Chapter 14

Kimberly joined the search party, rushing to the communications center. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she scanned the smoking rubble. After what felt like hours, they found him wedged beneath an overturned supply truck, unconscious but alive. As rescue workers lifted him onto a stretcher, his mask caught on a piece of metal and tore away.

“Holy shit!” Olivia gasped beside her. “He’s fucking gorgeous!”

Kimberly kept her eyes down, bracing herself. But when she finally looked, her entire body went cold with shock. Jayden. It was actually him.

At that exact moment, his eyes fluttered open. When he registered Kimberly standing over him, his hand shot out, fingers clamping around her wrist with surprising strength for someone so injured.

“Kim,” he rasped, fear and desperation raw in his voice. “Don’t leave…”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Words failed Kimberly completely. She tried to pull away, but Jayden’s grip was like iron, refusing to release her even as they transported him back to the medical compound. The strange procession continued all the way to the treatment area—Kimberly attempting to break free while Jayden stubbornly held on, leaving the medical team perplexed. When doctors tried to take over, Jayden refused treatment from anyone but her. Eventually, even Olivia threw up her hands in defeat.

“Just help the guy, Kim. If nothing else, do it for that face.”

Kimberly found herself effectively trapped. She retrieved a medical kit and began cleaning his wounds in rigid silence, her movements mechanical. The only sound in the tent was Jayden’s occasional sharp intake of breath when she touched a particularly sensitive area. When he whispered her name, something inside her snapped. She pressed down hard on an open wound, deliberately causing him pain. Jayden hissed through clenched teeth, his entire body tensing. But Kimberly felt no satisfaction. She’d thought she’d moved past this—that she’d effectively cauterized the wound he’d carved into her life.

Yet, seeing his face again brought everything rushing back. The humiliation of that sex tape spreading through campus. The nightmarish hours in that warehouse with hot sauce burning through her throat and cigarettes marking her skin. The kidney-binding horror of hearing him tell her kidnappers they could do whatever they wanted with her. She had trusted him completely. And he had systematically destroyed her.

What right did he have to follow her here? To pull her back into his toxic orbit? Kimberly’s hands grew progressively rougher until Jayden’s forehead beaded with sweat from the pain. Only then did she relent.

“You’re bandaged. I’m leaving.” Her voice was flat as she turned away.

In a sudden, desperate movement, Jayden lurched forward, seizing her wrist and pulling her back, pinning her against the examination table.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, panic flaring.

“Come back with me,” Jayden said, voice strained, seemingly oblivious to the blood seeping through his fresh bandages. “I broke things off with Agatha. When we get back to Boston, I’ll give you the wedding you deserve—anything you want.”

Kimberly stared directly into his eyes, her gaze unnervingly empty.

“What makes you think I’d ever go anywhere with you?” she asked quietly.

“The girl who loved you is dead. You killed her yourself.”

Her voice remained steady. “If our positions were reversed, would you be able to forgive?”

Jayden flinched as if she’d physically struck him. He wanted to argue, to convince her, but the memory of what he’d done—the deliberate cruelty he’d inflicted—rendered him speechless.

Kimberly pried his fingers from her wrist. “Breaking Dawn still has months of work here. I’m staying. Don’t waste your time.”

She met his gaze one final time. “I don’t love you anymore, Jayden. I don’t even hate you. I just wish I’d never known you at all.”

He staggered backward, collapsing onto the edge of the bed. When he tried to stand, the movement tore at his wounds, forcing a pained grunt from his throat. Through gritted teeth, he managed: “I won’t ask for forgiveness. But I won’t let you go either. Now that I’ve found you, don’t think you can disappear from my life again.”

Kimberly didn’t acknowledge his threat. She simply walked away. She believed that would be the end of it—that he would finally leave her in peace.

The next morning, on her way to the portable toilets, several figures emerged from between tents. A cloth pressed over her nose and mouth, the sharp smell of chemicals overwhelming her senses before darkness claimed her. When she regained consciousness, she was back in Boston.