Catherine looked around the building again, and her heart sank. She couldn't outrun Glen or outfight him, and there was no one around to stop him and Iris from doing whatever they wanted.

"Okay," she said. "But can you take the handcuffs off? I don't want Marco to see me like that."

​​

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Iris asked. "Get in there."

Glen let go of her arm and gave her a rough shove in her back. She staggered forward two steps, and the doors slid open automatically. Casting a glare over her shoulder at Iris, Catherine walked into the dim room. The doors slid shut behind her, and she heard a familiar voice talking to Glen—it sounded like Levi.

The room was dark and full of pod-shaped white chairs. Blue lights glowed in the corners of the room. She stepped forward nervously, and one of the pod chairs swirled around. The man in the chair was deep in shadow, but even if it were bright, she would have had trouble recognizing him. Marco had changed.

His face was sunken and pale, and his hair had been shaved away. He looked like a skeleton as he leaned forward in the chair to look at her. His eyes flashed with fear, horror, and then hatred.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Catherine snapped.

She felt unbalanced and unsteady on her feet, but she didn't know if she could make it to one of the strange chairs. She stared at Marco, trying to understand the situation. He was dressed in good clothes, but they hung awkwardly from his body—he'd lost a lot of weight. When he moved, there was a slight twitch to his left eye, and his hands trembled. What had Sean's men done to him?

"No, but really, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking around. "They can't see me with you."

"Who's they?" she asked. "Who brought you here?"

"This man," Marco said. "The one who does all Sean's bidding."

"Levi?" she asked.

"Yes," Marco said.

"Where is he?" she asked, looking around the room.

"I don't know," Marco replied. "He brought me here, and then he left."

"That doesn't make any sense," she murmured.

His stomach sunk and churned, and her mind struggled to make sense of it all. Why would Levi leave Marco alone and unguarded? How did Iris even know where Marco would be? None of it added up.

"Catherine, please," he begged, his voice weak and broken. "You need to leave. They can't see me with you, okay? Maybe you're mad at me for something. I don't even know what's going on. But please, if they see me with you again, they're going to kill me."

"It's not like I want to be here," she snapped.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"They kidnapped me and forced me to go with you to wherever they were sending you," she said.

"Tanzania," he replied miserably.

"Right to Tanzania then," she said.

"No," he said. "No, no, no. Sean can't know you're with me. I can't live through that again."

His eyes had taken on a mad gleam, and he shook his head back and forth as if trying to free himself from a horrible thought. He rocked back and forth in the chair, muttering something to himself.

"Marco," she cleared her throat and raised her voice, "Marco, snap out of it."

He stopped moving and looked up at her with haunted, sunken eyes, "You did this to me," he said.

She shook her head.

"You bitch," he screamed. "You did this to me!"

"I'm not responsible for what they did to you," she said. "No one forced you to run away with me—least of all me."

"Oh, but you did," Marco said.

"No," she said coldly. "You chose to do it for the money. You admitted as much yourself. You chose to elope with me for your selfish reasons, so don't you dare pretend I dragged you into this."

He barked a short, humorless laugh, "Typical rich girl, shirking all responsibility."

"I know exactly the type of man you are," she said. "I know what you're capable of, and I refuse to feel guilty about this."

"You'll suffer for this," he said. "You know, I had a bright future. I was going to be someone. But now I don't know if I'll ever be able to walk properly again. My body is broken, and I'm being sent away to some godforsaken country to die."

"I already have suffered for it," she muttered. "I spent ten years suffering for my mistake with you."

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head.

She chewed the side of her mouth, wondering what to do. She almost felt bad for Marco—he looked so pathetic and broken. She closed her eyes and forced herself to remember her last life: every humiliation, every pinch, punch, and slap, every time he forced her to sleep with his boss. In this new life, he hadn't done any of that—but he was still the same selfish, sadistic bastard.

"Did you even think of me?" he asked, his voice nasty and sarcastic. "While you were busy being Sean's little bitch, did you even think of me once? Did it even occur to you to ask him to spare me? Bitch!"

"Listen to me carefully," she said. "I may not be able to escape. But I promise you, the second our flight touches the ground in Tanzania, we will have nothing to do with each other. You will stay out of my life, and if I ever hear anyone mention your name, I swear to god, Marco. You will wish you were back with Sean's men. Do I make myself clear?"

"You're crazy," he said.

"Maybe I am," Catherine said. "Don't test me."

Marco narrowed his eyes as if trying to decide if he believed her or not. She looked around the room again, trying to find some sign of another human being. Hopeful, she checked the corners for security cameras, but she didn't see a thing. She sighed—even if there'd been cameras, Iris would have probably found some way to turn them off.

"Remind me, who brought you here?" she asked.

"The one who does all of Sean's bidding," Marco said, his lips curling with disgust. "Levi."

"Just Levi?" she asked. "Weren't there any other guards?"

Marco shook his head, "Thanks to you, it's not like I can escape easily. Sean's men made sure of that when they beat me."

"That's not right," she muttered. "Sean is way too paranoid about letting one person deal with such a big task. He should have sent a whole team to the airport."

"What are you going on about?" Marco asked.

She shook her head, "Nothing. Think harder, did you see anyone else on your way here? Anyone at all."

Marco shrugged, "I don't remember."

"Try," she snapped. "It could be a life or death difference for you."