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The only way in is through the front door and no one passed me.
My thoughts collide as I shove her door open with my shoulder. It hits the wall hard, ricocheting off the plasterwork.
I’m greeted with darkness, but I see her figure from the light coming in from the huge window. She jack-knifes up into a sitting position as I reach for the light switch.
The room is flooded with light, and it takes a split second for my eyes to adjust.
There’s no one in the room but me and her. The window is intact, and there’s no sign of forced entry.
She’s still clinging to the sheets, terror in her eyes. I holster my gun and move to the edge of the bed. Aurelia doesn’t seem to notice me. I’m not sure what is wrong with her. I take her face in my hands, and finally, her wild eyes slide in my direction.
“He was here.” Her voice is shrill and filled with terror that makes my stomach turn.
“Who was?” I demand.
“Jeremiah Wood.”
Considering Kane put a bullet in his head, it’s unlikely Wood was here. “You must have been dreaming,” I tell her.
“He was here. He was going to… he was trying to…” She tears her fingers through her hair. “It was so real.”
I sit next to her on the bed. “Jeremiah Wood is dead, Lia.”
She swallows hard, her eyes closing. “Then why do I keep seeing him when I close my eyes?”
“The nightmares aren’t new?”
Aurelia bites her bottom lip as she shakes her head. “They’ve been there since we were taken.”
Her and Sariah were abducted after Aurelia’s bodyguard at the time betrayed them. Aaron Leep paid for his betrayal, but there are things that can’t be fixed with revenge—like the memories these things imprint on a person.
I don’t know what happened in the time it took us to rescue her and Sariah, but the nightmares suggest it wasn’t anything good.
“What did he do to you?” I ask softly.
“Nothing.”
I know that’s a lie because she was unconscious when we arrived.
“Lia.”
“I like when you call me that,” she says.
“Aurelia is a beautiful name, but I like having something that’s just ours.”
“I like it too.”
“Talk to me about Wood.”
She huffs out a breath, her eyes going distant. “His anger wasn’t aimed at me, but Sariah. He tried to rape her. I don’t know why he stopped, but I’m glad he did. He threated to do the same to me.”
Rage bubbles through my veins at her words. “Did he touch you?”
“No. Just Sariah. He hit me, but he didn’t touch me like that.”
Relief floods me. We got there in time. “Wood is gone. You don’t have to fear him.”
“I know that. My brain didn’t get that memo though because he’s always in my dreams, doing terrible things to me.”
