Chapter 188
Maybe there’s still hope for us after all.
Bianca’s colorful language fills the air as Damian pins her. Soren hauls me to my feet as soon as Damian secures Bianca, his strong hands gripping my arms. His gaze rakes over me, searching for injuries.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I was just trying to-”
“Aubrey.” He cuts me off, voice strained. “Just…be quiet for a minute, okay? Please. Just let me wrap my head around having you back, we don’t need to go there right now.”
I snap my mouth shut, nodding mutely. Soren’s eyes squeeze closed for a long moment, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows hard. When he opens them again, they’re bright with unshed tears and he crushes me against his chest.
“I’m so damn glad you’re alright,” he whispers hoarsely. “I thought…” He trails off, shaking his head as if he can’t even voice the possibility.
His hands gentle on my arms, thumbs rubbing soothing circles into my skin. The tender gesture makes my heart ache. I long to throw myself into his arms and hug him back but I remain still and stiff in his arms. I want to beg his forgiveness, but I force myself to remain still. To give him space to process.
Soren guides me toward the waiting car, opening the
passenger door and easing me down onto the seat. I watch as
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Chapter 188
- 2011 Wouchers
Damian roughly binds Bianca’s wrists and ankles with zip ties before carelessly shoving her into the trunk.
He slams the lid with more force than necessary, and I wince as her head smacks sickeningly against the frame. A vicious, vindictive part of me thinks she deserves worse after what she’s done. The rest of me just feels exhausted. Hollow.
“My parents,” I rasp out as Soren slides into the passenger seat in the front of the car. “Are they…?”
“They’re both fine,” he assures me, and Damian climbs into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. Damian glances at me but says nothing.
“My father is alive?” I ask, and Soren nods.
“Yes, and your mother has been worried sick about you, but they are alive.”
I sag against the seat in boneless relief, eyes fluttering shut. They’re okay. Against all odds, we survived this nightmare.
But as Damian pulls out onto the road, the suffocating silence stretches between us. I can’t help but wonder if our relationship will be as lucky. If we can ever find our way back to what we were.
If he’ll ever look at me the same way again, after the secrets I kept. The danger I put us all in.
After an hour of pure silence in the car, Damian pulls into a gas station. Soren climbs out with him and then leans back in through the door. “You won’t run,” he tells me, and I hastily shake my head. He nods once shutting the door, and Damian wanders into the gas station while Soren wanders off to the
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grassed area by the road, pulls his phone from his pocket, and starts talking into it, making me think he is in a video call. Watching him through the window, I feel sick, wondering why he couldn’t use his phone in the car.
Damian comes back to the car before Soren returns a bag in his hand. He slides into the driver’s seat before passing me a soft drink and some hot food in a paper bag. I open the bag and find a sausage roll.
“It’s all they had.” I nod when a bag of chips lands in my lap.
“Eat,” Damian tells me but my gaze to the window to see Soren walking back to the car. He slides into the passenger
seat.
Chapter 100
