Chapter 42

—Ellie—

“Wear this,” Tristan ordered, throwing my dress I wore the day I was captured down on the bed. I stared at the black dress, at the blood stains and the tears. I hadn’t seen it in almost two months. It didn’t feel like something I’d ever owned. Nothing I was meant to wear ever again.

“Why?” I asked.

Tristan turned toward me, his dark eyes hard. “Because I told you to do it, Eleanor.” Not Querido. Eleanor. What was going on?

I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

He moved closer, glaring down at me. “Do as I say.”

“Or what?” I said harshly. “What could you possibly do to me? You have taken everything from me that mattered. There’s nothing left for you to take, to break.”

Tristan’s mouth turned cruel. “If you really think that’s true, then you are weaker than I thought.” I swallowed hard, but I didn’t put on the dress. We both knew I was so much stronger than he’d ever imagined. Maybe that was why he kept doing