Page 110 of Through the Flames
It sliced through the nightmare, slaying my demons.
My eyes flew open, and the room swam back into focus, with Ella’s face hovering close to mine. My chest heaved like I’d run a marathon, and my hand — my fucking hand — was clamped around her arm.
Hard enough to bruise.
I let go like she burned me, scrambling back, heartbeat slamming against bone.
“Fuck!” My voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to… I’d never … God, I’dneverhurt you.”
Ella didn’t flinch, didn’t even move back like I deserved. She just reached out, fingers grazing my wrist like nothing about me scared her.
Her gentle touch damn near gutted me.
“I’m fine,” she said softly, like she knew what I needed before I did.
But I wasn’t. I was a storm trapped inside my own skin, and every breath felt like swallowing glass.
I wanted to tell her to leave, to run, because what was happening — me breaking apart in front of her — wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to see this side of me.
I didn’t give her a choice when I dragged her into my orbit, didn’t give her room to say no when I told her how it was going to be.
She plays the part. She stays by my side. She belongs to me until I decide otherwise.
It was our deal, and yet, it hadneverbeen about the deal.
All of this was about her, always her. From the second she’d touched me, I knew I wasn’t letting go.
So why the hell was she still here?
Why wasn’t she scared?
Didn’t she understand yet? This wasn’t pretend. This wasn’t temporary. I didn’tdotemporary.
The truth was, I’d raze the earth before I let her walk away. Ella was mine, she had been from the second I decided it. But she needed to hear every ugly truth first, because once she did, she’d understand what that meant.
She’d know there was no way out, not for either of us.
Ishould’velet her go. Really should have. It was what normal men did when the cracks started showing.
But I couldn’t move, couldn’tbreathewithout her close, so I grabbed her.Hard.
Arms around her like if I didn’t hold on, I’d come apart. My chest crushed to her back, my forehead buried in the curve of her neck, dragging in her scent like it was oxygen, and I’d been drowning for years.
She didn’t fight against my hold, she just … let me.
“You want to know how fucked up I really am?” My voice rasped against her skin, raw and jagged, like her fate hadn’t already been sealed. “You want the whole story? The one nobody ever heard? Just know, once I tell you, there’s no going back.Ever.”
Her breath hitched, but she stayed silent. Stayed still.
Brave or stupid, I didn’t care which.
“When I was nine, I watched my dad kill my mom.” The words spilled out, low and lethal. “Cracked her skull like she was nothing. Then he staged it and made it look like an accident. The police bought it.Everyonebought it.”
I laughed, sharp and broken. “You would think I would have told someone, but there was no point. The man owned everything. Every cop, every judge, every headline. He buried her and kept on smiling for the cameras.”
My grip on her waist tightened until my hands shook.
“And then he just kept fucking going. New wives, different faces. Broke them downpiece by piece, and no one did a damn thing. But then came Sasha.” My voice cracked on the name. “Myfather’s last wife’s son. Sasha hated the bastard worse than me, and he was bigger and older … maybe I would’ve beat him to it eventually, but one night, he snapped. Beat my father to death with his bare hands.”
