Page 14 of Savage Knight
“Okay.”
“If you need anything, call the concierge.”
“Okay.”
“Or Saxon.”He frowned.“Actually, maybe not him.He’d never hurt you but he could drive you up a wall.”
“It’s all good, Evren.And I promise not to snoop.I’m not that kind of person.”
Scias would’ve beaten her unconscious if she’d gone snooping, and as a perfectly trained wife, she’d learned to keep her curiosity under wraps.
“I didn’t think you would.”He slid his suit jacket on.“I usually go work out at night.You can come with me if you’d like.Our private gym is at the end of the hall.”
“Oh, um, we’ll see,” she said.“By the way, do you have any paper and pen?”
“Yeah, let me get it for you.”He disappeared down the hall and when he came back, he had a pad of legal paper and a few pens.“Is this okay?”
“Perfect,” she replied, taking it from him.“Thank you.”
“If you need me, just hitpound one two threeon the phone.The operator will page me.We should probably get you a phone so you can stay in contact.”He cleared his throat.“You know I wouldn’t abandon you if I didn’t have to.”
“You’re not abandoning me,” she said gently.“I’mthe intruder in your life.I don’t want to disrupt it too much.”
He shook his head.“You’re not an intruder.I’m glad I was there to help you.”
She laid a hand on his arm.Under the cool cotton of his button-down shirt, the corded muscles rippled beneath her fingers.A small flutter tickled through her belly, causing her to yank her hand back.She still wasn’t sure if she liked this attraction she had for him.Or, maybe it’s simple fascination because she’d been thinking of him, and his offer to save her, for years.
“Thank you, Evren.For everything.”
“You’re welcome.Well, I better get to work.”
After he left, she stood in front of the wall of windows, staring over the Las Vegas landscape, wondering ...where did she go from here?Whowasshe?She’d spent her entire life under someone’s thumb, and she hadn’t the faintest idea what made her tick.Her interests.Her wishes.Her daydreams.In her past life she’d been too broken to do anything except be the scared little mouse Scias turned her into.
Lowen hated that version of herself.Even now, hated how fear ruled every aspect of her life.All the baggage from that other timeline had followed her to this new one.Sure, she could vow to never again be that pathetic woman, terrified of her own shadow.Declare she would be strong enough to stand on her own two feet.
But...
Saying it and doing it were entirely two different things.Truth was, she was in unknown territory, without a guidebook to point which way to go.Lowen knew Scias would search for her, if for no other reason than her disappearance made him look bad.He might even go after her father, although she had a difficult time feeling sorry for him.If there was one thing the past two years had taught her, it was that she hated the man who helped create her.Almost as much as she hated the world she’d been born into.
Turning from the window, she headed into the kitchen and made herself a cup of hot tea before getting comfortable at the table.She clicked the end of the pen, organizing her thoughts.Then, like a dam breaking, the words tumbling in her head poured out.She wrote her story, starting with the first moment she realized what it meant to be born into the world of organized crime.Her father always called it “The Business,” but there wasn’t anything legit about it.As a girl, she’d been expected to act a certain way.Think a certain way.Bow down to the leader.Cower in front of men.And she learned her part very well.
Page after page, she purged the thoughts in her head.Everything she’d lived through, especially the two years married to a monster.The fear and cowardice, the humiliation and pain.It all flowed through her fingers in an effort to purge it from her psyche.Hoping this would free her soul, and guide her future in the right direction.
Time passed.With each stroke of the pen, she dispelled more and more poison decaying her soul.It was only when her butt started to go numb from sitting that she moved.Standing, she stretched, then went to the bathroom to relieve herself.After washing her hands, she took a moment to stare at herself in the mirror.
Even her reflection was different.She now existed before Scias had the chance to break her.Where his fists hadn’t scarred her until she refused to look at her reflection.Leaning close to the mirror, she lifted her lip and realized her front teeth were the real ones.Shifting her bangs over, gone was the scar at her hairline from when he’d pushed her into a wall and her forehead had sliced open from a partially exposed nail.
She had truly been reborn, and Lowen never wanted to be that other person ever again.The shell of a woman forged from agony and abuse.Maybe she needed therapy.Scratch that.Shedefinitelyneeded therapy, but it would have to wait until she figured everything else out.Perhaps she needed to seek asylum from a different country.Surely, Scias wouldn’t come after her in Canada.Or England.Or Australia.Someplace where she could be a different person altogether.
The dark sheen of her hair caught her attention, and she wondered if it would be a good idea to change her appearance.Change everything that gave Scias a way to find her.She would ask Evren when he got home.Which reminded her that she could cook him dinner as a way to say thank you for all he’d done for her.
Heading back to the kitchen, she decided to find something to eat.It wasn’t that she was hungry, but she needed to keep her strength up.Add a little weight to her skeletal frame.Finding brie cheese, she pulled that out along with some crackers in a cupboard, and made herself a snack.Grabbing a bottle of water, she headed back to the table where the urge to write still gripped her.
She wrote until her hand hurt.Until her brain was fried.Looking at each page, she wondered how she had all the pent-up anxiety festering inside and didn’t go crazy.
When it was fully dark, she stood and stretched before heading to the ceiling windows once more.Vegas sparkled at night.The world lay before her like a runway leading to the promised land.
She didn’t want to be a fugitive inside her own fear.She didn’t want history to repeat itself and her whole future ruined by Scias Mailliard.Again.This was a chance to live her life over.To experience things andbethe person she knew lurked deep inside.To be brave, if she could only find the courage.
