Chapter 22
After two agonizing, suffocating weeks of hiding within the four peeling walls of my bedroom, the illusion of my escape shattered. I couldn't dodge the reality of my situation anymore. It wasn't because the panic had suddenly subsided, or because I had magically found a secret reservoir of courage to accept the nightmare growing inside me. No, it was because the monster at the gate finally pulled the trigger on his absolute authority.
My personal phone had vibrated on the mattress beside me, a sharp, jarring buzz that cut through the heavy silence of my isolation. When I unlocked the screen, my breath caught directly in my throat. It was a text message from a private, unlisted number- Mason’s number. In the three long, brutal years I had worked as his executive assistant, he h
