I rubbed my eyes, focusing on the kitchen from a completely different angle.
The countertop soared above me, the door I’d tried to escape from resolutely closed against the night, and the remnants of an empty packet and abandoned pot revealed evidence that Kas had cooked one of the pastas I’d left him. A warm meal would be good for him. Carbohydrates and salts would be a bonus for his recovering system. I was glad he’d accepted my olive branch and eaten something other than raw vegetables.
But...why am I still here?
How did this happen?
My heart continued to gallop, but my emotions stayed frustratingly dormant. I couldn’t tap into fear or anger, peace or curiosity. I was numb, buried beneath a thick layer of smog that wrapped around my brain, obstructing answers that felt as if they stared me obviously in the face.
Come on, Gem.
Get it together.
You were leaving and...
I looked up, rubbing my temples and the fresh ache there, watching Kas as he took another bite. He never took his eyes off me. His gaze intense like an owl, unmoving and calculating.
“Tell me when it comes back to you.” He dropped his stare and stabbed his fork into the bowl of pasta. With his bare foot, he nudged another bowl of steaming carbonara in my direction. “Eat if you feel up to it. It’s still hot.”
My stomach grumbled with hunger but then churned with sickness.
I winced and pushed the bowl away. Dropping my head into my hands, I ran fingernails over my scalp, urging my brain to—
Oh, my God. I remember!
My head snapped up. All lethargy and wobbliness vanished as I pointed a livid finger in Kas’s direction. “You! You...you kissed me, and then...you strangled me again.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t strangle you.”
“You knocked me out!”
“I did.”
“How could you?!”
“I had no choice.” He stabbed another piece of pasta as if we were enjoying a generic conversation about the weather. “You were leaving, and I’m in no condition to chase you. Therefore, I had to stop you in the quickest way possible.”
“The quickest way possible? Do you hear yourself? I’m a person. Not an inconvenience you have to control.”
He slowly lowered his bowl, his gaze going flat and cold. “Are you coherent to do this now or do you want to wait until you’ve eaten?”
“What the hell are you talking about, you son of a bitch?”
His nostrils flared as his temper appeared. “I’m only going to say this once. I need to know you’re paying attention—that you will take what I say seriously, completely, and be ready to move forward with the knowledge that this is it.”
“What?!” I scrambled to my knees, shoving the blanket away from me. I was too hot. Everything was stifling, cloying. The sound of metal scraping on tile wrenched my eyes from his chilly ones to the floor.
To the floor where a pool of bronze chain rested between us.
No.
Understanding bulldozed through me.
No, no. Please, no.
Kicking away the rest of the blanket, I froze in horror. The leather cuff around my ankle—the same one he’d asked about then looked pleased when I’d admitted to trying to remove and failed—was now linked to the chain curled in the middle of the kitchen.
My head throbbed as I followed the links, chasing the coil, swallowing hard as Kas sat taller and moved his arms, kindly showing me where the chain finished.
Buckled around his waist, it was padlocked into position. A tether from his body to mine.
I grabbed the chain with both hands, investigating how strong it was, searching for a weakness. “Get this thing off me.”
Kas sighed and lowered the bowl of pasta to the floor. “Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”
“Get the key. Right now.”
“I won’t do that.”
“I looked after you! I nursed you for ten days, you monster. And this is how you repay me?” I laughed, brutal and borderline hysterical. “You can’t do this. I refuse to let you do this!”
“It’s already done.”
“It can be undone. Get the damn key.”
His eyes tightened as his jaw clenched beneath his scruff. “Are you listening, Gemma Ashford?”
“No. Hell no. I’ll never listen to a thing you say—”
“I suggest you forget everything that ever existed outside of this valley. You no longer have a family, a career, a home. You are simply Gemma, and that is all you’ll ever be. You don’t have to worry about others missing you; you don’t have to run to be free. You no longer exist to anyone but me.”
“You’re delusional!”
He continued as if I hadn’t yelled an insult. “My advice? Don’t resist this. Just accept it. It’s easier that way.”
“Accept? I’ll never accept—”
“You will, eventually.” Brushing aside a strand of long hair that’d fallen by his cheek, he murmured, “I’m telling you from experience that there is no way out of this. The padlocks cannot be opened without a key. The chain can’t be cut, smashed, or broken. You’ve already tested for yourself the impossibility of removing that cuff. We’re bound now. Where you go, I go. Where I go, you go. I am the only thing that matters to you, just like you are the only thing that matters to me.”
“You will never matter to me. You’ve just made sure of that by trapping me again! You’ve chosen my fate on my behalf. You’ve taken away my freedom and my future and you expect me to accept it? No. Just no! You’re as bad as the men who trapped you here. If you know what it’s like to be a prisoner, why are you doing it to me? Why delude yourself into thinking I’ll stay here? Even if you bury me beneath a thousand chains and wrap me in a million padlocks, I’ll never stop searching for a way out. Never! Do you hear me?”
“I’m sorry.” His eyes narrowed, black and merciless. “I truly am. But I’m also not going to let you go.”
“Then you’re not sorry.”
He shrugged. “You’re right. I’m glad.”
“Glad?!”
He had the audacity to half-smile. “I can finally relax. You get what you wanted and have free range of my home. The chain is long enough for you to enter any room you wish on the ground floor. I will feel you as you move. The thread between us will always be there, reminding us that we are not alone. You will never have to step foot in that basement again because I will always be alerted of your presence.”
He leaned forward, eagerness sparking on his wild face. “We’ll work side by side. I’ll show you how to cultivate, how to hunt, how to prepare game, and gather everything else required for the day winter arrives.”
“And if I kill you instead?” I crossed my arms, rage flowing through my veins. “If I murder you in your sleep and hack that belt from your waist, what then?”
“Then...” He rolled his shoulders. “I guess I’ll be dead, and you’ll be free.”
“You don’t sound afraid.”
His chin tipped downward, watching me from brow-shadowed eyes. “Are you listening? Truly listening? This is the part I’ll only say once. I’ve said this before, in fact. I admitted such things in the garden. It hurt then, and it fucking kills now, so pay attention.” Inhaling hard, he said, “You are my greatest enemy, but you are also my only friend. You’ve done things to my heart I never thought possible. You’ve given me back my desire for sex and showed me that, even after everything I’ve endured, I can enjoy pleasure. You’ve made me feel anger and fear, possessiveness and rage. You make me so fucking mad, knowing you’ve learned things about me that you have no right to learn. Your very presence in my home ties me into knots, and I don’t know whether I want to kill you or kiss you most of the time. You, with your damn climbing skills and brazen trespassing, have made me feel again. Live again. And I’m not willing to give that up.”