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“Three months?” I choked out. He nodded and even his eyes were glistening a little bit at the reminder of what he’d been through. My heart fractured a little more for him. Not only did he spend months of torture wondering if I hated him, he spent the other nine months of the year that we’d been apart recovering on his own.
He and his family and, knowing them, he had everything he could need. But he also likely had the realization that he’d lost me forever.
Calvin didn’t let it go. He found me, and I didn’t discount his involvement bringing Lance here on purpose. It felt so crazy, almost too wild to believe, but how could I deny it? Lance was not a liar and the pain in his voice was very real.
“It took me a lot of therapy to be okay again and I wasn’t going to try to find you until I could function. I was afraid to go out, but I was afraid to be alone; paranoia took over and I thought I could see them at every turn. Those first few weeks were just as bad as being held captive.”
“So, what happened when you were rescued?” Zathrian asked gently. Everyone had lost their aggression now. He looked relieved but not quite relaxed.
“A ton more people were arrested and I’ve had security ever since,” he admitted. “It was not a pretty situation and I’ve been terrified. The only reason they kept me alive was because I was promised as a mate to one of the leader’s daughters. She’s been stalking me ever since.”
“For revenge?” I asked. That was a huge risk to take.
“No, she has all female mates and wanted me to be the key to having babies. I would have lived as their sex slave, essentially. Helping breed them as much as they wanted. When they had what they needed then it would have likely meant my death.”
Bile rose in my throat. They’d not only taken our lives from us and tortured him, they were going to dehumanize him as well.
“God, I’m so sorry, Lance,” I breathed out on a broken sob. He didn’t deserve any of this but I was glad that he got out when he did. That was no life for anyone.
It was hard to be so angry on his behalf when I’d been furiousathim for so long. I had never been more conflicted in my life but I also couldn’t just erase a year of pain. The heartbreak was and is real. I needed to process this and I couldn’t do that here and now. Instead, I focused on the safer part of the conversation.
Or safer emotionally at least.
“So, she’s stalking you? Trying to get you back?” I questioned. “Did she follow you here?”
He nodded. “We think so. She wasn’t arrested that night and she had this obsession with all things red. I keep finding red things out of nowhere. I got in my car one day and there was a red rose on the seat. I went to work with my father and a client came in, leaving behind a red business card when he was gone. The only words on it were ‘private investigation.’ She never outright said anything but I knew she was following me. He wasn’t truly a client and he never came back, confirming our fears. Dad upped the security then, afraid he’d lose me again, and this time, I wouldn’t make it out alive.”
“That’s terrifying,” El said solemnly. “That’s a lot to deal with. I don’t know how you’re so calm.”
“It’s my reality, what else can I do?” Lance said. “I haven’t heard anything in about two months. I wouldn't have risked coming here otherwise. But after we spoke that first night, someone sent me a cocktail at the bar. It was bright red. I haven’t seen her specifically here, but I haven’t met her mates and I would be just as valuable to them.”
“That’s wild,” I breathed out. “I wonder if that’s why we’re being targeted. Today, I was almost framed for nearly killing a judge and we never did anything. I didn’t even know the man was allergic to pistachios and my drink didn’t have anything nutty in it. Yet somehow, I spent hours being interrogated and held. Before that, Riven and I were accused of throwing the competition and there was falsified audio. Stanley, the guy running the whole event, seems to be in on whatever it is going on.”
“Look, maybe I have more paranoia on my side after what happened to me, but I’m just saying this doesn’t sound like a coincidence,” Lance said. “You might be in danger. I’m so fucking sorry if I brought this on you. We had hoped it was over finally and I was ready to move on. I couldn't do that without at least telling you what happened. I couldn't let you go on thinking I’d just throw you away. I loved you with my entire soul, Nyla.”
Riven let out a low growl that brought all attention to him. At first I thought he was pissed off for Lance’s apology but his words cleared that up. “Lacey is always wearing red. Have you noticed it? She has red lips, red hair, and she was wearing a red dress the night she tried to throw herself at us. There’s always red on her somewhere.”
“And she clearly has it out for us,” Zath agreed, buying right into the theory. Their train of thought perfectly steered the conversation to safer grounds and I knew it was intentional. I seriously had the best mates.
“Is she in the competition?” Lance questioned.
“She’s on team one,” I answered. “They said they have twenty years, but she’s young, maybe thirty-five, tops.”
“I’ll have dad look into her,” he promised.
The guys threw theories back and forth while I stared at the table. I felt like my whole world had suddenly shifted all over again and I didn’t know what to do to fix it.
Lance stood up abruptly. “Look, I’m going to excuse myself now. I’m not hungry. Here’s some money to cover your guys’ lunch and for hearing me out. I’m going to give you time, Nyla. You thought that I was betraying you this whole time and that’s going to take some space to work through, but I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. I miss you.”
That was the man I knew. The one who took my feelings into consideration, who was so caring that he was going to let me process before pushing me.
But could I truly move past this?
ChapterThirteen
Nyla
“Ignore it,” Zath said as I glared up at the judges’ table, waiting for Stanley to start his daily, long-winded explanation of what was to come.
