Page 51 of Papers Don't Lie

I look down at my hands, my fingers blurring, and the next thing I know, I’m breathing for air in the comfort of my bed.

My throat constricts, and I gulp for air, clutching a hand at my naked chest. I’m covered in sweat, looking around me as I struggle to regulate my breathing.

Without this trick my therapist taught me, I would’ve been caught in this dream for hours. When I look at my hands, I can differentiate whether what I’m seeing is real or not, and with that information, my brain fights to wake up from its sleeping state.

I knew this was coming. That’s why I tried to stay awake the entire night. This dream could have been prevented if I weren’t so tired after weeks without sleeping.

Marrying Esmeray was supposed to get rid of the dreams where I’d live her horrors and regain my sleep, but it’s worse. Now I’m no longer in her place, I’m watching everything without any possibility of helping.

Useless.

Fuck SCS.

I’m not saying if I didn’t have SCS I wouldn’t be worried about her safety, but I wouldn’t have to go through nightmares and nonstop thoughts.

What options do I have besides increasing the security? What can I do to never let that man get close to her or better, never see his face again near her?

A muffled sound comes from her room, and my first thought is that maybe she's having a sleepless night because of Carter like I am and we both need some company before we can actually rest. So I get out of bed and slowly creak the door open.

My eyes barely adjust to the darkness in her room when I notice a silhouette slipping out of the window while Esmeray sleeps peacefully in my bed. My blood boils in my veins, and I rush to the window, struggling to catch the idiot, but I’m not quick enough. The man with a hood on top of his head lands on the few boxes next to the staircase, breaking into a run the moment his shoes touch the grass.

“Fuck,” I murmur, leaning over the window frame. And that’s when I notice.

I take the red envelope between my fingers, my body burning on fire as I lock and unlock my twitching jaw, almost crushing the damn paper in my hands. With all the security added tonight, right after I talked with Kendrick, someone managed to break in. How? How did they even know this was her room? How did they know she was sleeping alone?

As soon as she wakes up, I’ll take her out for breakfast while I have the security team search for cameras and microphones everywhere. I swear I’ll buy another house if this one is contaminated with Carter’s touch.

My body shakes, and I get that feeling again, the same one from the event. I don’t know how to control myself, what to do, or what to break first. How do I manage the mass of overwhelming feelings passing through me?

I need to help her. I need to find a solution to get out of this.

She became my wife so I could protect her, and I promised that, and yet someone got into her room while I was sleeping inthe same house. Under the same roof I promised her I’d keep her safe in.

Sweat drips down my back, and I travel the distance to my room, taking my phone out to make sure the fucker didn’t do anything to my sister. When I open the app of the camera I installed in her room, I see she’s sleeping like a baby.

A small sense of relief washes over me.

I walk back to Esmeray, not knowing what to do. If she wakes up and sees me in this state, she will start asking questions, but if I go back to my room, then I can’t be sure she’s safe.

“Kai?” she grumbles from her sleep.

At the sound of her voice, everything becomes more real. Graver.

With a deep breath, I face her, not trying to hide the envelope. As much as I want to protect her from this, she has to know what we’re facing so when I tell her what I’m about to say, she’ll understand my reasoning.

I go back to her, sitting on the edge of the bed before tapping the lamp on the nightstand to lighten the room a bit. She blinks a few times, trying to adjust to the brightened room.

“Hey.” I find the courage to smile. I remove a strand of hair from her cheek and put it behind her ear.

“What happened? You’re shaking.” She sits up, taking my palm in hers, her voice trembling as much as mine.

“Just go back to sleep. We’ll talk when you wake up,” I say, my voice a quiet whisper since that’s all I can get out for now.

She furrows her brows, shaking her head. “Are you crazy? I can’t go to sleep while you’re like this.” Esmeray squeezes my palm, caressing it with her thumb afterward. “Please, Kai.”

Inhaling deeply, I close my eyes for a second before I tell her. “Carter.”

“What? What did he do? It’s three in the morning,” she tells me after she glances at the clock, widening her eyes in horror. I don’t know what this man did to her, but she’s scared of him.

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