Page 23 of Silenced

Now, to protect what’s mine. To care for what’s mine. To cherish what’s mine.

Even if she fights me every step of the way.

Making my approach, I watch her, enjoying how she watches me in turn. For someone so exhausted, for someone still feeling the aftereffects of drugs in her system, she is unexpectedly alert.

And yet, why would that come as a surprise?

My own father taught me better street smarts about how to watch my back than the first year of living rough ever did.

She’s the same as I was as a child—vulnerable.

But I’m here now.

I will protect her and keep her safe from the world.

Whether she wants me to or not.

8

CASSIE

I knowthere’s nothing in his jacket pockets that could help me in any way, but as he pulls me into his arms, I have to try.

I have to.

Even if his hands are gentler than Harvey’s ever were.

Even if he tries to swing me against his chest with a care I’ve never been shown before.

It doesn’t matter.

The only problem is that I don’t know how I got to the door under my own steam, and it’s clear that my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders yet because getting to an exit,any exit would suffice,was only phase one of an escape strategy that I fucked up.

God, stupid, so stupid.

So. Fucking. Stupid.

I want to scream at my own idiocy.

How many times have I planned an escape from Harvey? This isn’t my first rodeo! I should have known better than to react on instinct when a man like him will only…

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I’ve just put him on red alert.

The urge to scream is strong, and though I want to slam my hand into his throat with as much force as I can, with as much power as I learned I can harness in my self-defense classes, I know that’s not the smartest move to make when the door’s locked and I have no idea where the key is.

It kills me to be obedient.

I’ve spent so many goddamn years being that, playing that role, and I’m tired of it.Exhaustedby it, more so than any drugs could ever make me.

Utterly drained, I close my eyes as he tucks me against his chest with a tenderness I ignore in the face of the inexorability of his hold.

No, his touch isn’t cruel.

But it’s inevitable.

Those fingers of his are more effective than any cuffs Harvey’s used on me.

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