Page 85 of Finish Line

I sit up and straddle his waist before I reach forward and smooth my fingers across his brow. “I hate to tell you, Dom. He’ll find me here. I’m not going to be safe until he’s dead.”

“So, you want him dead?” Dom asks.

I snort. “Jail didn’t keep me safe from him, did it? He escaped. If he did it once, he can do it again.”

Dom rubs his chin. “Do you think you can kill him? I don’t mean, do you think you have the physical ability. I mean mentally. Do you think you’ll be able to face and kill him?”

I frown. “When I killed Evan, I didn’t think about it. I refused to let him rape me.”

I shake my head. “But if you’re asking me if I had the time to think about it, if I wouldn’t have done it… Yes, I’d still kill him. He wanted to rape me. He hurt me, and he helped hold me in that basement. Killing him meant I could escape. If I injured him, he’d have come after me or called Roger to let him know. And Roger would have found me before Nick did. I did the right thing.”

Understanding fills Dom’s eyes.

“Besides, I’m not the only one on Roger’s list. I got away, Nick destroyed his income, and you guys beat his hypnosis. He’s going to be pissed the fuck off. He’ll be gunning for us and everyone we love.”

Dom nods in agreement, shifting to sit up against the headboard. “I’ll call Frank and tell him to assign guards for everyone.”

He wraps his hand around the back of my neck, pulling my forehead against his. “But, Firefly, I need you to promise that you won’t put yourself in danger when you come home.”

I bite my lower lip. “I can’t do that. I won’t lie to you.” My forehead rocks back and forth along with his. “If I can reach Roger, I’ll take the risk to kill him.”

I sit back from him but still on his lap.

“Are you kidding me?” His anger jolts through me, and I roll off him to sit on the bed.

Dom stands to pace the room. “What is going to be different this time? Huh? Shelby, tell me. You couldn’t take him out the last time!”

I push off the bed, grab clothes from my closet, and dress. “I don’t know. I should’ve fought more.”

Dom glares at me before he grabs his clothes off the floor.

“That’s great,” he sneers at me, reminding me of how he was when he was hypnotized. “Go ahead and let him take you again. That’s going to work perfectly. If you’re going to go right back to him, then why did we bother remembering you in the first place?”

He storms out the door, slamming it behind him.

Hurt and anger swirl together in the pit of my stomach. Oh no, he can’t talk to me like that! I stomp after him, slamming the door again because I can.

“What the hell is all the yelling about?” Cam asks from behind us as we head toward the living room.

Dom turns to scowl at Cam. “I asked our girlfriend not to do something stupid when she returns home, but she’s determined to throw herself into danger,” Dom growls. “Why did I bother letting you in? I mean, hell, you went with him alone last time. You weren’t drugged like Cam or Hannah.”

“No!” I shout, drawing more attention as everyone filters out of their rooms to the living room. “You don’t get to say crap like that! When you were hypnotized, the way you treated me, the way you spoke to me, was one constant beat down after another. My mental well-being was chipped at one snarky comment after another long before Roger locked me in that basement.”

Dom reels back like I slapped him.

“And when he hid me after Cam and Hannah were gone, I was abused almost every day.”

Cam tries to interrupt. “Um, guys?—”

“You’re right. I did go with Roger alone, and you know the reason why. And yeah, Roger beat me last time. After everything I went through, I was too weak to fight him anymore. So yeah, he hypnotized me. You’re right. That was my fault.”

Again, Dom’s face contorts when I throw his words back at him.

My hands ball into fists. “But I got myself out. I escaped from him and that basement. And I’ve been fighting for myself, for you and the rest of the guys ever since. I begged Nick and Frank to help you. Not for me, but for you. I knew what it was like to be forced to do things against my will, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. So never question why you ‘bothered to remember me,’ because I never asked you to!”

Hurt flashes across Dom’s face, but he crossed a line this time.

My breath heaves from my chest at this point. “So, what do you want me to do? Thanks to Louis, you can’t be hypnotized again. But I guess you’re worried I still can be, and I’m so weak I’ll fall under his control again. So, what? I’m to hide until the big bad Dom takes care of him?”

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