Chapter 3

He kept repeating it, his voice dropping lower each time.

"Ella, what happened to you... I don't want you like this... I'd rather you curse at me, hate me, hit me... even if you cried and told me you hated me, that would be better than this..."

He used to be the proudest man in the room.

Now he was curled up at my feet.

I should feel something, probably.

If I still had a heart.

I crouched down and patted him gently.

"Professor. It's late. Go get some rest."

He snapped his head up and grabbed my wrist.

"Don't call me that!"

"Call me by my name... call me Sebastian... or call me like you used to..."

Daddy.

That name he used to wrinkle his nose at.

I smiled. "Of course, Sebastian."

His grip went slack. He got up, hollow-looking, and left.

The next afternoon, I was trimming roses in the garden when Vivienne knocked the shears out of my hand, her face twisted.

"You disgusting little bitch! You don't even love him anymore, so why did you come back? I'll make sure you understand exactly what it costs you."

I didn't give it much thought.

But Vivienne's methods were far nastier than I'd given her credit for.

The next morning, Sebastian asked me with unusual softness:

"I ordered blueberry muffins from that bakery you always liked. I've got something to take care of, but could you go pick them up?"

Something small stirred in my chest.

"Sure," I said. "I'll go."

I'd barely pulled the car door open when a cloth came from behind and pressed over my nose and mouth.

...

When I came to, my head was splitting.

Three men stood not far away.

One bald, one with a thick beard, one in a baseball cap.

They were taking photos of me and saying things that made my skin crawl, laughing in a way that made the air feel dirty.

Vivienne stepped out from behind them, light and cheerful.

"Oh good, you're awake. Scared?"

"This is kidnapping," I said, stating the obvious. "That's a crime, Vivienne."

She burst out laughing.

"And who's going to connect it to me? You think this is my idea? Sebastian planned this."

Something struck oddly at my chest.

"His plan was to have you brought here and frightened. Wait for you to break down and scream for help. Then he swoops in like a hero and saves you."

"Pathetic, isn't it? A psychology professor at one of the top universities in the country, resorting to this to get a woman back."

"But—"

Vivienne's tone shifted.

The lightness dropped away, and something cold and warped took its place.

"I'm not letting this play out the way he scripted it."

"After you left, I did everything. I looked after him. I was there for him every single day. I did a hundred times more than you ever did. And he couldn't even be bothered to look at me. The only time he came alive was when someone mentioned your name."

"Why? Why does it have to be you?"

Her face had gone somewhere ugly.

"I'm going to ruin you."

"I'm going to let them have at you, and when Sebastian gets here, the only thing he'll find is something broken and filthy."

She turned and snapped her fingers.

The three men started toward me, grinning.

The bald one was in front, holding a syringe.

He grabbed my chin and tipped my face up.

"Easy now, pretty girl." He grinned, showing yellow teeth. "This is the good stuff. Once it's in you, you won't put up a fight."

The needle went into a vein.

"System," I said quietly inside my head. "Run a body scan."

The system let out a terrified shriek.

"Host! That's—that's a veterinary-grade stimulant! Extremely high concentration! Injected into a human, this can cause severe cardiac arrhythmia or death!"

"Understood," I said, cutting it off. "Get me out of here."

"Ah... well, about that..."

Its voice went suddenly evasive.

"Host, if you leave now, the world firewall repair will be interrupted... and the three months you agreed to aren't up yet..."

The drug was starting to work.

A strange, horrible burning heat spread up my arm and out through my whole body.

The bald man smacked his lips and reached for my face.

"Real soft skin."

I turned my head away.

"System." I sent the command, sharp and clear as a crack. "Get. Me. Out."

One instant.

Every sensation, every temperature, every sound—gone.

I was back in the void.

I turned a cold stare on the system. "This is your idea of keeping me safe?"

"...I'm sorry."

Its voice was very small.

I let out a short, humorless laugh.

"Sorry doesn't fix anything. When I get back to my world, you're going to fix my heart condition."

That had been my condition for agreeing to any of this.

It nodded frantically. "Of course, of course! Full health and the money, I promise!"

Then a scream came through from the screen.

"She's not breathing!"

"What?!" The bearded one rushed over and checked.

His hands started shaking.

"She's dead. She's actually dead."

"We're done, we're done, we're done..." The one in the baseball cap collapsed onto the floor. "We killed someone. We killed someone!"

The warehouse door flew open as Sebastian kicked it in.

He saw the body on the floor.

"Ella...?"