Page 40 of Broken Hearts

“I know you’re stubborn, but do you believe anything I say, Celeste?”

I nodded and crossed my arms. “I do. I’ve seen some of the stuff you’ve told me with my own eyes. Yes, the Circle are real. Yes, they are completely fucked up. Yes, my father was one of them. But that’s as far as it goes. I don’t think they’re after me. I think you purposefully led me to believe I was in grave danger from them so that I’d be too scared to leave you, even if I had the chance. And I honestly think if you let me go and I went home, nothing would happen.”

He threw his hands up. “Okay. I know you don’t believe me when it comes to that subject, and you might never believe me. That’s fine, as long as you are safe. I’m protecting you, whether you accept that or not.”

“Right. Sure.”

He shook his head slowly. “I really was just doing what I thought was best when I brought you here. I know I went about some things the wrong way. A lot of things, even. We all make mistakes.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You stuck a needle in my neck, kidnapped me, and kept me in a cell. Even now, I’m confined to this house, or this room. That’s a bit more than a mistake.” I practically spat the words. I wasn’t afraid of any punishment for my insolence. He said there wouldn’t be any, and besides, I didn’t care anymore. I was sick of playing nice, sick of being the meek, wilting prisoner. Sick of being spoon-fed bullshit every day.

Alex raised his brows. “If I simply approached you and asked you to come stay with me forever, claiming you were in danger, do you think that would’ve worked?” he asked.

From the burning look in his eyes, I knew he was finally tiring of my attitude. Despite his promise of zero punishment, he still probably wanted to tie me from a beam and try to whip it out of me, but he knew I wouldn’t even care at this point. I’d probably just say: ‘please, sir, may I have some more?’ in some sort of twisted Dickensian spectacle.

“Maybe.” I shrugged.

“Bullshit. You know the answer is no. You would’ve thought I was a lunatic and told me to fuck off. You would’ve never come willingly,” he said.

I glowered at him, hating that he had a point. Of course I wouldn’t have gone with him willingly. I would’ve thought he was a creep and threatened to spray him with mace if he randomly approached me and tried to tell me I was supposedly in dire need of protection. Him, a complete stranger at the time.

Now that I thought about it, he was still very much a stranger to me. I didn’t know his birthday, his middle name, where he grew up, what his favorite food, music and movies were. All I really knew was that he liked hurting me the way I liked to be hurt, and that he had a serious vendetta against the Circle. That was it.

I turned away again. Alex reached a hand down and stroked my cheek before forcing me to turn my head back to face him. “I’m not done, Celeste. There’s something I need to tell you.”

My eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

He cleared his throat and scratched at his jaw. Was he… nervous? I wondered if this would be the time when he finally admitted that I wasn’t the first girl he took.

“I know how unhappy you’ve been. It’s made me do a lot of thinking over the last few days. And the thing is, I should have told you this long before now, but....” He looked down for a second, then back at me. “I love you.”

I gaped at him. “You love me,” I said slowly.

His jaw was set, his gaze steely. It wasn’t the expression of a man who’d just declared his love, and it made me wonder if he was actually capable of real love… or if there was something else coming.

“Yes. I do. I’m in love with you, Celeste. That’s why I’ve come to make this decision,” he said gruffly.

“What decision?” My heart began to pound. I knew it. I knew there had to be something else going on.

Alex looked away, his eyes distant, as if he were somehow looking into the past. “When I first brought you here, I intended to keep you. I had what I suppose was a delusional fantasy that you would accept your place with me and stay forever. Not out of fear, but because you would love me back. I see now that I was wrong. You don’t love me back.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but I didn’t say anything. I let him go on, curious as to what he had to say.

“And how could you ever love me? After the things I’ve done, the thing that I am. Of course you wouldn’t. So, as difficult as this is for me to say, and as much as I never want to let you go….” He took a deep breath and cleared his throat again. “I will.”

I leapt to my feet. “You’re letting me go?” I said, my eyes wide as saucers.

He held up a hand. “Not yet. Once I’ve gotten rid of the Circle—hopefully with your help—I won’t make you stay with me anymore. Like I said, I originally hoped you would, and it’ll probably fucking kill me to let you go… I can’t stand the thought of it. But I also can’t stand the thought of you suffering. And you are suffering. You’re miserable.”

I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t know what to say. He’d just offered to let me go one day, and my mind was spinning too far out of control to put anything into words yet.

“All I want in the end is for you to be happy. You can choose to stay with me if you like, out of your own free will. Of course, I’d like it if you made that decision, but I cannot force you. So if you don’t want to, you can go. If you choose that, I won’t contact you ever again. I’ll stay out of your life forever. It’ll be like I never existed to you.”

“What would I tell people when they ask where I’ve been?”

His shoulders sagged. “I suppose you’d have to tell them about me, unless you decided to lie.”

“You’d go to prison. Even if I never told them you were a serial killer, they’d put you away just for kidnapping me and holding me as a hostage.”

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