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I watched as Aleks mostly listened as Dante spoke. I suspected the first part of the conversation was Dante trying to convince his brother to tell him where he was, but when Aleks began apologizing again and his voice cracked, something seemed to shift because Aleks began nodding and began repeating to his brother, “I will.” Then he was making Dante promise to watch out for everyone… he rattled off one name after another and I felt my insides warm as I realized what all those names meant.
Aleks had people who cared about him besides just his brother and Magnus… and from the sounds of it, it was a lot of people.
I hid my smile when Aleks made some comment about reminding someone named Leo to keep his clothes on, then he was laughing at whatever his brother said in response and I wanted to kiss Dante for steering the conversation in a different direction.
When it came time to end the call, Aleks sobered and wiped at his face again. “I love you, meu melhor,” he murmured.
Whatever Dante said had him smiling. After a few moments, Aleks managed to hang up the phone after saying goodbye to both his brother and Magnus. When he handed it back to me, his hand was shaking. He began crying again but before I could say anything, he was climbing to his feet. I stood as well. Aleks cowered in the corner as he crossed his arms. “Can I use the bathroom to clean up?” he asked.
“You’re not a prisoner, Aleks,” I reminded him, but that only seemed to make him more tense. “Yes,” I finally said when he didn’t move. “Down the hall, first door on the left.”
He waited until I stepped aside before he hurried past me. When he reached the door, I called his name. He paused but didn’t look at me.
“Thank you for trusting me, Aleks,” I said softly.
He was silent for so long that I didn’t think he’d answer. And I kind of wished he hadn’t because his next words cut me to the core.
“I don’t.” He paused for a beat and added, “I said I believed you but that doesn’t mean I trust you.” He shook his head. “I don’t… not anymore. Not ever again, Vaughn.”
And with that, he left the room.
Chapter 4
Aleks
What have I done?
I looked in the mirror and shook my head at my reflection.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Part of me wanted to race back to Vaughn and beg him to give me his phone back so I could call my brother and tell him to come get me… to fix everything, to make all the hard decisions about what would happen next.
To make all the decisions always…
I wanted to cry all over as I considered how badly I wanted that – for Dante or Magnus to tell me when to eat and sleep, what clothes to wear, when to speak and when to remain silent, where I could and couldn’t go…
Two years of being allowed to make my own choices should have been something I fought to keep. It was a right I should have been willing to die for. But being free to choose also meant having to deal with doubt and regret.
And I’d had enough of those particular emotions to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.
One choice had ruined my entire life and had torn my entire family apart.
But when I’d finally accepted that I had no choices anymore, I’d finally been safe. Yes, there’d been pain and fear, but there’d been relief too. Giving in had meant being allowed to take my next breath. Survival was the one choice I’d made for myself from the moment I’d been escorted out of the mall twelve years ago under the guise of being reunited with my injured parents, and that was the only reason I was even here today. I knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept that I’d so easily given up what should have been my innate right to keep as mine forever.
Dante had been so proud of me for the choices I’d made for myself these past couple of years, but I doubted he realized how often I’d just wanted to beg him to make them for me. Just like I wanted him to make the choice about whether I stayed with Vaughn or not.
But it’d been like I’d told Magnus… I believed Vaughn and his reason for taking me. I’d seen enough as a kid to know that the men who’d taken me, who’d owned me or had wanted to own me, would do anything to keep their world a secret. It wasn’t just my life that was in danger. They’d kill anyone who stood in their way or who they thought they could use to get to me.
