I told myself helping her was temporary. It isnāt.
Blair ends up in my bed, wearing my clothes, looking at me like sheās waiting for permission to breathe.
Then I learn what sheās actually been living with. The control. The tracking. The threats. The way sheās been punished for trying to leave.
Suddenly itās not about liking her.
Itās about making sure she never ends up back in that situation again.
I take her with me when I travel. I keep her close because sheās still scared to be alone. She still jumps at every noise.
She has no idea how much danger sheās ināor how far the people who hurt her will go to get her back under their control.
But theyāre not getting near her.
Not while sheās with me.
And sheās not going anywhere.
BLAIR
Iām not used to being cared for.
Iām used to being watched, tracked, told what to do, punished if I step out of line.
Leaving that life doesnāt mean Iām free. It means Iām running.
But Nikolai doesnāt treat me like Iām a problem he needs to fix. He treats me like Iām someone worth protecting, even when I tell him he shouldnāt get involved.
He buys me clothes because Iām too scared to go home. He carries me when I canāt walk. He sits with me when panic hits.
I should pull away. I should keep my distance.
But he asks me to come with him, and I say yes before I can think.
Now Iām in another country, meeting his family, pretending Iām not terrified that the past is going to catch up.
Because the people I escaped from donāt let go.
And if they find me, they wonāt just take meā
theyāll destroy the one person who ever tried to help me.
This is book is part of the His to Claim Duet. Reading order:
His To Break.
His To Keep.