Page 68 of The Boy I Loved
Repulsion bubbled up inside me. “Everyone has a choice,” I countered, tilting my chin so we were eye to eye. “And riskedme? What about all of the other girls yourisked?”
Did he really think that made him a good person in my eyes? That I’d magically be okay with his part in all of this, simply because he wanted to ‘protect’ me? If so, he didn’t know me at all. I knew something was going on with him, but I never in a million years would have suspectedthis.
He narrowed his eyes, his jaw ticking with restrained anger. “I would risk the entire fucking world if it kept you and Alice safe.”
I shook my head, my stomach curling with a multitude of things I couldn’t quite place. It sounded nice when he said it, but it wasn’t right. A woman had been stripped from her child and was thrown right back into a cell without proper care. Lauren was assaulted with an amputated hand. None of this was okay. Stacy … She’d been beaten. How could Dominic stand there and tell me that he’d do anything to protect me when there were so many others who needed that same protection?
“You see me differently now, don’t you?” he asked, though it didn’t sound like a question. He seemed to already know the answer.
“Yes,” I admitted. “I don’t think you’re any different from Mason, Vincent, Clay, Cody, Rodney, Nicholas—any of them.”
He was silent for a few moments but finally nodded. “Good. Because I’m not.”
I knew that already but hearing him admit it had my stomach dropping. How could the boy I loved turn into this … thismonster? I should have listened to him when he told me to stay away. I probably wouldn’t be here now.
The door opening at the end of the hall had my shoulders drawing tight. Dominic quickly stepped away, casting me one last glance before leaving my cell altogether.
I blew out a ragged breath, attempting to steady my racing heart.The conversation went a little better than expected. A part of me thought he’d be as callous as his friends, but he did seem to care for me still—in his own, twisted way. That didn’t redeem him or make anything he was doing right, but it offered a tiny amount of relief.
I made my way to the mattress and lowered myself on it, drawing my knees to my chest. At this point, it felt like I was just going through the motions. There was no hope for me, not anymore. When people got sucked into trafficking, they were usually never heard from again. I wanted to be realistic here, otherwise I’d let myself down immensely.
I’m sorry, Mom.
I’m sorry, Dad.
I’m sorry, Tory.
I’m sorry, Katrina.
I’m sorry, Alice.
I’m sorry, Hazel.
My parents would never see me again. They’d never watch me graduate or fall in love. They’d never be blessed with grandchildren. Dad couldn’t walk me down the aisle while Mom sobbed in the crowd. Katrina couldn’t stuff baked goods down my throat when she was lonely—which had been frequent with Dom’s absence and her husband’s passing. She still had Alice, but maybe it wasn’t the same.
Fuck … Alice.
Did she even know what her brother did? Would she be as devastated as I was? She was such a sweet girl; I wasn’t sure she’d be okay with any of this at all if she knew. In fact, she’d probably hate him more than I did,ifI did. My emotions were all over the place. It would be easier to hate him, but I wasn’t sure I could. How did you go from pining after someone for years to hating them at the drop of a hat?
Tristan’s voice sliced through my thoughts, pulling me back to reality.
“I talked to Mason earlier,” he said, his words directed at Dominic. “He fingered the new girl. Shit. What was her name again? Hannah?”
“Hazel,” Dominic offered with a slight strain to his words.
I winced. Did these assholes only ever talk about sex and women? Even when we weren’t being assaulted, we had to listen to that bullshit.
“Yeah, that’s her name.” He chuckled. “He told me something interesting about her actually. And about you.”
My heart slammed against my ribcage. I thought he and Mason were friends. Then again, Dominicdidpunch him at Rodney’s party recently, so maybe that put a strain on it.
There was a small moment of silence before Dominic replied. “And?” he asked, losing his patience.
“And … he told me that you and Hazel have quite the history. I’ll spare you of all the gory details, but I must admit, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
My breathing labored, the floor tilting from beneath me. Dominic brought me here? I wasn’t sure before, and frankly, I didn’t even think a lot about it. My hands slipped through my reddish-brown strands, tugging at them in defeat. I should have known better than to ever fucking trust him.Hedid this to me. He brought me here to become some kind of sex slave. I fucking loved him, and this was what he did to me in return. He said he loved me too. Was it all a lie? Were they mind games?
It felt like someone had reached into my chest, wrapped their fingers around my heart and squeezed until blood squirted from it at all angles. I couldn’t help but question if anything Dom and I had shared was real, or if it was a ploy to bring me here. I knew we’d been true friends at one point, but when had that changed?
