---- Chapter 20 A scream lodged in my throat, silent and raw. My body went cold, my limbs frozen. | was a deer in the headlights, trapped in the terrifying glare of the predator | thought | had escaped. | turned to run, but he was too fast. He was at the door in two long strides, blocking my path, his body a solid wall between me and freedom. He just looked at me, his eyes drinking in the sight of me. His gaze was hungry, possessive, a starving man looking at a feast. "Sarah," he breathed, his voice a ragged whisper. He reached out a trembling hand and touched my cheek, his fingers tracing the line of my jaw. "It's really you. You're alive." A wave of pure, unadulterated joy washed over his face. He pulled me into his arms, his embrace crushing, desperate. He buried his face in my hair, inhaling my scent. "I knew it," he murmured. "| knew you wouldn't leave me." He pulled back, his hands gripping my shoulders. His joy quickly curdled into a familiar, wounded anger. "Why?" he demanded, his voice thick with pain. "Why did you do it, Sarah? Why did you pretend to be dead? Did you hate me that much?" The smell of his cologne, the same expensive, cloying scent ---- he had always worn, filled my senses, and | was transported back. Back to the cold water of the pool, the sting of the whip, the sight of my grandmother's ashes on the floor. A wave of nausea and terror so profound it felt like a physical blow washed over me. "Get away from me!" | shrieked, my voice finally breaking free. | shoved him with all my might, stumbling backward, away from his touch. The look on his face was one of genuine shock and hurt. He looked like a lost child, unable to comprehend why his favorite toy was suddenly rejecting him. "Sarah..." he started, taking a step towards me. "Don't touch me!" | screamed, scrambling away from him. He stopped, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay," he said, his voice soft, placating. "Okay, | won't touch you. Just... just talk to me." Just then, the door burst open. It was Daniel. He must have heard my scream from his apartment across the hall. He took in the scene in an instant-me, cowering in the corner, and Ethan, a dark, menacing presence by the door. He rushed to my side, putting a protective arm around me. "Are you all right?" he asked, his voice low and steady. | clung to him, burying my face in his chest, my body shaking ---- uncontrollably. "Daniel," | sobbed, "don't let him take me. Please don't let him take me." Ethan's eyes narrowed as he looked at Daniel. Recognition dawned, followed by a cold, murderous rage. "You," he snarled. "The assistant. You were the mole. You helped her." "Yes," Daniel said, his voice firm, his body a shield in front of mine. "| helped her escape from a monster." "She is my wife!" Ethan roared. "She is a human being," Daniel countered, his voice ringing with a conviction that Ethan's blustering rage couldn't touch. "Not a piece of your property. You were her protector once, Ethan. You were the man she looked up to, the man she loved. And you... you became her jailer. Her torturer." The words hit Ethan with the force of a physical blow. He flinched, a flicker of pain in his eyes. But his pride, his arrogance, wouldn't let him admit the truth. "You are nothing," Ethan spat at Daniel, his voice dripping with contempt. "A low-level employee. You think you can have her? You are not worthy to even breathe the same air as her." He gestured to the two large security guards who had materialized in the doorway. "Take her," he commanded. "No!" | cried, my voice finding a new strength. | stepped out from behind Daniel, my head held high. "| am not going anywhere with you." | looked at Daniel, my eyes full of a fierce, ---- protective love. "And you are wrong about him, Ethan. He is ten times the man you will ever be." | took Daniel's hand, my fingers lacing with his. "| am with him now," | said, my voice clear and steady. "And if you try to take me, if you try to lock me up again, | swear to you, | will find a way to die. And this time, it won't be a trick."