His Guilt, Her Freedom

etting her a glass of water and a pillow for her back.

that phone all d

lied smoothly. She was finalizing her tra

ad a life, a world, that didn' t revolve around him.

e password?"

hed Annis' s lips. "It' s

tightened as he typed in the numbers. The p

working,"

ht. "I must have changed it. I c

d was Haven

ut Chastity called his name, and he tossed the phon

s allergic," he ordered. Then he saw Annis' s retreating back as she headed to the guest room. He stopped, then a

using gesture of care in a sea of cru

gant dresses and blouses she had carefully chosen, were destroyed. Slashed to ribbons. A

ched, tucked away in a s

made her dizzy washed over h

astity was standing in the

p a pair of scissors. "A pity. But they were all

ng. She just tri

lame but yourself. You' re from nothing. You should have been grate

Annis like a

," Chastity continued, her voice dripping w

hant curving of her lips.

years-it all came rushing to the surface. The calm, icy

forward and slapped Chastity' s phone out of her hand.

, her voice unrecogniz

slipped from her grasp and crashed to the floor. The smell of

ain, next to a decorative candle Chas

lame

curtain went up i

e her. The smoke was already thick, choking. Annis, still weak from the transfusion, felt her lungs

ntic shout from down the

w Chastity, screaming and huddled against the far wall.

n' t h

s. "I' ve got you, baby. You' re safe." He carried h

aw him go. She saw him choose. And

rom the flames, toward the back exit. She stumble

look back

e. In a quiet corner of the international terminal,

axi down the runway, her new phon

k right now, Annis. Don'

lane lifted into the air, and she watched the city lights sh