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Chapter Twenty-Two

Stone

Two months later…

After leaving the gym, I stole Elijah’s ride and dumped it outside of the city. I dug the computer chip out of my neck with a pair of tweezers at the nearest gas station.

I’ve been aware of its presence for as long as I can remember. After all, I bore witness to too many being implanted at the compound.

Then I spent the next few weeks bouncing from city to city, always looking over my shoulder but settling nowhere long enough to put down roots.

I needed a plan, and I was searching for something, but I wasn’t sure what. I was lost, but at the same time felt free. However, a growing part of me always felt chained to my past, to her above all else. I wanted answers, but I feared what I might discover in search of them.

That day at Casa Forte did something to me. It destroyed a part of me I will never get back. The softness I had reserved solely for her had become swallowed up in a pit of venom as I searched my mind for answers, but as always, found none.

Since discovering Sienna’s marriage it’s become a significant turning point in my life, plaguing my every thought and consuming my nightmares.

They gave her to another, committing the ultimate act of betrayal. My stone walls crumbled but now it’s time to rebuild them, making them stronger than ever before, making me a force to be reckoned with, one they won’t see coming.

I’m taking back what they gave away so freely, and this time I’m keeping her. This time she’s mine. I’m coming Sienna, and this time I’m never letting you go.

That’s why I’m back in New Jersey, searching for something that might exist, but when all else fails, it’s where my mind always comes back to despite knowing they’ve probably already looked at the gym for me. To her, the woman in my dreams with the bright-blue eyes.