Page 111 of The Freedom in Captivity

The sun is there, wanting to emerge.Iwant to emerge forma lune.

The next cab to stop by the curb lets out a mother and two young children. I wait for them to unload and walk away from the car before I’m sliding into the back seat.

An older gentleman peeks over his shoulder to greet me, his newest passenger. “Where to?”

“Do you know where the Corsetti family lives?”

He snorts, wiping a hand across his forehead. “Yes, but I’m not driving uninvited onto their property and risking my life. Find someone else to take you.”

“Close to the house then,” I demand. “A block away. Two. Whatever you can do.” Then, to sweeten the deal, I toss the two bills Nico gifted me over and into the passenger seat. I might have just given away my only source of funding if Flynn turns me away. “Will that be enough to cover it?”

It’s more than enough, and it serves as too sweet of a deal for the driver to avoid. He snatches the money, studying the tan, plastic bills, like he’s checking for forgery, before shrugging and slipping them into his console then pulling the car away from the bus station.

Within thirty minutes, he’s parking in front of the Corsetti property, right at the end of the driveway-slash-road that leads to the mansion. “Good luck, miss.”

“Thanks,” I say because I think I’ll need it.

Then I begin up the road, which is easily the length of three city blocks. I study the massive property around me, the grassy yards of no sign of life. At any point, soldiers can descend, so I keep my hands free by my sides, so they see I’m not a threat.

The mansion, while large in the distance, grows bigger with every tree I pass until finally reaching the circular driveway. The threat of rain may have cooled the temperatures by blocking the sun’s rays but still, I’m breathing heavy by the time I arrive.

The moment I reach the bottom step of the front entranceway, the door opens, and my stomach jumps to my throat. Stupid hope that it’s Flynn coming out to meet me gets shattered when it’s Nico who steps out instead.

He strides forward until stopping at the top stair, smirking at me. “Welcome back. The cameras by the front entrance picked you up.” He nods toward the driveway I’d just walked up. “I’m not entirely surprised to find you on my steps but also, did I not just drop you off downtown, no less than three hours ago?”

“You did.” Without asking for permission, I walk up the stairs until reaching his side. “But I’ve decided to give my message to Flynn directly.”

“You mean, your message of nothing.” He smirks again. “Well, if you think so, by all means, go on in.” He gestures toward the door, and considering how shockingly easy that was, I take his offer immediately and head for the open door, only to stop with his next words. “But you won’t find him here.”

“What?” I turn. “Where is he?”

“Out looking for you.”

Four words have never sounded better.

If he’s searching for me…it means, he didn’t want me to go. It means, my goodbye might mean something.

“Then he won’t have to look far.”

I turn away from Nico again and enter the Corsetti mansion, this time as a free woman. Not a captive, not my father’s daughter, merely a woman who’s come to address her feelings toward her past.

I could wait in his bedroom, so when he returns, it’ll be like this morning hasn’t happened. He’d find me tucked in his bed like I’d never left. Instead, I walk in a different direction. A place more appropriate for him and me. A place he feels most comfortable and where our re-connection truly began.

Where he unbinds himself and becomes my everything. My light, my darkness,mine.My moon to the sun.Ma lune.

For the first time ever, I enter the basement willingly. I flick the light on as I enter and close the door behind me, half-surprised Nico has granted me free rein around his home. I tread down the stairs as all the memories assault me.

When the bag got ripped off my head and I was met with a room full of vengeful men. Back when I was a different person too, stuck in a façade, forced to be my father’s puppet.

When the universe decided to either make my life a joke or to give me a reprieve by having Flynn Rhodes be the Corsettis’ enforcer.

When he kissed me for the first time in years, and I felt like I could breathe again.

Every single touch, every kiss, every whispered word.

Every recollection of pain, every resurgence of hate, every reminder of the divide between us.

Then the facts that became evident as time passed. Our obsession with one another, made obvious by him sneaking into my bedroom and me not kicking him out. Flynn and I have been each other’s best and worst decisions. The healthiest and unhealthiest choices we’ve ever made. It’s our addiction that brings us together and makes us go through withdrawals.

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