“We’re all sorry, Starling, we were all complicit in what’s happened to you, but I promise you we won’t mess with you or your life anymore. I know you don’t care but we’d like you to stay, this is a great school, better than the others you applied to. Use us and this opportunity, take back a little of what we took from you,” Evan says solemnly as one by one, the three remaining boys stand and exit the room, until I’m alone wondering what the fuck just happened.

It takes me fifteen minutes before the shell shock wears off and I’m capable of moving. Slowly I climb the stairs to my room in the turret, testing the door several times before I’m confident that I’m not locked inside.

All of my belongings have been replaced in the spots I unpacked them into, my tiny selection of clothes mixed with the closetful of expensive designer things Sebastian bought for me. Dragging my case from beneath the bed, my hands shake as I begin pulling things from the rod and shoving them inside. It isn’t until I’m zipping the bag closed that I start to wonder if I’m doing the right thing.

Two years ago I fled from Sebastian, but really, what good did that do me? I’m older now, but all running got me was a broken soul and a laundry list of mental health issues. Will running again make things any better? In the back of my head, I’ve always questioned what would have happened if I’d just stood my ground and fought back, would he have backed down?

I’m not sure what prompted his change of heart today, maybe it was my conversation with Clay, or the multiple emotional meltdowns I’ve had since he stepped back into my orbit. But whatever it was, maybe this time I don’t have to run to be free of him.

This could all still just be a game, but the open plane ticket voucher is here, just where they said it would be. It can be my emergency backup plan, my escape. Evan told me to use them, use this opportunity and perhaps I should. Could I stay here? Live in this house, with them, him?

Thoughts of revenge taste sweet on my tongue as I consider it, but would that make me as fucked up as them? Maybe getting on with my life here could be the biggest revenge I could gain. Sebastian has always thrived on his control over me, even when I wasn’t even in the same state as him. Being here, right under his nose but outside of his control, would be torture for him.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. I could make friends, date, test his control over and over again until he cracks, then I’ll leave and when I do, it won’t be because I’m running away, it’ll be because I’ll have taken everything I can, everything I need. Then I’ll have the sweetest revenge ever, by moving on and never thinking about him ever again.