Why had I chosen that moment to take a stand? For years, Zach had made me cower and submit, yet the one time Rafe needed me to do it for his life, I hadn’t been able to.

Why was this happening to us? We should have run away together when we had the chance, gotten far away from this place and this madness and this cruel fate that kept unleashing its sadism.

I clutched the blanket to my chest and squeezed my eyes shut. And I prayed. To whom, I wasn’t sure. To anyone listening.

Please get us out of here alive.

Whereas I’d wanted to end the pain not long ago by taking my own life, now I ached for the opposite. I wanted to live in peace with Rafe, hungered to submit my body and soul. I wanted to grow old with him, wanted to heal him…and maybe find a way to heal myself.

I’d gladly exist as a vagrant beside him, belonging nowhere or to anyone except each other.

My lids grew heavy, and as images of a life I’d never have flickered in my mind’s eye, I allowed a fitful sleep to claim me. I was back in the cabin with Zach, body trapped under his punishing knife and held prisoner by his thrusting cock.

Except it wasn’t Zach. Rafe took his place, one hand around my throat while the other drew the sharp blade into my skin.

“Mine,” he said. “You’ll never escape the pain of being mine.” He rammed into me with one last grunt and spilled his seed, head thrown back, green eyes hooded while he watched me watch him. A breath hissed between his teeth.

“I’m going to destroy you, sweetheart.”

The sound of my screams startled me awake. I shot up, hands rising in front of my face to protect me. Overwhelming darkness closed in, and my breathing escalated. The screaming continued, but I wasn’t the one screaming.

“Please! Stop! I wanna go home,” a shrill voice sobbed. A spine-tingling crack sounded on the other side of the wall and another shriek rattled my bones.

I tumbled to the ground and crawled toward the sound with quaking knees. She let out another horrific scream. I jerked to my side, hands covering my ears, body folding into the fetal position. But it wasn’t enough.

I couldn’t breathe. Dust from the ground clogged my nose and throat. I removed my palms, and her screams ripped through my eardrums. Unbidden, I dug my fingernails into my forearm, scratching down the scar from my desperate attempt to break free of Zach. My fingers glided over the ridges circling my wrist from when the men had restrained me.

From when they’d beat me…just like they were doing to that girl.