Page 19 of Bound By Threads
“I don’t know if starting over is the right word,” I tell her, turning onto the highway. “You’re not erasing who you were completely. Deep down, you’ll still be Scarlett. You’ll be choosing not to let your past control you. You’re taking the life they threatened to take from you back. This way, you get a chance to beyou.” When she doesn’t say anything, I worry I’ve pushed her too far. “You’re not alone. You have me. You have a family waiting for you. And no matter what happens, I will always make sure you are ok.”
Her gaze turns back to the window, and I can almost see the wheels turning in her mind. I want to believe she’s heard what I’m saying, that she’ll allow herself to believe in something better than everything she’s been made to go through.
But even if she doesn’t yet, I’ll help her find her way out of the shadows, even if I’m stuck in them forever.
I feel her tap on my arm, gaining my attention.“Thank you,”she signs, her hands slow but deliberate.“For everything.”
I give her a soft smile. “You never have to thank me,” I tell her, “This is what people do for each other… You’ll see that one day.”
“Do people jump into freezing cold ocean water for others to save them?”she smirks, and I laugh, shaking my head.
“Maybe not...” I grasp her hand in mine, giving her the chance to remove it and breathe a sigh of relief when she doesn’t. “But I would do it again.”
We don’t sayanything else, happy to sit in silence as the road stretches ahead.
No matter what, I won’t let Lottie suffer in the dark alone.
Chapter11
Elijah
“Fuck!” my dad’s thundering voice roars through the house.
He’s pissed. He always is, but this sounds serious.
I can hear Roman’s dad in there, both equally as pissed as the other, their voices raising in perfect sync.
“I was promised her!” Dad snarls. “How the fuck did this happen?”
“Don’t you think I fucking know?” Roman’s dad’s voice cuts through the tension. It’s tight, ragged, like he’s trying to hold it together. “I don’t have the answers. But I’ll sure as hell find out.”
Dad’s voice rises again, shaking with fury. “You promised me in exchange for that product. I had her first. She was mine, and now she’s dead.”
I hear the sound of fists slamming against something hard — a table, maybe. It is Dad’s favorite way to unleash his anger, other than on me, of course. The way the wood groans under the impact is enough to make my chest tighten.
“Calm down,” Roman’s dad snaps, but it’s too late. The air in the house seems to thicken until it feels like all of the oxygen from the house has been sucked out.
Dad doesn’t listen. He never does. “Calm down? You don’t understand what this means, do you?” he sounds close to losing it. “She was supposed to marry me. I’ve spent years waiting for this. We planned every moment of breaking her down enough that she’d be pliant.Willing. And now you’re telling me she’s dead?”
I swallow hard,still half-hidden in the hallway. My fingers are ice-cold. I can barely breathe.
Who is she? And how the hell did she die?
Roman’s dad and mine have had plenty of women in the years since Roman’s mom died. Sharing them until they were like broken dolls who were begging for death. But for Dad to be fixated on a specific one, then I hope she’s at peace in death, away from him.
Roman’s dad’s voice breaks my thoughts, quiet and cold. “You think I don’t know that, James? I’ll find you another bride. Maybe this time, this one will speak.” He laughs at his joke.
But me?
I’m frozen.
It can’t be.
I swallow again, but this time, it feels like I’m choking on something thick.
My heart is hammering in my chest, blood rushing in my ears.
I can’t move. I can’t breathe.
