Page 107 of Riot

Tears mix with the hot spray, and the urge to scrub every speck of dirt under my skin is hard to ignore. I don’t know how to exist in this new reality he’s painted. I don’t know how to grieve losing everything.

By the time I climb out, I’m trembling, my exhaustion bone-deep, soul-deep.

It’s not meant to be like this. This wasn’t how I saw our story ending.

Is it the end?

Do I want it to be?

Can I forgive him?

The nightmares had been unrelenting. For months, they stole into my sleep and snatched the remaining strength from me.

It didn’t have to be that way.

It shouldn’t have been.

As I step back into the room, clutching the towel around my body, my skin pebbles from a cold breeze.

The balcony door is open just a fraction, but it’s enough to stir the curtains.

Didn’t I close that?

Something prickles along my nape—an instinct, an awareness—and I glance into the cot.

It’s empty.

For some reason, the need to put eyes on my daughter has me turning.

My heart seizes in my chest, and the world forgets to breathe.

Standing behind the door, out of view, is a man I don’t recognise. His dark hair is too long, dripping into his eyes, which are as unhinged as the wild grin on his face.

My bones want to melt under my terror as I lock onto my daughter clutched against his chest. She’s quiet, settled in a way that sends shards of ice through my stomach. I didn’t even register the danger until it was too late.

I open my mouth, intending to scream for Riot, but he shakes his head. “That would be a mistake, Ivy.”

A glint of metal in his hand, too close to my baby, has my stomach dropping onto the ground. He has a knife, and he has my daughter.

That one move bought my silence. My submission too.

“Please.” The word chokes out from my constricted throat.

“You seem worried. How much of a monster do you think I am? Do you think I’d hurt a defenceless baby?” His grin is macabre. “Do you?”

I can’t swallow, and my tongue glues itself to the roof of my mouth. “Give me my daughter.”

His eyes scan my body up and down in a slow drag. The towel covers everything, but I may as well be naked. I wouldn’t care if I was. My safety, my life, means nothing right now.

“But I’m just getting to know her.” He peers down at her, and I lock my knees. “Aren’t genetics a funny thing? She has nothing of you in her, and everything of her father.”

My breath hitches.Link…

How is this man connected to my ex?

It doesn’t matter. I don’t care who he is. All I care about is getting my daughter in my arms.

“Please…” I shift forwards half an inch and reach for her. “I just want my baby back.”

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