying to close them to keep him out. If he thinks I want him, that will work to my advantage. I need him to keep going, keep talking, keep trusting.

I think back to his friends who I never got to know. I didn’t like them, so I didn’t want to be around them. Aiden and I mostly stayed in our bubble back then. I would have recognized his friends if I’d seen them.

“Where were we? Oh, yes. My friends helped me keep track of you, delivered pictures to me. It was easy enough to break into your house and install cameras. Your poor little Liam didn’t know that while he was taking my woman out, I was in his house installing cameras. How dare he try to take what was mine. How dare you—” Aiden continues pacing in front of me, and he flicks the knife in my direction when he refers to me. “Let another man have what is mine. I was disappointed to find you became a whore while I was away. It didn’t matter it was only with one man. It was enough.”

Aiden looks at me, disgusted. “I hate that someone else has touched you. I need to do something to punish you.”

He rubs a hand along his jaw, as if in thought. He steps closer to me, hand still skimming his jaw, knife hanging loosely at his side. He acts so quickly I don’t anticipate his next move. He stabs me twice, once in each wing on the phoenix of my tattoo. I cry out in pain, unable to hold it in. Blood pours from each cut. I clench my jaw, begging myself not to cry, but tears sting my eyes from the pain slicing through me.

“Did that help you learn a lesson?”

I look down at my feet, trying to mask my features. I want to scream, but I need to free myself from these binds. I look up at him, letting him see the tears, and nod. Olivia gasps around her gag, not understanding the game I’m playing. I need Aiden to be stupid enough to fall for my lies again.

I let the tears fall harder. I choke around the bile threatening to rise, “No one has ever loved me like you.”

Aiden’s eyes light immediately, filling with tears. “You’re right about that, love. No one. You’re mine. You’ve always been mine. I hate that I have to remind you this way.” He turns his head to the side, contemplating while looking at me.

“Last time you acted this way, it was a lie.”

I let the tears fall, not confirming or denying. I sob harder, looking up at him without blinking. “You just have to understand, I was so scared, Aiden. You were scaring me. I don’t want to be scared of the man I love.”

He shakes his head. “If you would just do what I asked, none of this would happen.”

I put my head down. “You’re right,” I whisper.

Olivia is crying harder, screaming at me. I don’t look at her, I can’t. I can’t break this character. I wish she understood. I wish she knew me better, not to doubt me. Blood is still pooling from my stomach, dripping down my legs and to the floor. I’m starting to feel woozy from the effects.

“I don’t feel well,” I tell Aiden.

Aiden tsks. “I need to finish my story, my love. I want you to realize how brilliant I am.”

I nod slowly, letting him continue, praying he will release me when it’s over.

“After I watched you on that first date with that asshole, I stabbed his tire. It was a warning that he didn’t heed. The next day, I wired his place with cameras so I could watch if you ever went there. Cameras had been in your house since before my release.”

He chuckles to himself. “I saw everything. It was wonderful watching you, seeing videos and pictures of you. I know each time that hand was between your legs, you were thinking of me.”

I don’t deny his grotesque assumptions. They’re not true, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“You really should separate your important documents. It was too easy to find the ID number for victim services.” He bites out the last two words. He roars, “You were not a victim. It was your own doing. I needed you to listen and trust that you are mine. That I am best for you.” He pulls his hands through his hair, one of them still clutching the knife stained with my blood.

“Remember David? He got one of his fuck buddies to call, pretending to be you. She changed the contact information by one digit. That led to David’s phone. It happened so perfectly. He was with a whore when they called, and he paid her to pretend to be you. I’ve known where you are this whole time.”

He steps closer to me, caressing my face. Hope flares through my chest that he believes me. I give him a small smile. Again, he moves before I understand what is happening. He stabs me in the stomach one more time before closing his hand around my throat, squeezing tight.

“I’ve known where you are this whole time. I’ve known you’ve been training to fight me. You think you’re going to kill me. You think your plan will work?” I struggle for breath around his hold. He leans into my ear. “Did you think I would fall for that little act again? I’ve been making plans, too, my love. We will be together for eternity.”