Isabel had just hung up when Kayleigh called softly from the living room.
Isabel turned, nerves prickling. Kayleigh stood there radiating warmth and grace, and somehow it only made Isabel feel smaller—like she couldn’t breathe.
“Isabel, could you help me with something?” Kayleigh’s voice was soft, matching the elegant handwriting on the list she held out. Isabel glanced down. The word condoms hit her like a slap.
“Please, keep this between us,” Kayleigh added in a whisper, followed by a knowing little wink.
Feeling like she might shatter, Isabel nodded too fast and practically fled the room.
Then the memory hit her—her first time with Maximilian, back when she’d just turned nineteen. He’d brought her flowers and a spiced honey cake, little things she’d never gotten as an orphan. That was all it took to sweep her off her feet. She’d been ready to give him everything.
Isabel let out a bitter laugh. God, she’d been so foolish. Such small things had completely blinded her. Girls should be raised with love and plenty, she thought, so they won’t be fooled by a slice of cake and a bouquet.
In four years with Maximilian, Isabel had never bought condoms—he always insisted on other forms of birth control, never caring what it did to her body. But for Kayleigh? He cared. He’d protect her health no matter what.
On the way to the airport, Isabel stayed silent, lost in her thoughts.
“Time’s tight. Pick up the pace,” Maximilian said, noticing something was off with her.
“Sure, Mr. Riley,” Isabel said, flipping her turn signal as the light turned green.
Just as the car ahead cleared the intersection, a boy darted into the road against the light. Isabel swerved on instinct and slammed into the median’s flowerbed.
“Kayleigh!” The second they hit, Maximilian threw himself over Kayleigh, shielding her with his body.
The car hadn’t been going fast, so only the driver’s side took severe damage. The airbag deployed, pinning Isabel down, her left leg painfully trapped under the crushed dashboard.
“Maximilian...” Isabel’s voice shook with terror. “Help me...”
The fear of being trapped, of not being able to move, swallowed her whole.
Suddenly she was back in college—locked inside a cramped wooden box by that bully, Ian’s sister. No one came when she screamed. She’d nearly suffocated, saved only when a janitor found her the next day.
“Maximilian!” Panic climbed as she saw him getting ready to leave. Swallowing her pride, she pleaded anyway, even with Kayleigh standing there. “Don’t leave me...”
“Emergency services will handle it,” Maximilian said flatly, calling for help while he helped Kayleigh out of the car.
“She’s still inside,” Kayleigh noted, a hint of suspicion in her voice at how familiar Isabel sounded with him.
Maximilian brushed it off, pulling Kayleigh close. “The crash wasn’t serious. If we don’t go now, we’ll miss our flight. Help will come for her.”
Kayleigh nodded, casting one meaningful glance at Isabel trapped inside, but said nothing more as she followed Maximilian away.
Isabel thrashed against the seatbelt, pounding on the window, but Maximilian never looked back.
She understood then. He was more afraid of Kayleigh getting the wrong idea than of Isabel losing her life.
Watching them leave, Isabel couldn’t hold it in anymore. She broke into tears. “Maximilian! Please, save me... you promised you wouldn’t abandon me...”
“You liar, Maximilian! You said you’d protect me!”
Despair and panic crashed together inside her, spiraling fast. She lashed out without thinking, making her injuries worse.
“Let me out... let me out!” she screamed, pounding the window, her own cries echoing in her head.
The old trauma swallowed her mind whole, especially when the acrid smell of smoke began seeping into the car.
“The car’s on fire!” someone shouted from the street.
“Is anyone still inside? I thought they left.”
Trapped, Isabel started counting again, just like she had on that terrible night in college.
“1, 2, 3, 4...”
The night Ian’s sister imprisoned her, Isabel had counted to 6,788 before someone found her.
Now, in quiet despair, she wondered what number she’d reach before the end.
