Page 22 of Betrayal (Corrupt Empire 1)

“Probably.”

Something told me escaping him wasn’t ever going to be an option. And at this point, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to. Despite my deteriorating mental state and the isolation, being here was easy. I knew I’d see him three times a day. He stood outside when I went to the bathroom instead of coming in with me now. I was beginning to rely on the man staring down at me no matter how hard I tried not to. Rely on the routine he’d given me. It was the only thing keeping me sane.

“Well then.”

There wasn’t really anything I could say to that. He turned and left, shutting the door behind him. For the first time in what I thought might be two weeks but could be longer, he locked it. I was trapped in his concrete cell and he wasn’t here any longer. I tried not to think too hard on that fact.

The first few hours were okay. I thought about Gert, James and Peter. Then it became harder to forget Aiden wasn’t just outside. He’d left me snacks and sandwiches. I ate a little when I got hungry and got desperate enough that I had to go in the bucket.

How long had he been gone? I lost all sense of time, beginning to lose my grip on reality. I kept hearing the locks turning in my head but the door never opened. I thought I heard his deep voice whispering in my ear.

“Avery. Avery. Avery.”

I whipped my head around but there was nothing. The cell was empty. I couldn’t take it any longer. Marching over to the door, I banged on it over and over.

“Aiden, please, please, I can’t deal with this anymore. I promise I’ll be good. I promise. Just let me out. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Tears fell down my cheeks.

“Aiden. Please. I… I need you.”

The moment those words left my lips, I collapsed on the floor. They were the truth. I did need him. It wasn’t just to end this torment in the cell. I looked forward to seeing him. My beautiful avenging angel.

“I need you,” I sobbed, burying my face in my hands. “I need you.”

When I saw him, I forgot my parents were dead by his hands. All I saw was him. All that hard muscle beneath his clothes which I’d felt pressed up against me when he’d pinned me to the wall. The self-assured way he carried himself. The deadly look in his eyes. Those silver eyes which haunted my every waking moment and even my dreams. Aiden was all of that and so much more. And I was the stupid girl who couldn’t look away.

“Avery.”

“Please, Aiden, come back to me.”

I crawled away from the door. The locks rang in my ears. I peered at it, but it didn’t open.

Was I having a mental breakdown?

Had I finally snapped?

I was definitely hearing things that weren’t really there.

“Avery, you are mine. Mine.”

I put my hands over my ears. It had to stop. All of it.

I saw feet in front of me. I looked up and there was my father.

“Dad?”

“My little angel. I’ve missed you. Daddy is home now.”

His voice sounded disjointed. I didn’t understand how he was here. He was supposed to be dead. I saw him die.

“You’re not real.”

“Don’t you want to see me, sweetie?”

“No. No, you’re not real. You can’t be.”

“Avery, why didn’t you save me? Why didn’t you stop him?”

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