When I came to, it was already the next day. Aaron was sitting beside me, calmly blowing on a bowl of oatmeal like he hadn’t drugged and kidnapped me the night before. My brows pulled together in a tight frown. I hadn’t even opened my mouth yet when he noticed I was awake and gave me a smile—one of those soft, practiced ones I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“You’re awake,” he said lightly. “I made your favorite this morning. Thought you might be hungry.” He lifted the spoon like nothing had ever happened between us. Like the betrayal, the screaming, the nights I cried myself to sleep—none of it had ever existed. Even the way he smiled was an imitation of how he used to be, as if that could somehow turn back time. But his sunken face, those hollowed-out eyes dark with obsession… they told a much different story.

I turned my face away, unmoved by the spoon hovering near my mouth. “What do you want?” My voice came out flat, cold. “You said you wanted to love two women at once. I gave you that. I just didn’t sign up to be one of them. You could’ve left me alone.”

I looked up at him, my gaze sharp and clear. “So why are you here now? Why are you doing this?” He flinched like my words hit a nerve. His eyes turned red as he quickly set the bowl aside, trying to hide the crack in his mask.

“You don’t like porridge anymore, huh? That’s okay. I’ll make something else. Just wait here, alright?” Without giving me a chance to respond, he stood up and rushed out of the room like a man on the edge.

I let out a weary sigh. “Enough, Aaron,” I called after him. “This won’t change anything. I’ll never forgive you. There’s no future for us anymore. Not now, not ever. The only way we’d be together again is if I died.” My voice rang out cold and clear behind him. I knew he heard every word—his body went stiff as ice.

He really thought he’d just made a “small mistake.” That fixing it now would undo the damage. But he never understood—some lines, once crossed, can’t be uncrossed. He suddenly whipped around, voice breaking into a raw, desperate yell. “I just want us to go back to the way things were!”

“I just want you back!” Tears streamed down his face, but I didn’t flinch. I felt nothing. Not pity. Not fear. Just… empty. “Ryker will find me,” I said quietly. “It’s only a matter of time. Whatever you think you’re doing… won’t change a thing.” I repeated it over and over, but he wouldn’t listen. He stared at me with bloodshot eyes, so consumed with his fantasy he couldn’t see reality anymore.

“So that’s his name? Ryker?” he muttered, unhinged. “The guy’s been messing with your head. But that’s okay. Once we’re home, once you’re away from him, everything will go back to normal. You’ll remember who you really are. You’ll forgive me. We’ll start over.” He started laughing, but it wasn’t joyful. It was manic. Almost inhuman.

“This time, no more Nancy. It’ll just be you, me, and our baby. Just the three of us, forever.” Then he said it—the part that sent a chill crawling down my spine. “In three days, the private jet I requested will be cleared for takeoff. Once we’re in the air, he can’t touch us. No one can.” He smiled again, like he’d just won a prize. Then he turned around and walked out, ignoring me shouting after him, screaming until my throat burned.

I believed Ryker would come for me. I had to. But three days suddenly didn’t feel like enough time. Aaron wasn’t just being irrational—he was unhinged. There was no reasoning with him anymore. And once he dragged me out of Danveria, back to his family’s reach… I’d be trapped for good. The Mackey name would smother me like a cage I couldn’t claw my way out of. The thought sent my pulse racing.

For the next three days, I did everything I could to buy time. I made up request after request—he fulfilled them all without complaint. Maybe he thought I was softening. Maybe he thought he was winning. But the second I even hinted at delaying our flight, he changed. Cold. Calculating. Like flipping a switch. He saw right through me. No matter how I tried, no matter what I said… he knew. And in the end—despite all my efforts—I still ended up at the airport.