A shadow. A shift. The kind of tension that creeps along the floor before the air even changes.
I turn.
And I see him.
John.
Leaning against the doorway like he owns the place, like he isn’t a monster in human skin. His smile is the same one he wore before every bruise. Wide. Crooked. Mean.
My blood goes cold.
"Hey, princess."
That voice. That name. I haven’t heard it in more than a week and it still has the power to turn my stomach.
I stand frozen, heart hammering so loud it drowns out the rest of the room. I can’t scream. Can’t run. There are kids everywhere.
That’s the point.
This isn’t chaos. It’s control. He wants me scared and silent. He knows I won’t make a scene with children in the room. He’s always known how to make me small.
“Time to come home,” he says softly, like it’s a joke only we’re in on.
The kids don’t understand. They laugh and keep coloring. One of them tugs on my sleeve, showing me a drawing of a monster truck. I nod, not even seeing it.
John’s eyes don’t leave mine.
I walk toward him because I have no choice.
Because if I don’t, he’ll make this public. He’ll hurt someone to get what he wants.
His fingers close around my arm the second I’m close enough. He grips like always. Too hard, too sure, like he owns me.
“You scream,” he murmurs, “I kill someone.”
I don’t scream.
I let him drag me out the back door, into a black car with tinted windows. The door shuts behind me with the cold thud of a coffin.
I’m gone.
And no one sees it.
No one stops it.
I think of Diesel like a prayer and a curse.
I don’t want him to come. Because if he comes, he’ll get hurt.
I want him to come. Because he’s the only one who ever has.
Because I love him. I realize that now.
And because I’m terrified. To not see him again.
John ties my hands behind my back with the ease of practice. I don’t fight. Not yet. He’d enjoy it. He thrives on the struggle. I won’t give it to him.
“Did you really think crawling into some biker’s bed made you safe?” he spits. “You were supposed to spread your legs, not fallfor him. Seduce him. Feed us intel. Instead, you played house with the enemy and sold out your family.”
