31. Maddison #3
My breath stutters as my eyes flick up to his arms, the ones covered in those circular scars. When my eyes find his again, they darken.
Kai turns his head to the doorway Zeke disappeared through, then back to me. His face is carved into that same blank calm, but there is something in his posture now. Muscles coiled and ready.
“You listen to me,” he says, voice lowering. “Ash is going to tear the world apart when she sees that video, if he’s not already. He will come. He will burn everything between him and you.”
Hope is a dangerous thing. It blooms for half a second, bright and fragile, before fear smothers it.
“No, I... You didn’t see his face when I betrayed him. He isn’t coming, Kai.” My voice is defeated, thinking back to that horrible moment.
Kai’s gaze hardens. “If you think for one second that he’s not, then you don’t know him at all. He’s coming. And we will be ready for it.”
The words barely leave his mouth before he moves. It’s subtle at first, a shift of his shoulders, the muscles rippling in his arms. His head dips slightly, chin towards his chest. My brow furrows as I watch, confused at what’s happening.
He’s completely silent, but his face hardens slightly. I don’t understand what I’m seeing until his restraints jerk once. Twice.
My heart lurches into my throat.
“Kai...stop!” I gasp, panic flaring hot and sharp. “Kai, please...”
He doesn’t look at me. His eyes fix on a point somewhere beyond the room, as if he’s gone somewhere far away inside his own mind. Somewhere pain can’t reach him.
A place I used to visit often.
There’s a dull, sickening snap beneath the clink of the chain. My stomach heaves. Kai doesn’t even make a sound as he breaks his own bones to free himself. His hands drop, wrong at first, too loose, too limp. And then he steadies them, jaw clenched so hard I swear I hear his teeth grind.
I stare, shaking in horror and awe until I can’t tell them apart.
“Kai...” My voice breaks. “Oh my God.”
His eyes snap to mine, rolling his shoulders, testing his body.
He crosses the room in three silent strides.
When he reaches me, he doesn’t hesitate.
He crouches beside the chair, his gaze flicking over the ropes, the knife handles, the blood soaking through my dress.
His face doesn’t change, but something in his eyes turns lethal.
“Maddy,” he says, voice low. “Look at me.”
My eyes lock on his automatically.
“Good girl,” he murmurs. “Stay with me. I’m going to get you out.”
My breath shudders. “Your hands...”
He ignores me.
He reaches for the ropes binding my wrists first, fingers moving quickly. He loosens it enough to take the pressure off without making me move too much. Every tug makes the rope scratch against open wounds, and I flinch.
“Sorry,” he says, and it’s the closest thing to tenderness I’ve ever heard from him.
When my hands are freed, I stretch the aching muscles. He works on the rope around my neck, then on my feet. I should feel free. I should feel relief. But I couldn’t stand right now, even if I wanted to.
Then his gaze drops to my thigh.
The two knife handles jut from my leg, coated in dried blood. My body starts to shake the moment he looks at them. Terror hits me all over again, adrenaline rushing through my veins.
I look at Kai’s wrists instead. The way they sit wrong. The way his hands tremble almost imperceptibly when he shifts, his bones are arguing with each movement. He did that to himself without a sound. For me.
It gives me a strange, fierce kind of resolve.
If he can do that... Then I can be brave too.
“Do it,” I whisper, gritting my teeth together.
Kai stills for a beat, searching my face, something like approval flashes in his eyes.
He shifts closer, bracing one knee on the concrete. Tearing his own shirt apart, off his body, he presses the fabric into my hands.
“Hold this,” he orders, firm but gentle. “You’re going to press where I tell you and you’re not going to let up. Understand?”
I nod. My fingers are trembling, but I squeeze the dark cloth.
“Eyes on me,” he says. “Don’t look down. You stay here.”
I draw in a breath that burns my throat. “Okay.”
He leans in closer, close enough that I can see the tension in his jaw, the sheen of sweat at his hairline. “Breathe,” is his only warning before his hand closes around the first knife handle.
My whole body goes tight, pain exploding through my leg.
White, blinding pain. A scream tears through my gritted teeth, my body jerking against the chair.
But Kai is already there, already pressing the cloth hard where the knife was, his hand firm and unrelenting.
He doesn’t give me any break, as he works the second knife out of my flesh, and my vision sparks at the edges like the lights are shorting out.
But I glue my eyes onto his, just like he told me to. I choke on a sob, shaking so hard my teeth chatter. The room tilts, and I fight the urge to fold into it.
“You did it,” he murmurs, tying off another strip of material to the wound. “Let’s go find him, hey?” Is the last thing I hear before he scoops me into his arms and pulls me against his warm, hard body.