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I didn’t answer. Not fast enough.

His fist slammed into the side of my head. White light exploded. My vision flickered. I felt my body go loose. Splinters of pain radiated out. He hit me again, the same spot.

He grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanked back so hard my scalp screamed. He wanted me to look at him, to see the monster he became when I wouldn’t obey.

“You want me to be the bad guy? You want me to hurt you? Is that what you fucking want?” His voice sounded like it was underwater, echoing through tunnels. “Because you make me do this. You fucking make me.”

He shook me, hard, like he was trying to rattle the soul out of my body. “You’re never fucking grateful.”

He let go of my hair. I crumpled to the floor. My head pulsed painfully.

He circled, stalking, a predator with nothing else to kill. “It’s always my fault. I’m always the bastard. You cry and whimper and make me look like the villain. But you’re the one who’s broken, Starla. You always were. That’s why you left. That’s why you keep running. Nothing I do will ever be enough for someone like you.”

Hot tears burned my eyes. I couldn’t wipe them away. My hands were useless, shaking on the carpet.

He crouched next to me, face inches away. “I bet you liked it, didn’t you? Letting him chain you up, letting him fuck you like a whore. Made you feel special. Because you’re so good at playing the victim. Always were. Even before you left.”

He hauled me up by the jaw. Fingers bruising, digging, forcing my mouth open. “You want to talk back? Go ahead.” His voice was low, mocking. “Tell me how I’m the monster. Tell me how awful I am. Look at me and say it.”

I tried to breathe. I tried to speak. The words stuck in my throat.

He let my head go.

“That’s what I thought. You need to learn, Starla. Nobody will love you like I do. Nobody will take care of you like I do. You leave again, you’ll regret it.”

He slammed the door shut, leaving me alone with a bruised and aching body. Nothing was broken, but I felt broken.

Why did life have to turn out this way? Why couldn’t I have found my knight in shining armor? Why? Why? Why?

Chapter 29

Save Me

Starla

He kept me isolated for two weeks.

I wasn’t chained to a wall. There were no locks. But he made it clear that I couldn’t go anywhere. I didn’t have my car anymore, it was still at the farmhouse. I was trapped and didn’t have anything.

Brandon bought me a new phone on the fifteenth day.

He tossed the box onto the kitchen table like he was doing me a favor. “Since you’ve been good these past few weeks, I decided to get you a phone. You’re going to order new shit today. Whatever you lost when you ran off like an idiot.”

My eyes went to the box. I didn’t know what to trust. He beat me a few weeks ago, now he was giving me a phone? I opened the box carefully and pulled out the phone. It was an older iPhone. Probably used.

“Don’t get excited. I’m setting the passcode so I can know what you’re up to at all times. Can’t have you acting out and being a bad girl.” He stood there and crossed his arms, as if he were my guard and I was his prisoner.

I sat at the table while he stood over me, watching every page I opened. I took care of replacement cards, opened emails, and anything else that I would need to do.

“Use this address,” he said.

I looked up. “What?”

His eyes hardened. “Where else is it going to go? The farmhouse?”

I flinched. My fingers shook as I typed his address in for everything.

His house, his mailbox, his rules. My name was being dragged back into his control. I thought getting a phone would make me feel less trapped. I thought it would remind me that I was still a person. It didn’t.