I don't remember falling asleep. But I remember waking up.
It was still dark when my eyes blinked open, the shadows in the room too thick to be natural. My breathing was shallow. My body stiff. For a moment, I didn't know where I was, just that I didn't feel safe.
And then I felt it. The weight next to me.
Aiden's arm was draped loosely across my waist, his breath warm against my shoulder. Not tight. Not controlling. But there, always there, like he belonged to me. Like I belonged to him.
I didn't move. Didn't even flinch.
It just stared at the ceiling, willing my heart to stop thudding so loud. As of even that could wake him. The memory of Jameson's stare burned at the back of my mind like a bruise. The way he'd spoken about me like I was a thing. And worse, the way Aiden didn't stop him.
She knows when to stay quiet.
I closed my eyes. Swallowed the taste of shame.
Later, after Aiden left for a meeting, some last-minute call with "people I didn't need to worry about." I sat in the kitchen, untouched coffee cooling beside me, staring at my phone like it might explode.
I couldn't text Sophia. Not directly. Not anymore.
Aiden had mentioned something once, casually about "monitoring" like it was for my protection. Like he got to decide who I was protected from.
But we had a system.
A dummy app disguised as a wedding planning calendar. Because Aiden would never care about bridal flower arrangements.
"Meeting at 2pm. Wear grey. Consider veil."
I tapped the event, my fingers were ice. The translation obviously was – "Meet at our safe spot. Wear something low profile. We're running out of time."
The safe spot was a bookstore, tiny, old, half- forgotten, tucked behind a wine bar downtown. We'd used it before. Quiet. No cameras, no nosy attendants.
I changed quickly. Grey sweater, faded jeans, hair tied back. Nothing Caitlin Gallagher would wear. I didn't tell the driver where I was going. I told him I was going shopping and that I needed privacy. Aiden had trained them not to argue.
When I stepped inside the bookstore, the bell above the door gave a tired little ring. I was alone for three heartbeats, then Sophia appeared from between the shelves.
She looked sharper than usual. Dark jacket, cropped hair pulled into a loose twist, phone in hand, eyes alert. She looked like someone who'd stopped being scared a long time ago.
"Sis," she said softly, pulling me into the asile between travel and history. "Are you okay?"
I shook my head. "I'm losing myself."
Sophia's jaw tightened. She glanced over her shoulder, checked the corners of the shop, then reached into her bag. "I have something for you," she said, voice barely audible.
She passed me a slim manila envelope. Inside was a flash drive, a folded map, and a driver's licence with someone else's name. My face, but not mine.
My hand trembled as I held it. "This is real." I whispered.
"It's a start," she said."We're moving. I've got someone on the inside who's feeding us times, locations, weak spots. You won't have many windows, but when one opens, we run. And we make it look like you never existed.
My chest squeezed. "Fake my death."
She nodded. "Soon, but not yet.'
I looked at the map, it had a red X marked near the shoreline, –an old boathouse. "This is where?"
"Where you go when it's time." She said. "Where we make it look like you drowned."
My knees nearly gave out. Sophia steadied me.
"I don't know if I can do it." I whispered.
"You can," she said firmly. "Because if you don't, you'll die in that penthouse. Just slower."
*
When I got back, I tucked the envelope into a hollowed-out book on the bottom shelf. My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped it.
I had one more chance.
And Aiden, he could never see it coming.
But that night, he was waiting. Not in the living room, not in the bedroom, but in the reading nook off the balcony, where I used to sit with tea and pretend I was someone else.
His silhouette was sharp against the glass. One leg crossed over the other, a drink in hand, watching the skyline like it jad secrets he already owned.
I paused in the doorway.
He didn't look at me when he spoke.
"Where did you go today?" The air in the room snapped tight. My lungs turned to stone.
"I.. I told the driver I was shopping." I said quietly.
"I didn't ask what you told him."
Now he turned. His eyes weren't angry, they weren't even curious, they were dead calm. Which was worse.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before leaving." I said and stepped inside, careful.
"Stop right there!" Aiden yelled.
I was so shocked and afraid I couldn't even lift a foot. My whole body vibrated immensely.
"How dare you try to walk out on me, Caitlin. Have I been too easy on you lately? You want some hot treatment, huh?"
I went utterly mute and dead silent.
"I'm talking to you! Keep me silent one more time and you'll beg for death, not a divorce." He said his eyes bulging from their sockets and face turning reddish red.
"I.. I... I.. I." I stuttered on the most annoying manner.
Aiden smirked, shaking his head and staring deadly at me.
"Is something wrong with you? What the hell is your fucking problem? Am I a joke to you?"
"I'm sorry.." i whispered wryly.
"You're sorry? For what exactly?"
I lowered my head. "For going out to see a friend without your permission. I'm..so..rry."
"Wait. Caitlin, let me get this straight. You said you what, again?"
"I went out to see a fri…"
Before I could finish, the heavy hand that landed on my cheek twice, made me revebrating and recoiling in total brain disassociation and hormonal disability.
Whatever that means though.
Hell, those slaps left me crying like a 5years old, for five straight minutes.
"Caitlin…! Caitlin!" He thundered my name twice hoping for a response I couldn't possibly give in that state.
He called my name aggressively jerking me back and forth with his hand countless times, but I just stood there crying.
Given how possesive, dominant and aggressive he was, he went wild because I refused to tell him the friend I went to see. Or I don't even know.
Maybe because I didn't respond when he called.
Aiden pounced on me furiously, like I was some object, who doesn't feel pain.