Page 57 of The Freedom in Captivity

They were all fucking right, and that’s the part I dislike the most.

I request two men to station themselves at the basement door since Rozelyn’s not locked up. A nicety I still don’t understand in myself, but I wouldn’t put it past her to try to get out either way. The men have instructions to go down twice a day: in the morning to deliver food and in the evening for the bathroom. I tell them to take her to one of the bathrooms on the main floor.

Then I head directly outside and find my bike in the garage and use it to escape to the Corsetti-owned gym a few blocks away. An old warehouse converted into a gym, only for those within the organization to use.

Maybe here, I can work out this…this mounting feeling without murdering anyone.

The mounting feeling of loss.

Of grief, yet I don’t completely understand what I’m even grieving.

I pull my bike into my usual spot by the metal door, noting the couple cars that are here. Nico’s isn’t, nor is Rafael’s sports car, which makes sense considering he’s on babysitting duty with Maurice Dupont’s adult daughter.

Grabbing my duffel bag, I stride through the metal door, passing the front desk with a woman manning it. Nico employs few staff here, typically only ever one per shift to maintain the equipment and ensure no outsiders broach the private gym.

Not bothering to return the waves of a few of the guys here who spot me entering, I head to the left, toward the changing rooms to get into shorts and a sports t-shirt.

Grabbing a disposable water bottle from the fridge right outside the changing room, I head straight for the weight machines. Maybe if I exhaust myself enough, I won’t be tempted to return to the basement.

Again, Rozelyn’s derailed my plans. Nothing in the past twelve hours should have happened. And I’m no closer to ridding my mind of her. If anything, I continue to replay every moment of last night and this morning. Her breathy moans, the feel of her tight cunt squeezing my cock, the damn sight of my every desire come to life.

With every thought I have of Rozelyn, I add another level of weight to the dumbbell bar. It’s heavier than I normally would go for, but maybe if I break my body, it’ll be a suitable enough punishment worthy of my betrayal.

The moment I recline onto the bench and position my hands around the metal pole above my head, a shadow encompasses me.

“I don’t need a spotter,” I tell whoever believes he’s about to be helpful.

“I know. But you do need some sense knocked into you.”

Rosen.

I sit up, abandoning the bar, and swing my legs to one side of the bench, finding Rosen leaning against the leg press machine close by. He’s in shorts and a black tee, which is damp from his workout. I hadn’t noticed him here when I arrived, or his car outside.

“Surprised you left Aurora’s side long enough to come here.” Their relationship created a lot of drama within the organization that I ignored, having no care about it. What Rosen’s doing with the sister of our underboss is his business.

“Funny,” he replies dryly. “I almost said the same thing about Rozelyn.”

I shrug, feigning indifference. “She’s guarded and isn’t going anywhere.”

His mouth curls in the corner, like a cat who got the milk. “We both know that’s not what I mean. Aurora’s out with her mother so I went back to my old room to get a few more items that I left behind from moving.”

And?

“The walls are thin, Flynn.”

Fuck.Shutting my eyes, I turn away from him. Rosen’s the most loyal of us all—despite recent transgressions—so he’ll head straight to Nico with this information. I won’t deny my actions; I’ll own my mistakes. Perhaps, it’ll even be the sense I need knocked into me.

“Relax.” His hand claps my shoulder, breaking my glare with the floor. “The moment you stationed two men to do your job, Nico already guessed something’s up. He texted me asking to be on the lookout for you.”

Lucky me walked right into where Rosen was.

“I didn’t give up,” I immediately counter, shoving to my feet to head elsewhere, away from him.

The treadmills are in the far corner and they’re noisy enough I can block Rosen out. There’s three and two are in use, but the guys conveniently find somewhere else to be when they see us approaching. Fuckers. It opens one for Rosen to also use.

I hop onto the nearest one and set it to a walk, quickly speeding the treadmill to a jog and then a run, falling into an ideal pace. Rosen waits and watches, moving right in front of my machine. He props his hands on the treadmill.

“You might not have given up, but you’re running away from it. Literally.” He nods to the machine, smirking, clearly amused with his own joke.

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