Page 22 of Rough Ride

“You can try,” she replied. “I’m not messing around this time, Kye. I’m fighting for my life, and you’ll find I don’t go as easily as before.”

“First of all, you didn’t make it easy the last time,” he scowled, and she felt a small sense of pride. “Secondly, you’re not fighting me for your life. I’ll keep you safe.”

“I don’t believe you,” Eliana snapped. “You can say that until you’re blue in the face, but you haven’t given me one shred of evidence that you will. So far, you’re the one who’s kidnapped me, locked me in the house, kept me here, watched as Max beat me then manipulated me into staying.”

“I manipulated you?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes!” she yelled. “You seduced me, preyed on our history together, and used it as leverage to make me feel sorry for you. I should have left when you were gone and let you face the consequences. I didn’t because I… because I…”

“What? Because you what?” Kye asked in equal volume. She’d backed herself into the corner of the room, her feet standing on papers from the overturned table. She was still shaking her head when he stood in front of her. “Because you what?” Kye asked, more gently this time.

“Because I was worried about you. Because I care about you. I didn’t want you to get punished for my disappearing… escaping.” His hands were on her cheeks, and he kissed her. Eliana neither protested nor reciprocated the kiss as his thumbs brushed her cheeks.

“You still care about me?” he asked with a small grin. She didn’t answer. “That’s good…”

“Is it?”

“Because I’m still in love with you.”

“What?”

“I never stopped loving you, Eliana,” Kye said, looking down at her. “I’ve watched over you since you left. Followed your success in school. Watched you graduate with honors. Read about the first case you took to trial and won. I’ve loved you every day since we met.”

“Kye… I…”

“Trust me now; I won’t let anything happen to you. I know Max’s game. I can navigate this. For now, we have to act like we’re playing along. Let him be distracted with compliance. I’ve got friends outside his circle. I can make a few calls, get you out of the country where he can’t find you. Do you have your passport with you?”

“It’s in my bag upstairs,” she answered, and Kye nodded.

“That’s good,” he said, running his fingers through her hair in a soothing manner. “Once my plan is in place, I’ll let you in on everything. I promise. No lies. No manipulation. I just need you to trust me a little longer. Can you do that?”

Eliana didn’t answer but instead held his gaze for a long moment. He was pressing into her, and she had to admit, the way he shielded her from the room with his size gave her a sense of security. Every nerve in her body was on alert, surging with adrenaline as her fight or flight instinct was ready to trigger at the slightest provocation. Yet here was Kye. Her rock. Firm and sturdy and unrelenting.

She lifted her hand that held the keys, and she handed them to him. Kye took them and slid them into his pocket. “Thank you,” he said and took a small step backward. Nodding slightly, she knelt to begin gathering the papers from the floor. “Let me help,” he offered.

“I can’t say it didn’t feel good to see you lose your temper a little,” Eliana admitted as they worked to clean up the mess. “I was starting to think nothing got to you.”

“There are a lot of things that get to me,” Kye confessed as he up-righted the table. “I guess I’ve gotten used to keeping my feelings in check.”

“No pun intended,” Eliana said as she helped him to situate the table, “but my how the tables have turned.” He grinned. “Remember when I used to be the one who barely showed emotion?”

“I used to think you were impenetrable,” he said and pushed the chairs back in before gathering the candlesticks. “We both have learned to handle things in our own way. How to survive. You with your dad and me with Max.”

“I can understand,” she said, pausing to place her hands on her hips. “I can’t be mad at you for it, but I miss the old you. You used to have so much joy in your eyes. Now…”

“Now?” he asked, leaning on the edge of the table. He held his arm out to her, and she tucked herself against him, his hands dropping to her hips.

“Sometimes when I look in your eyes, it’s like… you’re not there. You’re here, but your mind is worlds away. It seems cold, but I know that it’s for show. You seem cold because you’re distancing yourself.”

“Bad habit I suppose,” Kye said, feeling he’d adopted the routine subconsciously over the years. Eliana wrapped her arms around his neck.

“If I’m going to trust you,” she began as she laced her fingers together, “I need you to let me in. Show me that you have something to lose in all of this too. Don’t hide from me.”

“Eli,” he said, gripping her a little tighter. “I have everything to lose. If something happened to you I… I don’t know what I would do.”

“That’s not good enough,” she said firmly. “I need you to know what you would do. If something happens to me, if you think for a moment it’s going to come to that, I need you to kill him. I need you to kill Max. It’s either him or me. Promise me that.”

Kye swallowed hard. He’d known in the back of his mind it would come to this, but he’d pushed the thought away for as long as he could. “I promise,” he said with every ounce of honesty and sincerity in him. “I’ll kill Max before I let anything happen to you.”