EMBER’S POV

The question catches me off guard, hitting somewhere soft and unprotected.

“Every day,” I hear myself say, and my voice sounds strange, distant, like it’s coming from somewhere outside my body. “Every single day, I thought about leaving. About packing a bag and disappearing in the middle of the night. About starting over somewhere he couldn’t find me.”

“And yet you stayed.” Harrison tilts his head, studying me like I’m a specimen under glass. “For eight years, you stayed. Why?”

Because I was scared.

Because I had nowhere to go.

Because he convinced me I deserved it.

Because every time I tried to leave, I’d stop dead by...