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Fuck. He works for Ezra; I knew it.
He knows where I work, and if he doesn’t know, then I have no doubt Lee will report back to him what happened just now. That’s what Ezra does. He makes the decisions but has his men do his dirty work. The only comfort I have in that is knowing he’s still all the way back in Eastlake, waiting for me at The Fortress.
Which means I have time to leave.
I have to leave now. It was so stupid to come here. Of course he’d tracked me down when I lived in the next city over, but I didn’t have enough money to move across the country like I wanted, so I came here to Oakwood instead. Should I really be that surprised I’ve been found again?
It’s been well over a year since he last found me; I guess I’m more surprised I’ve been able to stay hidden this long.
I want to scream. I want to punch something. I want to just keep running and never look back, but I’ve lived here so long that I wouldn’t feel right just leaving. I have a job—twoof them—a roommate, coworkers, and friends who would all wonder what happened to me.
But it wouldn’t matter. If I left on my own, or if Ezra took me, they’d still be left in the dark.
Once my breathing calms enough for me to go back inside, I walk on wobbly legs into the daycare. I plaster a smile on my face as I walk past everyone, but it’s so fake. It feels wrong.
How did my life become so complicated?
* * *
As soon asI get home, I take a hot shower and slip into my comfiest pajamas.
Normally, I’d be happy it’s Friday, but now I have to spend the night packing my things. The entire drive home, I was constantly checking over my shoulder for that black truck.
For dinner, I make a homemade cheeseburger and fries—and I pour a full glass of wine to wash it all down.
I sit at the dining room table and eat my meal in silence, trying to rid my mind of Ezra.
He’d been the best and worst thing that could have ever happened to me.
He’s toxic.
Violent.
And so, so addictive.
He was my drug, and I couldn’t help but get my fix. He was the stressor that triggered my depressive breakdowns, but he was also the balm to my broken soul. I can’t get away from him, no matter how hard I try. Every single time I’d left him, he found me.
I’ve lived in Oakwood for a year, and this is the longest I’ve been able to hide from him. I have to say that I’m a little impressed with myself, considering my last home was only thirty minutes away. But I’ve been more careful this time. Because of him, I knew people who could get me fake identification, fake socials, fakeeverything. It took an arm and a leg to keep them quiet, but that was the price I was willing to pay for my freedom.
I’m Jasmine Lewis now; Maya Johnson doesn’t exist anymore.
Getting caught up in a relationship with a gangster was about the dumbest thing I could’ve done. No one runs away from the leader of the Eastlake Syndicate and lives to tell about it.
And I dated him… No one will ever understand the fear and paranoia I feel on a daily basis. I’ve seen him lie, cheat, and steal. I’ve seen him beat a man half to death for cutting him off in traffic. On more than one occasion, I’d had to physically put myself in between him and whomever he’d decided to use as a punching bag for the day, because I knew that if I didn’t intervene, they’d be dead.
He was manipulative and controlling, but for some reason, I couldn’t get enough.
I couldn’t get enough of the way he would look at me like I was the only person in the world. I savored the way his hands felt on my body, worshiping me like I was his queen.
He was the most intoxicating, mostinfuriatingman I’d ever met…
But every part of me still aches for him.
As much as I try to deny it, I can’t keep lying to myself. I want him. I want him in my heart, in my soul, in my bed, and in my heart. I want him so badly it hurts, but I know it would hurt even more to go back to what we had.
I can’t go back to The Fortress, listening to plans for murder and mayhem. The gunshots, the screaming, the basement…
A shiver travels down my spine. I never want to think about that dark, dank basement for the rest of my life. The moment I’d stepped foot into that room beneath the mansion, I knew there was no going back. Ezra wouldn’t just let me leave; I’d seen far too much of him for him to risk losing me again. But he doesn’t know that I plan to take those secrets with me to the grave. I’ve never had any intention of going to the police about anything. That would put a huge target on my back.
