Chapter 153 CHAPTER 154

Chapter 153 CHAPTER 154
CHAPTER 154
YAEL
One evening I was walking back to my dorm after a late Taekwondo session. The campus was quiet. Most students had already gone inside for the night. I was alone for just a few minutes, cutting through the small path behind the gym like I had done many times before. I thought it was safe.

I never saw him coming.

A hand clamped over my mouth from behind. A strong arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I tried to scream but the sound was muffled. I struggled, kicking and twisting, using every move I had learned in Taekwondo, but he was too strong. Something sharp pricked my neck. The world started to blur almost immediately.

“Shhh, baby,” Grey whispered in my ear. “I’ve got you now. You’re finally mine again.”

Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in a small, dark room. My hands were tied to a metal chair. My mouth was taped shut. The air smelled damp and old. There was only one dim light hanging from the ceiling. I looked around frantically. No windows. One heavy door. I was underground somewhere.

Grey sat on a stool a few feet away, watching me with a calm smile on his face.

“Welcome back, Yael,” he said softly. “I told you I was close. You should have listened.”

I tried to speak but the tape kept my words trapped. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.

Grey stood up and walked closer. He crouched in front of me so we were eye level.

“You look scared,” he said. “Good. You should be. You ran from me. You let that football boy touch you. You let your brother think he could protect you. But you’re mine. You have always been mine.”

He reached out and gently peeled the tape from my mouth. I gasped for air.

“Let me go,” I said, my voice shaking but firm. “This is not going to end well for you. They will find me. Knox and Aaron will find me.”

Grey laughed quietly. “They can try. But they won’t succeed. I’ve been planning this for a long time.”

He stood up and walked around me slowly. “Do you remember how it used to be? When you were sixteen and you listened to me? When you stopped going to Taekwondo because I told you it was a waste of time? When you let me make all the decisions?”

I swallowed hard. “I was young and scared. I’m not that girl anymore. You don’t own me.”

He stopped behind me and leaned down, his breath against my ear. “You will always be that girl. I made you. I broke you once. I can break you again.”

He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. I cried out in pain.

“Say it,” he hissed. “Say you belong to me.”

I gritted my teeth. “I belong to no one but myself.”

He slapped me hard across the face. The sting burned my cheek. “Wrong answer.”

For the next three days, he tried everything to break me.

He starved me for hours, then brought food only to take it away when I reached for it. He played recordings of my own voice from years ago, when I was still with him, saying things I had long tried to forget. He told me over and over that Knox did not really love me, that Aaron would get tired of protecting me, that my friends would eventually leave me.

“You think they care?” he said on the second day, pacing in front of me. “They only feel sorry for you. Poor little Yael with her traumatic past. Once the excitement wears off, they will all move on. But me? I will never leave you.”

I looked him straight in the eyes. “You are wrong. They love me. Real love. Not whatever sick thing you think love is.”

He laughed and grabbed my chin hard. “You still think you are strong because of your Taekwondo? Because of your therapy? Let me remind you how weak you really are.”

He hit me again. Not hard enough to break bones, but hard enough to hurt. He kicked the chair so I fell over. He left me on the floor for hours, tied up, cold and hurting.

But I refused to break.

Every time the pain got too bad, I closed my eyes and remembered my therapy sessions. I remembered the breathing exercises. I remembered the words my therapist taught me: “You are not what he says you are. You are stronger than he knows.”

I whispered to myself when he left the room, “I am safe. I am strong. They are coming for me. Knox is coming for me. Aaron is coming for me.”

On the third day, Grey was getting frustrated. He could see I was not breaking the way he wanted.

“Why won’t you cry for me?” he shouted, grabbing my hair again. “Why won’t you beg like you used to?”

I looked up at him, my voice hoarse but steady. “Because I am not yours anymore. I will never be yours again. No matter what you do to me, I will never belong to you.”

He screamed in anger and slapped me again. “You will break. I will make you break.”

I tasted blood in my mouth but I smiled through it. “You can try. But you will fail.”

He stormed out of the room and slammed the door. I was alone again. My body hurt everywhere. I was hungry and thirsty and exhausted. But my mind was still mine.

I closed my eyes and whispered to myself, “Hold on, Yael. They are coming. Just hold on a little longer.”

I thought about Knox’s arms around me. I thought about Aaron’s protective voice. I thought about Maya’s laugh, Jordan’s strength, and Liam’s kindness. I thought about my mom and how she w
ould want me to be brave.

I was not going to let Grey win.

Not this time.