Page 83 of The Code of You

I stared at him, gripping the bottle. "What if more come?”

"He was alone. They sent only him to keep the number of people who know small.”

"How do you know that?”

"I searched their correspondence. He hadn’t reported our location. We’re safe until tomorrow.”

"How did they find us?”

Neo dried his hands. "A camera at the toll station. They captured the plate before I could intervene. From there they ran it through every feed—gas stations, intersections.”

He disappeared into the next room. I heard metal. Water. Nothing threatening. And still, my body stayed tense until he came back. I took another sip, pulled my jacket tighter.

"You think I’m a monster.”

I turned to him. He stood in the doorway, his silhouette against the faint light. "Aren’t you?”

"Yes. But I’m your monster. The difference between me and monsters like him is that I would never pretend to be something else.”

I laughed, bitter. "How reassuring.”

He came closer and sat across from me. The distance between us felt both too large and too small. "You considered going with him.” His voice was dangerously quiet. "For one second you thought he could save you.”

I said nothing and looked away, as if ashamed of my own thoughts.

"From me.” A dark laugh. "As if anyone could separate you from me. As if I would allow it.”

"You can’t hold me forever.”

"Yes, I can.” He leaned back with a satisfied smile. "Because you’re holding yourself. You could have screamed. Called for help. But you didn’t.”

The truth burned in my chest. I had stayed silent. Hadn’t warned the man. Why?

"Sleep,” he said finally. "We leave early.”

***

He was standing at the window, whether for minutes or hours I couldn’t say. Time had no meaning when he stood like that, like a statue that could come to life at any moment.

"We need to go,” he said without turning.

I hadn’t slept with him this close, his presence filling the room like an invisible net. I was afraid of my own inability to resist him. Something in me wanted to stay with him, even knowing it might destroy me. Could I survive his intensity? The part of him that wasn’t human?

I sat on the mattress, jacket pulled around my shoulders. "Where?” I asked.

"Sofia. Then on by car. Less conspicuous.”

I looked at him. "Sofia? That’s in . . . Romania.”

"Bulgaria. Sofia is in Bulgaria,” he said, correcting me with cold precision. He turned, his eyes fixing on me. "But we won’t stay there. We need to go somewhere that doesn’t exist. Where only we exist. Where no one will hear your screams.”

The water bottle slipped from my fingers and rolled across the floor, the hollow sound echoing in the silence. My mouth went dry.

He came closer and leaned down toward me. "Because you will scream. From pleasure. From pain. From everything in between.” His hand moved across my cheek. "I will take you to places you didn’t know existed.”

My body responded despite the fear. Or because of it. Heat gathered low in my stomach while my mind screamed that I should run. But where? He was right. No one would hear me. No one would find me.

"You’re trembling,” he said. "Good.”