"Anthea?" Julian reached out, gently taking my hand. "Don't worry. Leave it to me. I'll help you."
"Thank you, Julian." I heard myself say.
But my heart clenched painfully.
Damn it, Anthea, what are you thinking?
Silas spied on you, violated you while you slept, and imprisoned you. He's a control freak, a psycho—but he's also the man whose hair turned white overnight because of you, the man who wore your ashes around his neck, the man who put Marcus in his place for you.
Two voices battled in my head. I understood that despite how many times he'd hurt me, despite seeing his darkest side, I still loved him.
The realization brought pain, but I couldn't deny it.
But could what he'd done really be forgiven?
I didn't know. All I knew was that I didn't want to stop Julian.
This all needed to end.
After lunch,I said goodbye to Julian, who looked fired up, and returned to my apartment. The moment I hit the bed, I was out.
When I woke, it was dark. Lights had come on in the building across the street. That's when Sarah arrived.
She brought a huge bag of snacks—chips, chocolate, popcorn, and Coke. The second she walked in, she pushed me onto the couch.
"Talk." She sat cross-legged across from me, ripping open a bag of chips. "From the beginning. Don't leave out a single word."
I leaned back against the couch, hugging a pillow, and started talking.
From the moment I found the tapes. Those surveillance feeds, him sneaking into my room while I slept...
"Fuck!" Sarah's chip fell on the carpet. She grabbed it quickly. "I didn't think he was such a freak!"
Maybe because I'd already told Julian once, this time, the words flowed easier. How he imprisoned me, wouldn't let me leave the manor. How I refused to eat, how he begged me by the bed to take one bite. How I held the gun to his heart but couldn't shoot.
"You didn't kill him?" Sarah's eyes went wide.
"I... couldn't do it," I said quietly.
Sarah stared at me for a while, then pulled a chocolate bar from the bag, unwrapped it, and stuck it in my mouth.
"Eat." She tossed a chip in her own mouth. "You're a skeleton."
The chocolate melted on my tongue, the sweetness making me want to cry.
"Then what?" Sarah didn't ask why I couldn't pull the trigger, just moved on. "How'd he suddenly let you go?"
"I almost slit my wrists with broken porcelain."
Sarah's eyes reddened.
"I'm fine." I rushed to explain. "I just wanted to force his hand. Iknew he was watching the cameras, that he'd stop me. I wouldn't really have done it."
Sarah looked at me, tears pooling in her eyes.
"You asshole." She cursed me.
I didn't argue.
