"Let them go." I hissed out, still standing outside.

I was holding it together but barely. The false calmness that had washed over me before was long gone now. My hands were clammy and trembling at my sides.

"Come now, Camila, can't we settle this inside?"

"I want to know my friends are safe." I retorted.

"The only thing that will ensure their safety is you agreeing to come inside."

I knew what I was doing. I knew the choice I was making. It was completely undeniable.

I was handing myself over in the hopes that Josh would then release the people I loved. I was sacrificing myself in the hopes that I would save those who had given up everything to keep me safe.

Part of me wondered if I should've screamed out, tried to get the attention of a neighbor or even someone just driving by. I thought that I should give up now, call the police and hope for the best. Someone in this world would have to step in to prevent this atrocity from continuing.

But the reality was that too many people had stepped in already. And each one was burned worse than the good Samaritan before them. This was my battle now. And Josh was stronger and faster than I was. If I made one wrong move, if help didn't come fast enough, Sophie and Alistair would be killed.

All because of me. Because I had run away from the man I was supposed to marry.

So if giving myself up meant all of this would stop than it seemed like the only reasonable option.

I stepped into the condo that no longer felt like home.

Josh pulled the front door shut behind me with his bloodied hands.

"I want to see them." I whispered.

"I want them to see you too, pet." Josh purred.

He didn't speak like his hands were covered in blood from a crime he was currently committing. He wasn't acting like he had just kidnapped two federal agents who had been actively working to take him down. He wasn't concerned or even frazzled. The smooth way the words rolled off his tongue would've been suitable in a gala or a press conference and his blue eyes didn't reveal any other emotion aside from triumph. Josh was forever unwavering.

But I saw the crimson substance on his hands. And I knew that had happened to the last person who had crossed him. A single headline was published in the paper about the man being found brutally murdered. A day later he was forgotten and my fiancé progressed on like nothing had happened. I had been a coward then, I could not be a coward now.

I followed Josh upstairs.

The place that had once been my beautiful home, my sanctuary, was now a perfect example of a personal hell. My skin crawled as I sucked in each tight breath. Nothing was physically different from the last time I had been here, but the whole place reeked of evil now.

The first area I assessed was the living room. After the first break in I had to replace much of the furniture from the brutality my pricey couches had received. I expected to see the new couches slashed open in the same fashion. I thought the coffee table would be turned over once more and the now empty bookcase would be on its side. But at first glance, the living room looked untouched. Starkly clean and completely unlived in.

However, my grey eyes narrowed in on a small framed photograph that hung on the wall. It was so small that it was almost unnoticeable and it had been ignored during the first break in. It was a picture of my favorite place. A small town in southern Alberta that had an amazing landscape, unlike any other I had seen and the unique scenery harbored thousands of fossils, making it one of the most astonishing places I had been to. My trips were always filled with such wonder and happiness. Every time I glanced at the picture I was reminded that I was so lucky to be living in such a beautiful and safe country.

Now, the glass that covered the photograph was shattered, half of it on the floor, the other half barely holding on to what remained of the frame.

It was the one sign I needed to know that Josh was not nearly as calm as he pretended to be.

We progressed into the kitchen.

Since the first break in I had replaced everything that required immediate attention. But just like the living room it seemed to be undamaged at first glance. The only difference I could notice was a blinking red light, but I had no time to investigate.

"Camila." Sophie's voice made me whirl around.

And when I saw the scene that took up my dining room my knees gave out. My shocked body crumpled to the floor.

At first glance it was too much to comprehend. I could only see the large components. There was Sophie, my beloved friend when her stunning elfin face and wonderful blonde hair, sitting in my dining room on one of my expensive chairs. Beside her was Alistair, looking too still.

"What have you done to them?" I rasped out, tears pouring down my cheeks immediately.

Josh didn't reply. One of his large hands closed tightly around my arm and he hauled me to my feet. I swayed shakily by his side, desperately trying to wrap my mind around what my eyes were showing me.

Sophie, the sarcastic and sassy friend who helped me escape was watching me right back, but her eyes were struggling to stay open. The blonde hair that I often envied was no longer the proper colour. Blood from a wound I couldn't see had seeped into her healthy hair, tarnishing it before it had made its way down her forehead and dried into her eyebrows. The brown eyes that often glowed with optimism and careful excitement were now bleak, one of them swollen so severely it was hardly open at all. Her wrists and ankles were zip tied to the dining chair she sat upon, preventing her from fighting back against any of the violent blows she had received. My dearest friend had been violently attacked and was barely clinging to consciousness.

Her head tipped forward and I saw her mouth move as she tried to say something. Then she was still. I wanted to weep for her.

But Alistair was much worse. So much worse.

He was wearing the same clothes that he had on during our long plane ride back home, but they were torn and soaked with blood and sweat. His broad shoulders were slumped forward, curling around himself slightly. His dark that was usually pushed back now hung down onto his forehead from the way his head was dangling forward. I couldn't see his face. I couldn't see the glowing green of his eyes. I couldn't even see how badly his face was damaged with the way he was leaning forward, clearly not conscious. His right pant leg had been drenched in blood at some point, but now the blood had dried into a firm crust covering his right thigh and as my eyes progressed down his long legs I saw how badly his left ankle was twisted. It was beyond clear that his leg was broken, but he wasn't crying out in pain. He was unearthly still. The only sign of life was the small movements that occurred when he breathed in and out.

I knew that Alistair had gotten the more brutal attack because of who he was to me. Not only had he aided me in getting away from Josh he had become much more than a friend. He had turned out to be everything I so dearly wished Josh had been. Compassionate, inquisitive, empathetic, adventurous. He was the man I had needed in my life all along.

"You have me, now let them go." I stated.

I wanted to be strong, powerful. I had offered myself up. Though I knew it wasn't true I wanted to convince Josh that I held the cards. But tears were pouring relentlessly down my cheeks, displaying my weakness so clearly.

I had done this.

I had run away like a coward.

I had been blinded by my own self-centeredness that I had taken the help my friend offered.

I had thrown Alistair into the line of fire with no regard of the consequences just for the sake of remaining undetected for a few more weeks.

And this is what my foolish actions had brought.

"I'm not done with them quite yet." Josh murmured. "It seems that you tried to replace me with this rookie. I don't take lightly to be replaced, Camila."

"Alistair means nothing to me." I lied.

I prayed he would believe me, sparing the already beaten man wrath he didn't deserve.

"Strange, he said the same thing to me. It seems that both of you have the same idea for protecting one another. Unfortunately, I'm not as stupid as you think Camila. You thought you could run away. You thought I would never find you. You thought I wasn't watching everything you did. You were wrong about all of those things. Now I'm going to prove that you are all mine." He breathed.

His blue eyes were vicious and filled with that wild lust. It was a deadly combination. It was a look I had seen before on him a handful of times. And each of those times I was terrified that I would I had gone too far. I would begin praying, hoping that I would make it out alive.

I didn't pray now.

I knew I wouldn't see another day.