CHAPTER TWENTY- ONE

"What does protecting me have to do with this when you just endangered my life? Have you not heard what people say about him? His ruthlessness, his unforgiving personality, his need to repay people with evil. Do you want me to go on and on?" I said, my voice low and heartbroken. The betrayal and confusion I felt were almost too much to bear.

"I did it to protect you, Alyssa," she repeated, the same justification she had been giving since we came back home. Her words felt hollow, like a mantra she was trying to convince herself of as much as she was trying to convince me.

"Then explain to me how what you just did has protected me. You should have just left me with him," I said, turning away to look out the window. The view outside was a blur, my mind too preoccupied with the turmoil within to register anything else.

"You would be safer with him. He would protect you. Forget what everyone is saying about him; he can never hurt you," she insisted, but her words felt like they were meant