thecutedara

Kidnapped, Taken to a private island. I never thought this could happen to me. I never imagined one chance meeting on the eve of my eighteenth birthday could change my life so completely.

Now I belong to him. To Julian. To a man who is as ruthless as he is beautiful - a man whose touch makes me burn. A man whose tenderness I find more devastating than his cruelty.

My captor is an enigma. I don't know who he is or why he took me. There is a darkness inside him - a darkness that scares me even as it draws me in.

My name is Nora Leston, and this is my story.

Two Heart

Gradually, some of the tension drains out of Beth's body. She lets herself be soothed by my touch. After a while, she seems to regain her equilibrium, and I let her go, not wanting her to feel awkward about the hug.


Scooting back a bit, she gives me a small, embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, Nora. I didn't mean to—"


"No, it's all right," I interrupt. "I'm sorry I was prying. I didn't know—"


And then we both look at each other, realizing that we could apologize until the end of time and it wouldn't change anything.


Beth closes her eyes for a second, and when she opens them, her mask is firmly back in place. She's my jailer again, as independent and self-contained as ever.


"Some of this morning's catch would be great," I say casually, walking over to put away my art supplies.


And we continue on, as though nothing had happened.


After that day, my relationship with Beth undergoes a subtle, but noticeable change. She's no longer quite so determined to keep me out, and I slowly get to know the person behind the prickly walls.


"I know you think you got a rough deal," she says one day as we're fishing together, "but believe me, Nora, Julian really does care about you. You're very lucky to have someone like him."


"Because no matter what he's done, Julian is not really a monster," Beth says seriously. "He doesn't always act in a way that society deems acceptable, but he's not evil."


"No? Then what is evil?" I'm genuinely curious how Beth defines the word. To me, Julian's actions are the very epitome of something an evil man might do—my stupid feelings for him notwithstanding.


"Evil is someone who would murder a child," Beth says, staring at the bright blue water. "Evil is someone who would sell his thirteen-year-old daughter to a Mexican brothel . . ." She pauses for a second, then adds, "Julian is not evil. You can trust me on that."


Chapter 43