never want those things because the only person I ever imagined myself with is you, Gabby. You know that. I could never do anything because of my brother—”
“And he won’t be the last of your worries,” the guy in the driver’s seat says. “I didn’t kill him. I have a feeling he won’t let her go so easily, but he doesn’t know it’s you either. He didn’t see us.”
“He’s right, Sebastian.” I lean back and stare into the eyes I fell in love with so long ago, but I knew my fate belongs to someone else. “You are better off giving me back. He will stop at nothing until he has me again.”
“And I will stop at nothing to make sure he never lays a hand on you again,” Sebastian says, his thumb grazing over the bruise on my neck. I don’t know if it’s from the collar or the earlier chokehold, but it’s sensitive. “I should have found you earlier, and maybe none of this would have happened to you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t blame yourself. I’m the one who said to let me go, remember?”
“I wanted to kick your ass for that,” his lips curl into a playful grin. His lashes are wet and stuck together, pointed black spears framing his eyes, and the dark color against the light blue make his eyes pop even more. “I tried like hell to bang down that glass.”
“I know,” my eyes well with the memory. “I heard it.”
“You didn’t turn around,” he points out, inhaling the scent on my neck again. “It killed me.”
“I didn’t want to risk your life.”
“You’re worth it,” he admits.
I shake my head, remembering all the things Kendrick told me over the years. “No, I’m not worth it. No one would be happy with me. I’m useless, and I don’t behave. I deserve the punishment I get.” The words leave me like a song playing on a record player. They are automatic and monotone. Kendrick has gotten what he wanted after all.
He broke me.
A harsh tug of my neck nearly has me falling to the ground.
“Come, pet,” Kendrick’s command brings me out of my dream-like state as I stand in the middle of the crowd, holding my leash like a good girl.
I glance around for Sebastian, blinking, as the real world moves around me, but I’m glued to the spot. I saw him, I know it. I had to have, but now he is gone, along with the hope of being saved from the monster who led me down the street by a leather leash.
If a dream is all I have of Sebastian, it is better than nothing.
Chapter Seven
SEBASTIAN
“Don’t trouble yourself for me, Sebastian. I’m not worth it.”
I hate that she views herself that way. It isn’t true. I know that. I hadn’t stayed faithful to a woman I couldn’t have for the last seven years if she wasn’t worth it. There hasn’t been anyone else. No one compared. Kendrick wears her down, and I had my chance to make her shine again, for her to see that she wasn’t an object, but a person—my person.
The woman I searched the top and bottom of earth for every second of every day. “I don’t ever want to hear you talk about yourself like that again, okay? You aren’t worthless, and you aren’t broken—you are good enough. You’ve always been good enough, and destined for more than whatever Kendrick has planned for you.” I trail my finger along the bruise of her neck, damning that collar and him. I hope my brother dies from his injuries, and if he doesn’t, I will fucking kill him. Now that I know he is in Trinidad, he can’t hide from me. I have a few ideas in the back of my head to ruin him.
Death, which is the easy way out.
Or set him up for a crime he didn’t commit and have him rot in prison. I like the sound of that one more. I should do to him what he did to me. It would have to be something serious, something so heinous that he would spend the rest of his life behind bars, but how much reach does he have? Will he know people on the outside and try to plan to get Gabriella back?
I’m not sure what to do now.
“We’re here,” Owen says, and I forget that I have yet to introduce Gabriella to him. My mind is too busy.
“Where is here?” Gabriella’s voice is muffled as her head lay against