Page 62 of Love Under Siege

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Anya

My eyes snap open, disoriented, heart pounding. Lana's muffled sobs echo through the darkness, cutting through my groggy mind like a knife. Fear grips me immediately. "Lana?" I whisper urgently, but she keeps crying, her breaths ragged and shallow. Panic rises in my chest, and I sit up. "Please, talk to me," I plead, voice shaking with a desperate urgency.

For a moment, her sobs subside, but when she speaks again, her words are heavy with despair. "I can’t do this," she chokes out, her voice barely above a whisper. "It’s too hard... I don’t know when he’ll come back. Maybe... maybe it would be better if I wasn’t here anymore."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut, and for a second, I can’t breathe.No. Dread fills my chest, cold and suffocating. "Lana!" I manage to say, louder than intended. "Don’t—don’t say that! You can’t think like that!" My voice wavers, but I push through, trying to steady it. "We’ll get through this, together. You have to stay strong. Please."

She sniffles, but her sobs don’t stop. "I’m not strong, Anya... I’m not. He’s going to come back. You know he will." Her voice cracks, and the hopelessness in it shatters me.

"You are strong," I tell her, trying to force every bit of belief I have into my words. "Lana, you’re one of the strongest women I know. That’s why we’re best friends. You can’t give up now."

But she doesn’t respond. Her sobs continue, and then she says the words that make my blood run cold. "He’s going to come back... He’s going to rape you again." The pain in her voice is like a physical wound.

My stomach twists violently and not because of my stab wounds, but I force myself to stay calm. "I know," I whisper, my throat tight. "I know he is." I can’t deny it. The truth of it is suffocating, looming over us like a storm cloud. "But I’ve been through this before, Lana. I survived Paul. I can survive this." My voice doesn’t falter, though my body trembles. "And if we want it to stop, we have to fight back."

Lana’s sobs soften into broken breaths. "No... no, we can’t," she says, barely above a whisper. "We can’t."

"We have to." I take a deep breath, holding back my own tears, forcing myself to stay grounded in the chaos. "If we don’t, he’ll just keep coming back. He’ll keep hurting us. And I refuse to let him win."

But Lana’s silence is crushing. The weight of everything we’ve been through presses down on me, and for a moment, I feel like I’m drowning in it. But I won’t let it consume me. Not now. Not when Lana needs me to be strong for both of us.

"Lana," I whisper, reaching for her in the darkness, "we’re still here. We’re still alive. That means we’ve got a chance. We’re not powerless. We can survive this. We can escape this nightmare. I promise you, we’ll find a way."

For a moment, it feels like the world is holding its breath.

She sniffles, her voice trembling, “N-no, w-we can’t...”

“Alana Michelle Caldwell!” I shout, using her full name with the kind of authority that only a best friend can muster. “You better pull yourself together and bring back my badass best friend! We don’t have time for this.”

For a moment, there’s nothing but silence. I hold my breath, praying my words reached her. Then, I hear it—the subtle shift in her voice, a spark of determination.

“Okay,” she says, the strength slowly building. “Okay... let’s fight back.”

Relief floods through me, and I flash a quick grin. “That’s the spirit! Now, come on, let’s shake this off and get back to work!”

To my surprise, Lana bursts out laughing. I shoot her a confused look, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“I stay out too late...” she starts singing through her chuckles, a mischievous glint in her eye.

I blink. “What are you even talking about?”

She grins wider. “Got nothing in my brain...”

Then it hits me, the memory sliding into place like a puzzle piece. Our karaoke anthem from the cruise. I can’t help but smile as I join in.

“I go on too many dates... but I can't make them stay…”

In perfect sync, we belt out the chorus, louder and more defiant with each word. “‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play! And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate! Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake... I shake it off, I shake it off!”

For a brief moment, we’re not trapped, scared, or wounded. We’re just two friends singing at the top of our lungs, caught in a memory of simpler, happier days.

But the reality of our situation creeps back in, and we fall silent, our gazes locking once more.

“Lana, we need a plan.” I say, my voice urgent but steady.

She sighs, shaking her head. “I already tried fighting when he took us. And besides, you’re injured.”

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