The mirrored mask gets closer. Closer. Closer. Until it brushes my lips where their lips would be, then my forehead, then each of my cheeks. It’s so close I can only see my own eyes as they drag my hand to their wrist again, curling my fingers around it and squeezing, then doing the same to the other.
Only one person kissed my face like that and told me to hold his wrists.
“Kane?” I whisper in fear.
He nods as I cry, deflating against the sand.
“You’re alive, you’re alive, thank God you’re alive.”
I twist my hands, threading them between our bodies to wrap them around him, feeling him breathing.
“She lied, you’re alive.”
I savor the feeling of him one last time before I sniffle, pulling my tears back. “There’s no one else on this island, but you might be able to swim to another country. We’re off the coast of England. You were always good at knowing random places in the world. So run. Don’t let her win.”
His rage comes back as he grabs me by my hair, dragging me with him as he stands. The sand sticks to the cuts on my feet, little shells opening the parts that managed to scab over, but he doesn’t stop even though I’m limping to keep the weight off my swollen ankle.
When I see Helene standing at the bottom of the cliff again, I don’t try to fight him. She made me think he was dying then sent him after me, the psychotic bitch. Who the fuck thinks of manipulating someone in that way?
The smug, twisted bitch looks down at my torn dress and trembling legs. There’s something deeply wrong with her when she’s bolstered by the thought of her grandson raping his wife. It’s not the type of wrong which can be fixed, unless it’s with fire like Asher.
Kane drags me through the open door as I meet her eyes, smiling. “Do you want to know what Asher smelt like when he was burning?”
She whips her hand up, striking my cheek with her stick but I laugh. “I take that as a no?”
I’ve got Kane back, she can’t take him away or use him anymore, so fuck her. I’ll keep being a thorn in her side in any way I can, then like my mother, she’ll realize she’s run out ofoptions. All of her cards are gone now that I have the stability of my memories to rely on.
“Do whatever you want to me, Helene. I’m not afraid of you and it hurts you, doesn’t it?” I widen my eyes, refusing to back down as Kane remains still. “None of this means shit if you’re not in control. Guess what, you old, ugly bitch? I was in control at seventeen when I took your precious reflection away. Oh, the mighty Helene is nothing when a dumb teenage whore dismantled her perverted empire.”
Her stick comes up again.
I’m dragged backwards, out of her reach as she rages, “Get out of my sight!”
“Close your eyes then.” I lean forward, taunting her. “Or I could take them out of your head.”
I stretch my arms forward to grab her, but Kane drags me back. He doesn’t stop as we go up a flight of stairs. We enter the kitchen I fucking hate, and he keeps walking, through the double doors, then up the spiral staircase. He doesn’t stop until we’re in the room we were in last time.
Slamming the door behind him, he lets go of my hair.
“I was so scared when I couldn’t find you.” I wrap my arms around his middle.
With the heel of his palms, he pushes against my shoulders.
“Please, can you take the mask off?” I whisper, staring up at him. “It reminds me of the room they kept me in.”
He cocks his head to the side then shakes his head.
“Kane, I remember everything.”
He shakes his head again as he storms past me, into the bathroom. The shards of glass from when he was punching the tiles are still on the sink, which he uses to cut through the leather at the back of the mask. Blood drips through his gloves and he ends up cutting his hair, but he doesn’t stop until he’s removed it.
When he does, there’s dried blood at the corner of his lips.
His voice is rough, broken, as he snaps, “Fuck you.”
“No.” I step forward. “You do not get to speak to me like shit again. Not now, when we’re all we have.”
“All we have?” He laughs, running the water to wash the blood off his face. “I never fucking had you. Not when you opened your legs for anyone who could get it up.” He roughly pulls his gloves off. “Stupid fucking me. Obviously if you were cheating on Asher, why would I be different?”
