“I love you, Ryder. It doesn’t matter where we are. That won’t change. I just need to know one thing. Does he know about me finding my mother?”
Shaking his head, he said the words that made me hope not all was lost. “No. He didn’t say anything that made me think he knew.”
“Then we can get through this like we’ve gotten through everything else. In a few months, we’ll have a baby and no matter what he tries to do, I promise I won’t marry another man, no matter what he does.”
Ryder took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He swore he wouldn’t do that. I won’t let him if he tries. I swear to God, Serena, I’ll find a way to stop him if he does.”
“He won’t. He has what he wants. I don’t know if it’s you under his control or me, but he’s got both of us, so he’s happy.”
With a look of hopefulness I loved seeing in his eyes, Ryder shook his head. “He won’t always control us. Someday, we’re going to leave here and we’ll be the ones in control.”
I didn’t know if he believed that or just said it to make me happy, but I hadn’t given up on finding some way to have everything we’d dreamed of. So it would have to wait a little while. I’d waited my entire life for it. I could wait a little longer.