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“You can’t…” Again he stopped me from saying more and he did this with just a look, before words followed,

“If you think I am going to hand you a second opportunity, you are sorely mistaken, little bird.”

I opened my mouth and two fingers came down over it to stop me.

“I have not finished,” he told me and I made a furious sound against them. But he didn’t argue. He simply pressed them harder and held them there until I stopped.

“Fifty-six days.” He growled it, and then he stopped. I watched his jaw set hard while he took a moment with it, and when he carried on his voice had not improved at all.

“That was what you cost me. Fifty-six days of not knowing whether you were alive, whether you were hurt, in need of care…” He paused to lightly touch the monitor on my arm.

“And I want you to understand that I am not a man who has ever had to wonder about anything, let alone care for it.” His fingers stayed where they were as he continued,

“Now I know exactly how capable you are. So that was the one and only head start I will ever give you. From this moment on, everything you do will be watched.” I got a breath out around his fingers, and he pressed just enough to stop it.

“I told you, I have not finished,” he said and waited as I stood there with a murderer’s fingers across my mouth in a room he acted like he owned.

“There are more men this time,” he informed me, “And you will see them. That is deliberate. Last time I let you believe you had room, and you took it and you made a fool of two grown men in a supermarket… you made a fool out of me for granting you space.” Something almost hard crossed his face and disappeared just as quickly.

“This time you will know exactly where every one of them is standing.” I swallowed hard and he watched as it forced its way down my throat before moving his fingers away.

“And your room above the hardware store is being fitted as we speak.”

“Fitted?” My voice came out wrong. “Fitted with what?”

“Cameras.” My eyes widened at this just as my breath left me.

“You… you can’t…”

“It is being done. Not planned, not considered. Done, Anna. Do you understand?” It wasn’t a question he wanted answered, because the panic in my face had already told him that I did.

“I know you are desperate to argue, so let me save you the trouble. Nothing about this is negotiable and none of it is going to change.”

“But that’s my home,” I said, arguing despite his warning not to.

“You forced my hand.” And there, finally, something moved in that voice, and it was not gentle at all.

“Remember that. You did this. Every camera in that room is a thing you put there.” He stepped back from me then, and the air came back into the space between us. But it was too late, as I found I couldn’t stand up straight in it.

“I can’t do this,” I said and it came out as half a cry.

“It is already being done.”

“But… but…”

“I can’t trust you,” he said flatly. “You saw to that. And once that trust is gone, these are what the consequences look like.” He scolded, and I couldn’t help but flinch.

“And if I don’t comply?” The word comply came out bitterly.

“Then you risk being discovered… the real you,” he said unapologetically and without any hesitation at all.

“And it gets you nowhere at all, because my men have standing instructions for that situation. They will take you; you have my word on that. And they will not be as patient with you as I am.” He reached out and straightened the collar of my scrubs while he said it. Then he smoothed it flat with his thumb touching me far gentler than his words did.

“Like I said, you accomplish nothing but stepping into my net and having someone else’s hand pull it tight. That is the part I want you to understand.”

I let this all sink in like some real-life horror story that featured me as the main character. Because he was right. That was the true terror of it. I had spent three years being good at this. I had run from a past that wanted me dead, and until him, I had never once stood in a room and been unable to find the way out.

There was no plan. He had been in this building two days and there was no escape anywhere.