Page 104 of Teach Me How To Fly

I didn’t know how much I needed him until now. This was the first time I felt I could properly breathe. He was everything I needed to love living the life I had.

“I knew you would come for me,” I said, opening my eyelids to see around us.

I could only see Ender’s mansion and all I remembered was the last twenty four hours I lived. But the past didn’t matter anymore. I was safe now in Maksen’s hands and that was all I needed.

“Let’s go back home,” he whispered, placing me on my feet again.

I looked him in the eyes as my hands fell on his shoulders. “I am at home.”

He gave me the most kind smile he had, running his thumb over my lower lip, then placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I needed more of him.

“We are at home wherever we are together,” he murmured over my lips, then kissed me again.

The tears didn’t stop rolling on my face and I knew he could taste them as he kissed me. But he didn’t care. He devoured my lips in a way that made me feel like I was able to fly high in the sky.

My stomach twirled when his tongue caressed mine.

My blood boiled when his fingers dug into my skin.

My heart beat faster knowing the man I loved was kissing me.

“I’ll never let anything like this happen again, Annalise,” he whispered over my lips and gave me another kiss.

“It’s not your fault this happened,” I said, taking a quick break to catch my breath. “As you said in the beginning, there are many people out there who would love to hurt me just to get revenge on my father.”

His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything. He just kissed my forehead and led me to his car. I jumped in the seat after he opened the door for me, then I waited patiently for him to drive us away from this place.

He took me out of here and I was safe for now, but I felt it in my bones. This wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning.

36

MAKSEN

The night came over us quicker now that it was the beginning of december and I liked it. Despite the fact that I hated staying in a dark place, I loved night time. It didn’t scare me, it offered me comfort.

And now that I had Annalise by my side, I felt at peace with everything around me.

I was gazing at her as she was simply doing things in her room. She just came out of the shower and she seemed like she wiped off a bit from the terror she had lived in the last twenty four hours.

She was truly here. But I couldn’t say that I was proud of myself. I didn’t save her, but Ender gave her back to me in exchange for me fulfilling his evil plan.

I texted my investigation team to look up the bullshit Ender told me, but somewhere in my mind, I hoped for it to be true. If Ender had really created the base of that organization, then he won all my respect and I could finally get rid of Lukyan.

Lukyan was the hand who fed me, but it was also the mouth who bit me.

The phone vibrated on the bedside so I grabbed it to check who it was. It was a message from Tyler, my IT genius.

That’s a transmitter. It can hear everything around you. Don’t say anything about anyone.

I raisedmy gaze to Annalise who just sat down on the chair in front of her make-up table. She was brushing her hair and looking attentively in her own eyes in the mirror.

I stood up and made my way to the desk, opening the drawer and taking out a notebook from it. Annalise turned to me with a frown on her face.

I made a sign with my hand so she would know to keep quiet. I ripped a piece of paper from the notebook, then I wrote on it that she has to avoid any subject that might reveal anything we wouldn’t want someone to hear.

I took a deep breath in and also wrote that I had this transmitter implanted in my arm so she would know why to keep the silence.

By the time I was done writing, she came by my side and I saw her reading each of the words. She instantly looked at my bicep and her mouth fell open in shock. Her fingers caressed my skin and it felt weird once she touched the spot where I had that thing in my flesh.