"Take it," Sebastian says, moving the wine glass closer, but I refuse to take it. My hand whips out and before I know what's happening, I knock the glass out of his hand and it goes flying, smashing against the bathroom wall, shattering into a million pieces.

"That works too," he says, looking at the glass with amusement, but I'm not even listening. My whole body shakes.

"You bastard!" I scream despite myself, tears burning into my eyes. "I trusted you! And look what you do! You betray me!" My throat is still sore, but it feels good to let it all out, even if the only result is my voice breaking out into a fit of coughs.

Sebastian's blue eyes are fiery and passionate at my words. "Betray you?" he roars. "I fucking saved you, angel!" He reaches out his free hand to grab my arm. I try to struggle out of his grip, but he's too strong and he doesn't let go. His eyes burn into mine, anger and intensity rushing out of him. "What do you think those men would have done to you if they caught you? Because let me tell you, they sure as hell wouldn't have let you off scot free. They were after you, angel! They were after both of us! I brought you here to save you!"

I shake my head slowly back and forth, not believing it. The trembles keep on coming. "There's no reason for them to come after me," I whisper. This can't be real. None of this can be real. Sebastian would never do this to me. Sebastian would never lock me up like this.

He throws back his head, laughing angrily. "Oh but there is, my angel. Looks like you aren't so pure and innocent after all, huh?"

I keep on shaking my head. I don't know what else to do anymore. "No," I say, my voice cracking. "No. No! You didn't save me. You locked me up here. You… you left me here, no food, no water, no nothing." My head keeps hurting. I just want to cry again, but the tears refuse to come. It's like everything has been sucked out of me, like there is nothing left but this deep, nagging emptiness in the pit of my stomach.

Sebastian's eyes burn with anger at that. He looks like he's on the verge of exploding as he pulls me up with his iron grip, bringing me into his arms. His voice is hot and passionate as he growls, "Did you not notice? I fed you. I gave you water. I showered you. I've been the perfect gentleman for the last two days, all because of you!" He drops his voice. "I never even touched you," he says, like he's whispering the darkest secret in the world.

My body just keeps shaking. I open my mouth to protest, but he doesn't stop there. "And I didn't just lock you in here!" he screams. "I slept on the ground outside of the safe house. I let you have the bed and the blankets… I let you have all of it. Your own room. Your own security. Because I don't deserve the security. I don't deserve anything. But you do, angel. You deserve it all." His face is red from shouting, but there is a certain brokenness to it, a hurt I didn't expect, and it feels like all of the air is sucked out of me.

"Where--where is Ash?" I whisper, not knowing what else to say. I try to breathe deeply, to stay strong and focus on Sebastian, even though all I really want to do is crumple up and cry. None of this makes any sense. None of this can ever be real.

He looks away like he's been slapped. His eyes focus on the barred window in the corner of the bathroom, and his jaw works like he's torn between saying something and not.

"Where?" I repeat, louder this time, but my voice continues to shake.

He sighs. Locks eyes with mine. His whole face is filled with something dark and pained, and he looks at me in that same apologetic way as he did the night of the kidnapping, his eyes burning holes into mine. "She's dead," he says in a low voice, not looking away. "Ash is dead."

My heart shatters as soon as he says it. I feel frozen, feel my muscles tense up, feel every part of me hurting again. "What?" I whisper, a tear running down my cheek. Ash is dead. Ash is fucking dead. The one person left, the one person who supported me, is dead. And it's all because of him. "Why didn’t you save her?" I say, louder this time. "Why didn't you fucking help her, Sebastian?"

He looks at me sadly, reaching out to hold me, but I step back, pressing myself against the wall. I think for a second that he's going to yank me back over to him, but he doesn't. He just stands there, watching me, his eyes looking more pained than ever. "The men were already there," he says quietly. "It was too late. We had to leave, and I could only take one of you. It was you or her." His eyes are fixated on mine, but I just keep sobbing, shaking, praying this is all some elaborate nightmare. "I had to choose. And I chose you."

I start shaking my head back and forth. This can't be real. She can't be dead. He must be lying to me. I can't lose Ash too.

Slowly, he reaches out his thumb and touches it to my cheekbone, then drags it down beneath my mouth, then up and around it. "I never meant to hurt you," he growls, dropping his voice, his eyes still trained on mine. They're full of pain and apology, but I'm done seeing them. The anger surges back through me as I remember what he did to me, to Ash. My heart thuds in my chest, faster this time. "But you did hurt me. You locked me in here. You…. you got Ash killed! Get the fuck out of here. Get out of my life!" I scream through the tears.

He looks at me, deep and passionate, and nods, but he doesn't yell back at me. He doesn't get into an argument. He just stands there, probing me, his body in front of mine. "If that's what you want, angel," he hisses at last, biting back the rage. Then he puts down the gun and walks away into the darkness.

I crumple up and cry for a second as he walks out of the bathroom, trying to make sense of everything going on. It takes me a minute to regain my senses. But then I hear the click at the door, the door I couldn't open, and I realize he's the only way out.

Before I know what's happening, I feel myself running to the door, to the little glimpse of light outside, of freedom. "Sebastian!" I scream, but the door is already creaking closed. "Sebastian!"

Once I reach the door, it's fully shut. I start pounding on it, screaming and crying, desperately needing to get out of here. "Sebastian! Let me out, Sebastian! LET ME OUT!" Nothing. No sound but the reverberations of my scream through the room. "SEBASTIAN! PLEASE!"

I hold my breath as soon as I hear footsteps coming back to the door. I wait for him to unlock it and let me go free. The footsteps stop directly in front of the door, and for a second, there's nothing but silence.

And then I hear his voice.

"I'm sorry," Sebastian says. "But I can't let you out. I have to save you."

My stomach twists immediately. He starts walking away, and then I pound on the door harder, screaming through the rawness in my throat. "Let me out, Sebastian!" I say desperately. "LET ME OUT!"

I scream and scream until I can’t scream anymore.

"Morning, angel." The next morning, I wake up to the sound of those two, quiet words, forgetting for a minute where I am and what happened, and just enjoying the sound of Sebastian's voice through my closed eyes. But then the night before floods back to me, and I shoot up, my eyes wild, knowing I have to get out of here before he kills or rapes me or whatever he plans to do to me.

Sebastian sits down on the side of my bed as soon as I awake. I try to throw him off with a desperate flail of my arms, but he is too strong to be moved. I keep panicking though, desperately looking around for a weapon of some sort, for any way to protect myself. My heart is in my throat, but I find nothing of use.