Page 24 of Save Me
Vogue looks up at Harry with wet eyes and then over to each of us in turn. Maybe she’s searching for a sign of disgust or rejection. But she won’t find it. Not here.
“So why in the fuck did we find you with your tits out in his flat?” Thayer is not so easy to forgive.
I clench my teeth, feeling my own anger bubbling beneath the surface. It’s not aimed at her but at the whole fucked-up situation.
“Because he was going to expose me. He had videos of me, and he was blackmailing me. I’ve got too much to lose. I didn’t think you would want me if you knew all of this. I had to protect what we have.”
Thayer’s eyes narrow as he processes this, his anger now given a new direction.
“So, you went to this flat to kill him?” Harry’s voice isn’t just cold—it’s arctic. “We’d have done that for you, Vogue. If you’d trusted us.”
“I’m sorry,” she bleats.
Cal turns around and sets off again,
We ride in silence back to Crestmont, each lost in our thoughts. The campus looms before us, pristine and oblivious to the darkness we’re bringing home.
As we pull up outside the building, Vogue finally speaks again, her voice small but firm. “Thank you for not leaving me there... for giving me a chance to explain.”
I take her hand and drop a kiss on her knuckles. “Always, Vogue.”
“How did you find me?” she mumbles.
Thayer holds up the knife. “Tracker.”
She closes her eyes, her face scrunched up as if she is trying to hold onto her temper, but she brought it on herself, and the punishment for this isn’t going to go unmet. “I see,” she says eventually.
“I told you never to run out again,” Callum says coldly. “This is becoming a pattern.”
“For a good reason,” she argues.
“Yeah, well…” He trails off as he opens the van door, slamming it shut behind him. We all follow in silence as we head back up to the penthouse.
Once inside, Cal locks the door and turns to her. “Tie her up.”
I nod and grab a zip tie from my pants pocket, grabbing her wrists in front of her and locking them together.
“What the fuck?” she growls.
“This is a punishment to make sure that you never run out again, for a good reason, a bad reason, or because you want to escape from us. You are never leaving here alone again, whether you mean to or not.”
Vogue’s eyes widen as she looks at me. “What doesthatmean?”
I ignore her and cross over to the case that Thayer brings into the living room. He holds it up as I open it and pull out the mircochipper, before turning back to her.
“No,” she says, backing up, shaking her head. “No!”
“Yes,” I grit out, approaching her.
“Get the fuck away from me!” she screams, but Harry and Thayer are already on her, holding her steady as I press the tip of the microchipper to the soft skin at the nape of her neck. Her body goes rigid, defiance sparking in her eyes even as tears stream down her cheeks.
The device beeps once, and it’s done. Vogue doesn’t say another word, just stands there trembling from anger or fear, maybe both. I toss the microchipper back into the case with a clatter that feels too loud in the silence.
“You’ve got to understand why we’re doing this,” I start, trying to find some ground where we can stand together again. But Vogue’s having none of it.
“Understand?” she spits, glaring at us with betrayal etched into every feature. “You think tagging me like I’m some fucking animal is something I can just accept?”
“We’re protecting you,” Cal interjects, his voice a low growl that doesn’t quite hide his fear of thinking we’d lost her in more ways than one.
