Chapter 52 Chapter 52
Tessa
“Make sure she isn't hurt; just… find her so I can explain. She’ll probably be at her house; track the phone and the laptop. Pull more men and find her before morning,” he said.
“Yes, boss,” Jax said.
I stayed there until I was sure they were gone, then I stepped out of the dark and walked back to the car. I opened the car and dropped the phone into it and the keys onto the seat. I slammed the door and walked off.
I was in disbelief; my world didn't just stop spinning, it inverted. Zaiel. Kai. The asshole, who strutted into The Luxe and called me his "friend" in front of the staff, was the same psychotic maniac who was currently controlling my life and claimed me with hickeys and a damn ring I couldn't remove.
Zaiel Kai Rhyland. The street was loud and blinding, but I barely registered any of it. I just walked, moving west toward the water, the only place I knew I could breathe, and I needed to breathe.
I didn't stop until I hit the edge of Hudson River Park. I found a dark, empty stretch of stone overlooking the water near one of the piers, sat down, pulled my legs up to my chest, and stared out into the black void.
"Zaiel," I whispered, the name tasting like poison. "It was him the whole time."
All the pieces clicked into place: his smug smiles, his unnecessary comments in the elevator, his protective moves, and the sheer scale of the control. It wasn't two guys competing for territory; it was one monster playing two different roles. He engineered my life twice.
I gripped the massive diamond ring that was still on my finger and turned inward against my palm. The weight felt unbearable now, a symbol of the double deception. He didn't just know Kai; he was Kai.
I finally understood why he kept talking about being careful and why he looked at me like I was his favorite piece of property. It was all a game to him. And I was the prize.
I felt the adrenaline fade, replaced by a cold, terrifying clarity. I wasn't running from two men anymore; I was running from one who could afford to own the entire city.
I sat on the pier, not even bothering to look behind me. The air was thick with that mix of salt, old pilings, and the distant, grinding sound of a city that never really sleeps. I was watching the moon over the water, and I felt nothing but a heavy, dead certainty.
This was it. The end of the road, literally and figuratively. I was bone-tired of running. I sat there dangling my feet over the cold, swirling darkness of the water; the truth finally bled through the panic: running from Zaiel was the dumbest choice I could make and impossible.
He wasn't just a man with money. He was the entire damn city. I had left his car and phone; I just needed a few hours of peace. I needed to be by myself. He would find me; eventually he would. It didn't matter where I went or how good I hid. He was patient, thorough, and relentless.
If he knew I went thousands of miles away without missing a beat, what’s to stop him now? I could disappear into the deepest hole the country offered, and eventually, he would get bored and send someone who was even more ruthless than he was to fetch me. The running was pointless. It was just an exhaustion exercise.
I tucked my knees to my chest, my jacket pulled tight. The two options I’d been cycling through in the back of my mind rose up, cold and clear as day.
Fredericksburg. My hometown, the bakeries, the vineyards, the little antique shops that smell like dust and lavender. It was beautiful, sleepy, and quiet, the polar opposite of the chaotic, beautiful mess that was Manhattan.
It was familiar. It was predictable. I knew the back roads, the best places to get a crappy cup of coffee, and exactly how many people would recognize me (which was almost everyone). I could blend in with the tourists, get a minimum wage job in a kitchen somewhere, and hide until my hair turned gray.
The massive downside? It felt like crawling back into the womb. It was surrender. That life ended the day my stepmother died and my father went to jail. Going back there felt like putting the lid on my own coffin and waiting for Zaiel to read the headstone. It was a soft, cowardly escape, and I knew deep down that the minute I felt comfortable, that's when he'd show up. He loved destroying my comfort.
My other option was the State Penitentiary. The concrete fortress is about eight hours inland, where my father had been living for the last few years.
He was there for life. He killed my stepmother. She knew what her son was doing to me, and she didn't just look away; she lied for him. She covered up for him. He took her life because he failed me, and I guess that was the way he thought he could repent, and now he was in a six-by-nine cell, a killer rooted in a terrible kind of justice, and I’m out here still running from another monster.
I hadn’t seen him since the day the police walked in and arrested him. I avoided the trial, the lawyers, and the phone calls. I had walled off that entire part of my life. I had the prison address memorized, not because I intended to go, but because it was the fixed, terrible monument of my personal history. I even knew the confusing visiting hours; I'd looked them up once years ago, a morbid curiosity I couldn't shake.
I shifted my weight, the cold seeping through my jacket. My eyes burned, but I wouldn't let myself cry. Crying was a privilege I couldn't afford if I didn't cry then. I sure as hell wouldn't cry now.
I stayed there until the sun came up; running wasn't an option, and I would have to face Zaiel at some point. I went and got a coffee and went back and sat down; I stayed there most of the day. There was nothing for me in Fredericksburg; seeing my father won't help or change anything. I just had to continue with this life.
When I left the pier, it was close to six. I spent the entire day on the pier just being; I ate pizza and drank a few beers and just existed and forgot about Zaiel/Kai and all that. I sat there eating and watching people.
I took the subway back and took my time and walked home; I needed to clear my head. When I turned the corner, I stopped short. Sitting in my driveway was the car. I just let out a breath and continued walking.