Page 80 of Hold Me

“Never.”

“Then let her go,” shegrowls.“If you truly loved her, you would send her to safety.”

“Anna is never going to be normal!” I shout.

Sheshakes her head and looks me up and down.“Have ever considered that she might only think she loves you? You started as her captor. She’s never been free. You’re just the first man that hasn’t raped her as soon as he’s set eyes on her.”

“No.Don’t do that.” I shake my head, denying her words even as they burrow under my skin.

“What? Tell you the truth? Youknow I’m right. If you truly loved her, you’d let her come with me.”

“She’sfree to do what she wants.” Anna hates her sister. She won’t go with her.

“You know she won’t leave you without a push.”

I swipe a hand down my face.“What would you have me do, Una? Spell it out.”

“Set her free. Truly free. And if she really does love you, she’ll come back to you eventually.” Her eyes lock with mine. “I seek only to make her strong and give her purpose. I can help her.”

"You ask too much.”

“I ask you to be selfless.”

“I love her!” I roar, so loud that it sets my pulse pounding against my eardrums.

A small smile touches her lips, though her eyes are sad.“I know,” she whispers.“But I know better than anyone that if you love something, you sometimes have to let it go.”

Standing upright, she turns on her heel and walks to the door.“If you’d let Maria go, she and her sons might still be alive.”Opening the door, she leaves. And in her wake, I’m left with a crippling guilt. She and her sons might still be alive.

She’s right. My world, it’s toxic. And it will kill Anna the same way it killed Maria.

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