Chapter 34—Olivia

I stare at my trembling hands and push my head back against the wall.

I’ve been sitting on the floor in the bedroom for a few hours.

All day I’ve been shaking as images of how my death will happen ran through my mind.

I haven’t spoken to Aiden since yesterday.

He didn’t come to bed last night after that conversation with Maksim.

At first, I thought it was best I didn’t see him. Then I realized not seeing him wasn’t good either.

I wondered if perhaps he was distancing himself for a reason. Like maybe it would make it easier to kill me. Maybe he’s one of those criminals who need to do that. It’s like when you give an animal a name and treat it like a pet; you give it meaning. When it’s not that anymore, it’s easier not to feel anything when you end its life.

Perhaps that’s how he’s thinking of me.

It’s raining outside, raining heavily with thunder and lightning illuminating the sky.

It would be a dramatic night to die, but very fitting. Mom told me I was born in a storm.

But unlike when she had Eric, Dad was there. He delivered me because they didn’t get to the hospital in time. That was probably my one moment of real value I had from the father, who never really belonged to me.

Now I’m going to the place where he is.

I wonder if Aiden will kill me himself or get someone else to do it.

Maksim maybe, since it was his idea.

I nearly jump out of my skin when the door opens, and my gaze lands on Aiden.

I push to my feet because I don’t want to die on the floor.

He stares back at me with a softness in his eyes I’ve never seen before, and conflict takes me.

That stupid confliction in my soul comes back to screw with me the way it has since I met him.

Part of me wants to run to him for the safety I feel when he wraps his arms around me. But I’m not safe with him, and there’s no one to keep me safe from Aiden Romanov.

In his habitual way, he scans over my body, looking at my face first, then my breasts, and down the rest of me.

Even now, in my state of fear and fucked up mind, raw arousal pulses at my insides, and that’s when I hear that voice telling me to run again.

Run away from this man who made me feel things I didn’t know I could feel. Run away from this man who saw I needed something. What he would have seen was I needed to be rescued.

I needed to be saved.

The more heated his stare, the louder I hear the voice screaming at me.

I have to get out of here.

Not just to save myself, but to save my heart too.

I shouldn’t feel like this for a man I just met. Not for a man like him.

He walks over to me, and instinct makes me flinch away from him when he reaches out to touch my cheek.

I can’t pretend I’m okay or act like I’m fine. Even if I could, he can see I’m not.

“What’s the matter with you? Did you eat?”

My heartbeat speeds up, and all I can think of when he asks me that is I’m like a damn toy to him. Nothing more than a fuck doll. A thing.

“I ate, thank you.”

“Good. Take your clothes off and shower with me,” he says.

I think for a moment about what I should do. Taking a shower with him is only going to lead to sex.

I can’t do it knowing what he plans to do to me.

“No,” I choke out, and my answer surprises him.

“No?” His brows rise.

“I’m not going in the shower with you, Aiden.” I lift my chin a little higher. “What I want is to leave this place. I have to leave. Please let me go.”

It’s a final attempt at trying.

He grits his teeth. “I already told you I’m not letting you go.”

“If you keep me here, you’ll be the same kind of monster as Jude.”

“What if I am? It seems like you really did mistake me for a good man.”

“I didn’t, and if you are the same kind of monster as him, then you deserve everything you get.” My gaze clings to his, never wavering.

Not him, nor me.

“Do I now?”

“Yes, and you’re a hypocrite.” I don’t know where this courage is coming from, but it’s coming.

It’s clear from the flash of rage in his eyes that he doesn’t like me calling him that.

“How the fuck am I a hypocrite?” he seethes.

“Look at you, looking for your son, and you can’t understand that I’m doing the same for my brother. You don’t even care that keeping me here is putting my mother’s life in danger. You wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize your son’s life.”

“Don’t you dare talk about my son,” he snarls, getting up in my face and grabbing my arm. “Don’t think for one fucking second I’ve dropped my guard.”

He digs his fingers into my skin, and I wince.

“Let go of me.”

He pulls me closer, and with my free arm, I push against his chest to put some distance between us.

“Like fuck. You are not going anywhere. I’ll put you in a cage if I have to, and you’ll never see the light of day again.”

That does it.

Those words snap me into focus, and I remember in full-blown clarity what it was like to live in a cage and never see the sun.

In that split second, as raw fear courses through me, my flight or fight instinct takes over, and I notice two things. The first is the door is open.

The next is the desk lamp right beside us.

I have one shot only and maybe not even that. Maybe I’ll only accelerate my death if I carry out what my mind is telling me.

Just as he’s about to yank me closer, I grab the lamp and slap him hard with it right in his head.

I’m so shocked I hit him that it takes me a second to realize what I did, and I could make it out.

I could escape.

When he growls like a beast and doubles over, I grab the pen on the desk I need to use to pick the lock on the gate, then I run.

I run straight through the door like lightning is attached to the soles of my feet.

I run as fast as I can down the stairs, happy there are no guards around to stop me.

I make it to the terrace door, which slides open and rush into the heavy terrestrial rain that drenches me immediately. As my bare feet connect with the stone surface, I look around for the guards that always patrol this area. I’ve never been out here at night before.

Satisfied there’s no one around, I run into the rain and continue my pursuit toward the little gate.

When I get to the gate, I hear Aiden coming.

He’s not far behind, but I can’t let that stop me. I just have to push with all my might, mind, and strength to keep going.

I don’t even know what I’m going to do once I get through the gate, but I’ll jump in the sea and swim with the fucking Kraken if I must to break free.

With that thought, I wedge the pen into the lock just the way Eric showed me. There’s a device inside that will always break free on locks like this when you shove anything inside them that can fit.

My brother is never wrong, so when the lock pops open, I’m ready to go.

The minute I touch the gate, I hear the alarm go off, but that doesn’t stop me.

I pull open the gate just as Aiden gets outside.

He calls me back, but I don’t stop. I keep going and run through the gate onto a path.

But I’m going too fast for the slippery slope, and from where I previously was, I couldn’t see the danger that lurked beyond the gate.

I never saw the edge of the cliff, and I only just manage to note it’s exactly that right before I lose my footing and slide right over the edge.