Page 43 of Kept

To keep her safe. And keep her here.

“Okay,” she whispers. “I understand, Maverick.”

When I release her, trembling fingers rise up to massage her face.

Maybe she’s not so unaware after all.

But she agreed anyway.

My chest hums with satisfaction as I sink back in my chair and raise a glass. “Then you can stay.”

It feels like a net is closing, predators circling a blissfully unaware lamb.

Ours.

17 - Zella

Sighing, I let my head fall back against the edge of the bathtub.

Bliss.

This… this is perfection.

Mentally thanking whoever thought to add bubbles to the stocked cupboard I found when I investigated the pretty bathroom more closely, I wiggle my toes with happiness. Not that I can see them. I think I might have added a little too much of the strawberry scented liquid.

I wish I’d had a bath in the apartment. I had no idea what I was missing out on.

Slowly, the fizzy happiness in my stomach fades away. My toes clench.

I wonder if Ethan knows I’m gone yet. If he’s walked into the apartment, expecting me to be there.

And what he’ll do when he realizes I’m not.

Sinking down until the water brushes the edge of my nose, I shiver.

The Ethan I saw last time wasn’t the Ethan I know. And that Ethan… I don’t want to think about what he might do.

I wait for the guilt to settle in. He’s the closest thing to a parent I’ve ever had. He raised me, cared for me, looked after me.

Except… did he, though?

The more time I spend away from the place I used to call home, the darker the thoughts inside my head. He told me it was to keep me safe. Repeated it over and over again, until I didn’t even think of not believing him because it was the framework for my entirelife.

I rub at my chest, trying to sweep away the stab of pain.

And if none of it was true… what does that mean?

The walls start to squeeze smaller, like they’re closing in on me. My breathing seesaws again, the sharp stabbing in my chest fading to a dull pounding that isn’t going away.

Sitting up with a gasp, I curl over and squeeze my eyes shut.

It doesn’t help. It only makes the feeling worse, the space around me shrinking until there’s not enough air. I pull myself out of the water, sending droplets and bubbles sliding across the tiled floor as I grab a towel and wrap it around myself.

Staggering into the bedroom, I make for the window and press my hand against it, staring desperately out into the night. But there’s no light out there, the moon too hidden and the area too dark for me to see.

The sob cracks in my throat.

As I lean in further, pressing my face against the glass to try toseesomething, there’s a click, and I stagger.

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