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"Oh baby," Wade said, his voice aching with sorrow and regret

"And that’s what he’ll try to do again," she said, forging ahead, needing to get everything out There was soshe had to convince Wade to go along with her plan

"He’ll be convinced that all he’ll have to do is plant feelings for him, make me think I love him and then he’ll sweep in and take ether"

"Can he?" Wade asked, worry giving his words an edge "Can he still do that?"

"He’ll think he can," Eliza said griain I’ve spent years working to strengthenevery article, study, book I could getmental barriers that make people susceptible to psychic influence"

She pulled slightly away froesture he’dearnestly into his eyes

"I didn’t know any better then I didn’t knohat love or hate was So it was easy for him to convince me that what I felt for him was love and that it was real But then I felt hate when he was no longer s And the hate was so er, so much more powerful than the love I was made to feel for Thomas because that love wasn’t real," she said fiercely "But ed to me and wasn’t controlled by anyone else That hen I understood the difference betas real and as merely a manifestation of childish fantasies and hopeless wishes and that I was a na&iu true"

"Will he know he can no longer control you?" Wade asked, his brows drawn together in concern "And how certain are you that you can block him now?"

There was a hint of fear in his tone, one thather to the man who’d once controlled every aspect of her life A man she had freely ad for A man she’d planned forever with

"No one will ever control h clenched teeth "I’ll have to be careful to keepenize that I am different That he won’t be able to have e is mine He won’t hurt ht"

"No the hell you will not," Wade growled "We’ve been over this, baby You aren’t even getting close to hi herself for the explosion that was about to erupt

"I have to be at that press conference tomorrow," she said quietly

Wade’s eyes darkened, black like aa concerted effort not to coht then and there He sed hard, his lips parting and then snapping shut as if thinking better of what he’d been about to say

"Fuck no," he finally said, his breaths co with the force of each inhale as he fought for control "Have you lost your goddaet for a mooddamn town has it out for you and let’s focus on the fact that theall over the place They’ll eat you alive You’ll be on every television in the fucking country and they’ll crucify you They’ll vilify and condemn you with or without actual facts The plan is for Tho for him"

"I don’t plan to stay the entire tih for him to see me I want him to seeAs soon as I’ve made certain he’s seen me, I’ll leave and then we proceed as we planned Dane and his team will monitor Thomas at all tiht perimeter around the safe house He’s not invincible, Wade He won’t be hard to take out"

"It’s never a good idea to underestimate one’s opponent," Wade warned "Damn it, Eliza, you don’t need to be there I don’t want you there You’ve suffered enough Why put yourself through hell all over again by showing up at a press conference everyone in toill be at where your presence will only confirm what they think they already know? I don’t want that for you Haven’t you suffered enough?"

She closed the distance she’d put between theed hiainst the solid reassurance of his heartbeat

"This is so with him to understand To know that she had to do this and couldn’t just stand idly by while so I felt helpless and hopeless Then I felt hatred and bitterness but also guilt, grief and overwheluilt was the worst I saw those woht when I closed ot a little better when I rew up and learned to be htmares becaht that Thomas was coain have to see hie that I was finally free I had a good life Good friends People I cared about and who cared aboutthat Tho for his sins and that while I was finally living free and happy, he would never have those things

"I won’t lie I used to lie awake at night and wish that I could face him one last time So he would know that he didn’t own me, that he never had ood for hi him And not quickly or mercifully In those moments I was no better than hi to him exactly what he’d done to the wo until he begged for death I wanted him to feel what those women felt I wanted him to hurt And I wanted to be the last face he saw before he took his final breath I wanted hi, victorious, and for hier than he is Worse than the fact that it makes ret for wishing with all my heart that somehow I could make that dream a reality"