Page 223 of On a Fault Line

I can do this.

Pulling the shower door to the side, I maneuver myself inside and use the tiled wall for stability as I try to get up on my knees.

Reaching for the knob, I turn the water on cold and allow it to soak into my hair and clothes, causing an energy to move through me with each shiver.

Relaxing my mind, I allow it to wander as my thoughts begin to clear.

Limit-X.

I got invited to a sex club randomly by someone who handed me a postcard at the coffee shop event. I don’t even remember who handed it to me, but at the end of the night, I was enticed by the mysterious invitation.

Rex.

He probably wanted to send me there. But why?

I don’t remember him handing it to me. I would have remembered that—right? Someone else handed it to me, although some of my once-solid memories of the night have since faded.

Thinking back on that first visit, I discovered that Collins had a kink for pain and pleasure.

Rex must have known about it too then. He wanted me to see.

This wasn’t kismet. This was calculated evil, orchestrated by men determined to do me harm.

Well, it backfired. Collins became my lover, rather than me being so appalled after the shock wore off that I would request another bodyguard.

This was probably some master plan to get him away from me and make my brothers distrust their most powerful weapon.

Because if I didn’t have someone like Collins watching over me, then I would have been easier to manipulate.

But in the end, Mark Tanner won.

Whether he orchestrated it or not, I came here on my own and in my most vulnerable state. Getting me isolated hours away from my family and my bodyguard was an ideal situation for Mark Tanner to end me for good. His minion, Rex, is just following orders.

Fuck.

And Collins is not here.

These evil men got what they wanted. They wedged themselves between my brothers and their most trusted employee, because now I’m alone.

And the irony is that it’s of my own free will.

I brought me here.

Stretching out, I wiggle my toes and fingers, fighting life back into all my movable parts.

I take a few deep breaths and give myself my mental pep talk.

I may have brought myself here, but Irefuseto die here.

I am safefor now.

I am fiercein theory.

And maybe with time, I will be loved again. I just can’t think about any endgame right now.

Rex might have made it easier for my brothers to find out about Collins and my secret relationship, but my brothers would never have approved of it regardless of the revelation surrounding it.

But I can’t focus on that.

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