I woke up not knowing where I was. I didn’t recognize the room, but something about the feel of the place, and even the smell, made me think I was still in Hayden’s house, just somewhere I hadn’t been before.

What had happened? Why had he brought me here? I assumed he was the one to bring me up, and I hadn’t made it by myself and then blocked it out.

Suddenly, the events of the previous night came back to me in a rush. Loretta had come down to the room, had Tased me. I’d run and then...

I curled into a tight ball, a whine of dismay crawling from my throat. Oh, God. I had killed Loretta. I was a murderer, just like my father.

Every muscle in my body wound tighter, until I trembled with tension. I wanted to shrink into myself, to condense and grow smaller, until I eventually imploded and vanished. I didn’t know how I could live with this. How could I keep going, knowing I had taken a woman’s life? The disgust I felt toward myself made me want to claw my own skin from my body and rip out my eyes. I no longer wanted to be a part of myself, but I had no idea how to make this all stop.

A wail of anguish tore from my throat, and I sobbed into the couch cushions. I wished I could go back to sleep, just to escape the pain, but I was wide awake now and had to face reality.

My throat hurt from crying, my face puffy and my nose blocked. I didn’t think I’d ever stop crying, but eventually my tears ran dry, and I ended up just lying there, hollow and exhausted, staring at the wall.

Where was Hayden?

I had vague recollections of him finding me. It was like trying to remember a dream where the details had vanished, and I could only recall flashes. But Hayden had been there afterward. He’d held me and comforted me, and he’d taken off my handcuffs when I’d begged him.

That realization made me sit up, and I checked my wrists. I was free. He hadn’t tied me up again with something else. Was I even locked in the house?

Feeling weak and shaky, I got to my feet. I crossed the room to the living room door, opened it a crack, and peered out into the hallway. The house was silent.

“Hayden?” My voice sounded too loud, but I called out again. “Hayden, are you here?”

The doors for the elevator were opposite me, and I shivered at the sight. I prayed I would never need to go down there again. The thought of being locked up in the same place as Loretta’s body was a nightmare. The sight of her sprawled out on the bathroom floor, her eyes bulging and tongue swollen, jumped into my mind, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to dispel the image.

It was irrational, but a part of me felt like I was going to bump into Loretta, alive and well, and she was going to glare at me and demand to know what I was doing.

The memory of straddling Loretta’s back, the chain of the cuffs locked around her throat, and me pulling harder and harder jumped into my head. I tried to push it away, not wanting to look at it in any detail. I remembered my anger and hatred, though. Hayden could say I hadn’t meant to do it, but I had. Right in that moment, I’d been filled with such rage that seeing her die was all I wanted.

Not finding any sign of Hayden, I kept looking around the house. I tried the back door and found it unlocked, but I didn’t bother to step outside.

There was nowhere I could go. I’d tried to run before, and all it had gotten me was locked up down in the room beneath the house. There was the boat, but Hayden would have the keys on him—he wasn’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. I had no intention of trying to swim to safety either. Now I’d gotten to know Hayden better, I no longer thought that was my best chance of survival.

I had to ask myself, did I really want to escape him?

Right now, I only wished he was here, so he could tell me what I was supposed to do now. I didn’t think he was going to be angry at me for what happened, yet nerves still fluttered inside me at the thought of seeing him again.

I turned to make my way back to the front of the property.

Someone was standing in the hallway, and my stomach lurched. But then I realized it was only Hayden. I hadn’t heard him come back in.

He was bare-chested, his tan skin sheened with sweat and streaked in dirt. His dark hair stuck up wildly, and he hadn’t shaved that morning, so stubble made his square jaw appear even sharper. He was normally immaculately presented, and right now he looked rough and dangerous.

He turned to me. “Jolie.”

Just hearing my name on his lips made me crumble inside. He was my enemy, yet I found my feet moving, bringing me closer to him. He matched me footstep for footstep until we crashed together. My arms automatically went around his neck, his around my waist. I pressed my forehead to his shoulder, not caring that he was sweaty and dirty, and he buried his nose in my hair.

“It’s okay, Jolie,” he told me. “I promised you I’d fix it. It’s done. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

I didn’t want to let him go. His skin was hot, while my shock had chilled me right down to the bone, and I was sucking in his body heat like a snake basking in the sun. But I wanted to look into his eyes and pray I would be able to read the truth in them when I did.

“You fixed it? What do you mean?”

“The body is gone. Buried. I’ve still got to burn her belongings, but once I do, there will be no trace of Loretta ever being here. We’ll pretend like it never happened.”

“But it did happen, Hayden. I can’t just forget that.”

“She was trying to hurt you. She’d probably have killed you in the end—you know that, don’t you? Her mind was gone. I’m so sorry I didn’t see that in her. This wasn’t your fault, Jolie. I was the one who put you in that position.”

“But I killed her.”

He pulled me in for another hug. “You did what you had to do. Don’t torture yourself over this”

That was probably easier said than done.

Hayden was right about one thing, though—he was the one who’d put me in this situation. He’d kidnapped me and brought me here. I wouldn’t have even met Loretta if he hadn’t.

I pushed him away, tears welling in my eyes. “None of this would have happened if you’d just left me the hell alone. I was trying to get on with my fucking mess of a life, and you had to come along and screw things up for me even more.”

His jaw tightened, his nostrils flaring, and he pressed his lips together. “I’m not going to say I’m sorry, if that’s what you’re after. Loretta might be dead, but nothing has changed. I’m still going to kill your father, and you’re going to help me.”

It was like he’d reached into my chest and twisted my heart. He’d shown me such affection—tenderness, even—the previous night, and I’d been stupid and read too much into it. We’d had sex a couple of times, but it had been about lust, and nothing more. My emotions had gotten tangled and twisted, and I was already more messed up than I’d ever thought possible. I couldn’t trust my own emotions right now, and I hadn’t really felt something for Hayden. I’d clung to him when I’d needed someone to comfort me. It meant nothing.

“I can’t go back down there,” I told him. “I’m not going to run, but I’m not going to go back into that room. If you try to make me, I swear I’ll do everything within my power to sabotage your plans with my father.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry. You’re not going back down there. You’re not even going to be staying in the house. It’s later in the day than I’d planned, but I’d always intended for us to leave today.”

I didn’t want to feel hope after what I’d done, but my heart lifted. “Leave? You mean on the boat?”

He nodded. “That’s exactly what I meant.”

Nerves and excitement danced inside me. I wanted to get off this island more than anything, though I was anxious for what would come next. I also felt guilty for daring to hope for a future for myself after what I’d done. It would be easy to just curl up into a ball and hope the rest of the world vanished. Perhaps it was the braver thing to keep going and fight for my survival. But did I deserve to be brave?

“You can do this, Jolie,” he told me. “The end is in sight. Help me lure your father into a spot where I can kill him, and then you’ll be able to get on with your life.”

I swallowed hard, unable to believe the lifeline he was dangling in front of me. “You’d let me go?”

He nodded. “Yes, as long as you don’t mess this up for me. If I see any signs of you playing games or signaling for help, don’t expect me to be so kind.”

He’d let me go, and then he’d go to jail for my father’s murder. I would be free to get on with my life, and that life wouldn’t include Hayden Vale. A strange hollowness expanded in my chest at the thought. How would life be without him in it? I hated him for what he’d done to me, yet the sight of his naked skin drew me in, and I wanted to press my body against it, to lick the sweat from his skin, and wrap my arms and legs around him. I hated that he seemed to have so much power over me, physically, but I couldn’t deny it.

He was offering me a future without him in it, and I discovered I was no longer sure if that was what I wanted.