Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Eli, stop,” Amelia says with a soft but outspoken voice.
“Why?” I ask, grinding my teeth. “Why should I stop?”
“Not every crime deserves death,” she replies.
“This one certainly does.” I know she can see the rage spilling out of me, but it’s hard to keep it in when I’ve fought so hard to finally get to her only to watch her crumble in front of me because of someone else’s actions. I can’t let this go. I just can’t.
But as my eyes flutter back to the drunk lying in front of me, my finger hovering over the trigger, she goes to stand between him and me, her arms and legs wide.
How? How could she defend this man?
“I don’t understand,” I say, my hand shaking because shame is flooding my system at the thought of pointing a gun to her chest. “Amelia. Why would you want this man to live after what he did to you?”
“Because everyone deserves a second chance. And no one else needs to die because of me,” she says, keeping her head held high, despite the fact the man she’s protecting is a monster who tried to use her innocence against her.
“Even him?” I growl.
“Even him.” A tear rolls down her face. “Because if he doesn’t get one … how could I deserve one?”
Her words undo me. They crack what was left of the protective barrier I’d constructed around my heart. And as her hand rests on my arm, I let her lower the gun until it’s no longer pointed at anyone, and my heart is no longer screaming for me to kill this man who dared to defile her.
Because when she wraps her arms around me, everything around us ceases to exist.
Amelia
“Thank you,” I mumble.
The words fall from my mouth with ease even though I know Eli isn’t a good guy. He protected me. All that anger, all that rage, confounded into one single thing … love. And that made him fight for me. How can I not be grateful?
Behind us, the drunk’s feet drag across the floor as he pulls himself up.
“Fuck you, I’m out of here,” he growls, but I pay no attention to him.
All I can do is bask in the warmth of Eli’s body, his intoxicating scent filling my nostrils, pulling me in closer and closer until I want nothing more than for him to stay.
He saved me from a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. And not just that. When I was down on my knees, crying, wishing I wasn’t alone, wishing he was here … he actually came. And I don’t know why, but my heart beats faster and faster when I hear his. With my head against his chest, I want nothing more than to stay like this, for all eternity if I could.
But I know that isn’t possible.
Because he is the man who kept me as a prisoner.
I pull back, taking a few steps away from him. The drunk is already gone. All that’s left is him and me. Us. And all the millions of unspoken words we have yet to say.
His lips part as he gazes at me, and mine do too, but I can’t find the words for the thoughts swirling through my head. All the questions were left unanswered. All the reasons for my escape. All the lies that led to my betrayal.
“That was brave of you …” he murmurs after a while.
My fists clench. I thought about hurting that man. I wanted Eli to pull the trigger so badly, but I knew it wasn’t right. That man was awful, and he deserves to be punished for what he did, but he didn’t deserve to die.
“I did what I had to do,” I say as images of his gun flash in front of my eyes again. “To make you stop.”
He frowns, his posture rigid, like a rock. “Is that what you want? For me to stop?”
I swallow as an unsettling feeling grows in my stomach. “If it will make people stop hurting, then yes.”
“I’m not the one who causes the hurt,” he says, his face darkening.
When he steps closer, I step away. Even when I know I cannot trust him, I still sense a kind of disbelief. Like I wish it would be different.
“Why did you run?” he asks.
“You know why,” I hiss.
“No,” he says. “And to be frank, I was upset when you left without telling me.”
I snort. “You think I’d tell you that I was going to run? After how the first escape went?”
He sucks in a breath loudly. “Your punishment wasn’t over yet when you first ran.”
“Oh, and now it is?”
He blinks a couple of times and looks away. “You remember your sin now.”
I sigh, biting the inside of my cheek as I hate that he’s reminded me of Chris. “That doesn’t change a thing.”