t streamed through the window, and the air smelled of baking bread. She was smiling, her face hea

smell of damp c

from the ceiling cast long, distorted shadows. My hands were tied behind my back with a coarse rope tha

I been here? A day? Two? I had no way of knowing. The only sou

ed inside. For a moment, my heart seized, thinking it

s Sca

ed back. She looked different without her usual makeup

ng slightly in the small space. "The bri

its prey. "Did you really think you could defy m

t," I managed to say, my

. "Let you go? After everything? You

e of anger through me. "Liam attacked me

ice rising. "Something you never understood how

om mine. I could smell the faint, expensive scent of her

e into a life I don't want. With you." Her lip curled in disgust. "But if something were to happen to you... if

hillingly clear. She wasn't just t

l me," I said, the w

lked to the door. "Liam has arranged everything. It will look like you ran away, unable to handle the

a shame, really. You have his eyes. For a while, whe

ear-darkness. The finality of her words crushed me. She was going to hav

again in front of me with plastic zip ties. They dragged me from the room and up a set

ed of oil and decay. In the center of the vast space, Lia

respect," he said, his voice casual, a

clumsy. The pipe connected with my side, and an explosion o

at. He kicked me in the stomach, and I curled into

ng my face. They wanted my body to be found, but not with obv

fury. He was doing this for Scarlett. His devotion to her was absolute,

ing to die here, in this forgotten place, for a crime I didn't commit. I was going to be erased from the world, all to smooth the pa

, blinding. My leg was broken. As I screamed, the world began to fade to black. My last c