Chapter 136 In a trance

Chapter 136 In a trance
Elara's POV

Why was he asking about that now?

I just... I just told him that I remembered everything, and the first thing this bastard thought of... was whether I remembered the training as well.

I shook my head, lying through my teeth. "No."

A tear slid down my cheek.

Fuck.

This wasn't supposed to hurt. I always knew Hillary Ashford was a heartless man, but seeing him behave exactly the way I knew he would still hurt.

After almost six years, the man I called my father for more than a decade still saw me as a weapon.

Only a weapon.

His expression didn't change. "No?"

I nodded, swallowing hard.

"No."

Just as soon as I said that, fragments of the memory I claimed not to remember attacked me.

Young me sat down on the floor, my hands tied with chains, my body bleeding after trying and failing multiple times to fight someone twice my size.

I was being punished.

My empty stomach roared with hunger, and my bones ached, but all I could think about was getting stronger because that was the only way I could get out of that place.

I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to become that person again.

"No..." I shook my head, my knees growing weak from the memory, and I almost fell backward. "I'm not going back there. I'm not..."

My voice broke.

Hillary watched me for a few seconds before walking closer.

I instinctively stepped back, a gasp leaving my lips.

My hands and feet had involuntarily assumed a defensive position.

Muscle memory.

Hillary stopped, a smile forming on his lips. His gaze dropped to my feet, then he looked at my hands before nodding, clearly satisfied.

"Good. You're still useful." A malicious smirk appeared on his lips. "This would save me having to train you all over again."

"But first, we need to get back to New York. For that to happen, your boyfriend needs to get off our trail."

My heart skipped.

I didn't need to think to know who he was talking about.

Jayden.

He was looking for me?

What about his fiancée?

A part of me wanted to scoff. I didn't want to believe that Jayden would look for me, but another part, the one which still held feelings for that man, wanted to leap for joy.

I didn't know how much he knew, but if Hillary was worried about him, then he had gotten close.

A small sense of relief spread through me.

At least someone was looking for me.

At least I wasn't completely alone.

But then again, I didn't completely believe it.

But if he was...

Hope spread in my chest, and I looked up at Hillary, a new sense of confidence flowing through my bones.

"Too bad he's not going to do that."

Hillary's eyes narrowed. "What?"

I stared directly at him.

"Jayden isn't going to stop looking for me."

That was if he was looking for me.

Hillary narrowed his eyes, taking another step towards me. He didn't seem to like my tone.

He clenched his jaw. "You sure got a lot of nerve," he said through gritted teeth.

His hand reached towards the back of his pants, and he brought out something that made my legs quiver.

A black gun.

Maybe I could have been able to fight him before, but not anymore.

Putting my hands in front of me, I stepped back.

"Being resilient has its downsides as well," he added, definitely talking about Jayden. "Just wait until I clip those wings of..."

He got closer, and my heartbeat became louder, my breathing heavy. He placed his finger on the trigger and was about to take another step towards me when the door was suddenly forced open.

Hillary swung his head towards the door to glance at the intruder, his eyes widening when he saw who it was.

It was only after I heard the name he called that I turned towards the door.

"Jayden."

How did he find me so fast?

...

Jayden's POV

Hillary's voice was the first thing I heard as I got closer to the room I saw him go into.

His words sounded threatening, so I pushed the door open quickly.

He looked exactly like the kind of man who thought he still had control of every situation, even with everything that had happened. He had a gun in his hand, and his attention was fixed on Elara, who stood a few feet away from him with her back against the wall.

My heart skipped a beat in fright as soon as I saw the look on Elara's face.

Then the gun...

How dare that bastard point a gun at her?

Hillary looked at me again, a chuckle leaving his lips.

"You followed me," he said, chuckling again. "I should have known you wouldn't have left quietly after the scene you and that Lanfield boy caused in my house."

Then his laughter died off, his expression returning to being cold as he pointed the gun at me instead.

"Leave. Now!"

"I'm not leaving without Elara," I replied calmly, taking another step into the room, my hands finding their way into my pockets and a smirk appearing on my lips.

As long as the gun was pointed at me and not Elara, everything was under control.

"I don't know how you planned this, but I'm taking her."

Hillary's expression immediately darkened. His grip tightened around the gun as his eyes moved from me to Elara and then back to me again.

"Elara is my daughter, mine!" His free hand beat against his chest. "No one can take her away."

"It wasn't a request."

The smirk on my lips disappeared as I stared at him. I had already wasted enough time looking for Elara, and I wasn't about to stand there and argue with him over whether I had the right to take her.

Whatever relationship he had with her, whatever he had done to her, none of that mattered at that moment.

She was leaving with me.

Hillary's jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed as he raised the gun slightly, his finger finding its way to the trigger.

"Move and I shoot."

I halted, glaring at the loaded gun in Hillary's hand.

I had been threatened with guns more times than I could remember, and Hillary wasn't the first man to think pointing one at me would make me back down.

If anything, the fact that he had pulled it out only confirmed how desperate he was becoming.

But before I could make another move, Hillary's attention shifted away from me and landed on Elara.

His expression changed.

A slow smile appeared on his face.

"Oh my..." he muttered, almost as though he had suddenly remembered something amusing. "I taught you well."

My brows furrowed.

Elara had gone completely still.

Her face had lost what little color it had, and her eyes were fixed on the gun in Hillary's hand. She looked as though she wasn't even aware that I was standing in the room anymore.

"You remember it all now," Hillary continued.

Elara shook her head slowly. "No."

I glanced between them, trying to understand what the hell was happening. There was something in the way Hillary was looking at her that I didn't like.

It wasn't the look of a father worried about his daughter.

It was the look of someone watching something he had created come back to life.

Hillary lifted the gun slightly.

"I know you've been missing that loud sound the gun makes as soon as the trigger is pulled, the sight of blood oozing from the wound you created, my monster. Do it."

My entire body stiffened.

I looked at Elara.

Her eyes remained fixed on the weapon as though she was in some kind of trance.

"Elara," I called, my voice firm but controlled. "What are you doing?"

She didn't respond.

Her fingers slowly moved toward the gun.

My heart dropped.

What was going on?

My hands left my pockets, and I put them in front of me, waving them at her.

"Elara, don't shoot."

I could be calm with Hillary, but with Elara... my mind was blank.

There was no plan.

"You can't give in to what this bastard wants."

I tried to talk her out of it, but she still looked lost. Her hand trembled as she took the gun from Hillary.

I didn't understand why she was doing it. I had seen Elara afraid before, but this was different.

She wasn't simply frightened of Hillary. It was as though something inside her had been awakened, something she had spent years trying to bury.

Hillary took a small step backward, allowing her to take the weapon.

"That's it," he murmured.

Elara's breathing became heavier.

Her eyes remained on the gun as though she was seeing something far beyond it. Her lips parted slightly, but no words came out.

"Elara..."

This time, I said her name more softly.

Her eyes finally lifted to mine.

For a brief second, I thought I saw the woman I knew.

Then it disappeared.

"Elara..."

Her lips trembled.

"I remember."

My heart tightened.

"What do you remember?"

She swallowed, her fingers tightening around the gun.

"Everything."

Hillary's smile returned.

I immediately looked at him.

"What did you do to her?"