My screams are quieted by Levi's solid grip closed over my mouth. The blade pressing into the curve of my throat keeps me from fighting back. "Hey, Crimson," he whispers into my ear. "Mind giving me the keys?"

With a shaky hand, not knowing what else to do. I hold up the keys, flinching when Levi takes them from me. "Perfect." Then I hear him open the trunk, and my blood runs cold.

"I'm sorry to do this, but I can't risk it," he says, guiding me to the trunk. "I'll make it up to you when we get where we're going. Promise."

Then he pushes me so I fall backward into the trunk. Before I can try anything, he pulls a roll of duct tape from his backpack and places a piece over my mouth. I start crying when he binds my wrists together behind me. I'm sobbing by the time my ankles are taped together, feeling the gravity of what's happening to me right now.

"Hey, no need to cry," he says in a tone that tells me he's trying to soothe me. He takes my chin between his two fingers, forcing me to look at him. "I'm not gonna hurt you. We're just going on a quick drive."

What terrifies me is the complete calm in his voice. Like he doesn't see anything wrong with what he's doing right now.

"Do you have your phone with you?" he asks as if I can verbalize an answer. But his question forces me to remember that I don't just have my phone—I have Jack's as well. The thought calms me the slightest bit.

Levi wastes no time turning me around, reaching into my back pocket for my phone. I angle my arms so my elbow covers the pocket of my jacket, where Jack's phone is.

"It's dead." Levi smiles, holding down the 'on' button. "That makes things easier."

Still, he throws it onto the asphalt and steps on it, crushing it into several pieces. Then he smiles and shrugs, looking at me with a terrifyingly casual look on his face. "It was an old one, anyway," he jokes.

Adrenaline courses through me as Levi presses me backward so I'm laying curled in the trunk of the car. I try to scream when Levi starts to close the trunk, but the duct tape doesn't give. My heart drops when I realize that Jack isn't gonna come out in time to stop Levi.

My sobs pick up when I consider the possibility that Levi did something to Jack before attacking me. What if he's . . .

I try to quiet my heaving sobs when I feel the car engine starts up, knowing I need to focus on escaping. As best as I can, I try to remember every crime show I've ever watched with my mom, every escape tactic that has ever been used.

Crying isn't gonna get me anywhere. I need to think.

Finally, I remember something. Controlling my racing mind, I move my body around as much as I can, arranging myself into as much of an upright position as I can manage. Then, I raise my bound hands as far up as they'll go and bring them down as fast as I can around my torso, trying to break the duct tape.

But it's too cramped in here, so I can't garner enough force to do any damage. And with my hands behind my back, there's no way for me to retrieve Jack's phone from the front pocket of my jacket.

Frustrated, I turn my attention to the duct tape around my ankles. I whimper in pain as I bend myself to get onto my stomach, hoping Levi can't hear me moving around back here. Then, I wince in even more pain as I bring my legs as far up as they'll go toward my back.

There, I struggle to grip my ankles with my hands bound behind my back. I start crying again from the pain of this position but keep tugging on the duct tape around my ankles with fingers that can barely reach.

Finally, my fingers find the edge of the duct tape and start making slow work of unwinding it from my ankles. It feels like several, torturous hours of straining every muscle in my body to get the duct tape off, but finally, my legs are free.

Even with my legs free, without my hands free, there's not much I can do in here. And with the way this car is made, I can't kick out the headlights from in here.

So I just have to wait. I harden my emotions and lay back, waiting for the car to stop.

We seem to drive for about five more minutes before the car slows and stops. Then as soon as Levi opens the trunk, I kick him in the chest as hard as I can with both feet, hearing the breath knocked out of him. Then I kick him again in the stomach before scrambling out of the trunk and past where he's leaned over, holding his chest.

I don't even take in my surroundings; I just run as fast as I can, trying in vain to scream through my duct tape. I'm too scared to look back to see if Levi's pursuing me, so I pump my legs as hard as possible.

But it's three a.m. No one is out and about at this time. And from the looks of it, this is a pretty deserted part of town. The sidewalk under my feet is uneven.

Still, I don't give up. Even when I hear Levi's quick footsteps approaching behind me, I just keep running. But my hands are bound, making it hard to balance, and he's much taller than me.

I fight like hell when he tackles me, pinning me under his weight. His arms wrapped around me, taking some of the blow, but my chin scrapes against the ground, and I taste blood where I bite my tongue.

Levi stands up, lifting me off the ground and back against his body. "I thought we could do this the easy way," he breathes, holding me so tight that I can barely breathe. He starts walking back to his car. "Guess not."

I'm kicking and writhing all the way back to the car. It's only when he walks past the car and toward a dark-looking building that I recognize where we are.

It's the office building where Levi took me. Where we climbed all the way to the roof.

Tears start streaming down my face again when I think about everything he could do to me if we end up at the top of this tall building. Alone. With no one to help me.

My fears come true when he carries me into the building, where he sets me down and lifts me back up over his shoulder. This time around, it's dark all around with no one behind the desk or manning the security post. And this time, Levi presses the button for the elevator, not running to the stairs like last time.

"I'd love to go up the stairs for old time's sake," he explains as we wait for the elevator, "but thirty flights of stairs and one-hundred-and-thirty pounds of combative cargo wouldn't make for a very enjoyable ascent. It's nothing personal."

Then he places a sickening kiss on the side of my exposed thigh, right above where his arm is holding me in place. "Maybe on the way down, though. If you feel like playing nice."

I cling to the fact that he's referencing us coming back down. But there's no telling what will happen before then.

Every part of me is worn out and sore by the time we reach the roof, from both struggling and being tackled, and I hate that I have very little fight left in me. Pain shoots up from my leg when Levi sets me down, and I look down to see a nasty-looking cut from mid-shin to just above my thigh.

Levi guides me "This is gonna hurt," Levi says, and he sounds genuinely sorry just before he rips the duct tape off my mouth. I start screaming at the top of my lungs until Levi brings out the knife again. My screams turn into whimpers when he presses the tip right below my chin.

"I could always put the tape back on," he says, watching me struggle to keep my breaths even. "The first thing out of your mouth should be 'thank you' for taking it off."

"Fuck you," I manage to grit out. "Whatever you want from me, you're never gonna get it. You're pathetic."

Levi doesn't look fazed by my insults. If anything, he looks satisfied, as if this is exactly how he expected this to go. "Crimson, Crimson, Crimson," he tuts, looking down at the ground, playing with the knife. "How could you say that to me? After everything I did for you?"

"You've done nothing but hurt me," I yell, getting angrier by the second. "You just fucking kidnapped me. Do you not see how--"

"I'm saving you," he says, looking back up at me with fire in his eyes. "Since the day I met you, that's all I've ever tried to do." He stands up, widening his arms and gesturing to where we are. "This is all for you. I'm helping you, why can't you see that?"

"You're sick, Levi. Mentally," I say, my voice growing shakier with fear. Something about the way he's looking at me, the vehemence behind his voice. It's like he actually believes what he's saying. "You are the one that needs help."

Levi cracks a smile, tilting his head in what seems like surprise. "You're actually right about that one. I did need help. A long time ago." His smile fades. "Unlike you, I had to save myself."

He looks down at his hands again, dragging a finger across the gleaming blade. A blade of blood wells up on the pad of his fingertip, which he just rubs between his thumb and finger. I watch in fear and disgust, at this person that I thought I knew.

He doesn't speak for a moment, as if he wants me to think about what he's saying. I narrow my focus, wondering what it is he wants me to see right now. When I finally understand, my eyes widen. "You killed your brother," I say, and it's not a question anymore.

The look of approval that he casts me only confirms what I now know. I'm stuck, duct-taped, and alone on this roof with a man capable of murder. My face starts to feel we again. "You said you loved him."

"I did." And it's the most anger I've ever heard in his voice. As if he's outraged that I would even suggest that he didn't. "I loved him so much that I was willing to spend the rest of my life in South Dakota, doing whatever my parents wanted, to protect him. He was my best friend." His voice cracks unexpectedly on those last words, and for a second, I think he's about to cry.

But he goes on, his voice firmer but quieter. "I was willing to give up my future for him."

"But you didn't," I say. "You're here. You killed him."

"Because he was just like you." He stares at me, and I wonder if all he sees is his brother. A person that he thinks only he can save. "He didn't understand everything I'd done for him. He looked at everything I'd thrown away for him, and he said that he hated me. That I was suffocating him, that he wished I'd just leave."

"That's no excuse to kill him."

Levi looks at me sadly. "You think I'm a monster, don't you?"

"I know you are," I bite. "Look at what you're doing to me. Think about what you did to your own brother. The person you say was your best friend."

His head drops, looking down at the dirty concrete. When he speaks, the emotion I saw earlier fills his voice. He sounds almost remorseful. "It was an accident." This time, his voice does crack, and his eyes get the slightest bit glassy. "Our parents were out, and Zeke was yelling at me to get out of his life, and I just—"

His eyes are pointed in my direction, but he's not seeing me. He's thinking back to that day.

"When he said that he wished I wasn't his brother, that I wasn't a part of his life," he looks back down, and I wonder if he's trying to hide his tears, "I snapped. And once I got my hands around his neck, and saw all the anger in his eyes—anger towards me—I realized that he didn't love me as much as I loved him. So I couldn't stop."

The way he tells the story, it's almost as if he wants me to feel sorry for him. But I don't. All I hear is a boy with a savior complex who is trying to justify killing his younger brother. I'm so angry that I have to bite my tongue to keep from telling him exactly how much pain he deserves for everything he's done.

"Everything I said about my parents is true," he adds, looking up at me to gauge my expression. I try to keep my face as neutral as possible. "Whatever they felt toward me, it wasn't love either. But they loved themselves enough to cover up the investigation so they wouldn't have to deal with having a murderer for a son. Then I left."

"And you came here."

He smiles, walking closer to me. He kneels in front of me again, cupping the side of my face softly. "Then I came here," he says in the voice one might use to say 'I love you'. "And I found you."

I shake my head, but he forces me to look at him. "From the first day I saw you, I knew you had that fire. The same fire that I feel inside me. I saw it when you told me off for giving you wrong directions, and I've seen ever since." His eyes are glassy from an emotion I can't put my finger on. "It took me a while to figure out why I was so drawn to you. Then you told me about Dani, and it all made sense."

Suddenly, I recognize that emotion in his eyes, and I want to run far away. Levi thinks he loves me.

His eyes harden as he keeps talking. "You told me about Dani, and then I began to see how that fire that I loved so much was being smothered. Smothered by your family, by your guilt, by this boy that you can't seem to let go of." His face lightens again, the love in his eyes all the more potent. "And I realized that I had to do everything in my power to save you. The same way I'd saved myself."

"No, no, you weren't," I say, shaking my head away from his hand. "You aren't saving me. You ruined my life. You're still ruining my life. Levi"—I look at him with teary, pleading eyes, hoping he hears the truth in my voice— "I'm afraid of you. Does that sound like you're saving me?"

He just smiles. "You're not afraid of me. You're afraid of the way you feel about me." He tries to calm me down as I just become more hysterical. "Scarlett, our stories, our pasts, connect us in a way that no one else will ever understand. No one will ever understand you the way I do. No one will ever love you the way I do."

I start to weep, realizing nothing I say will change his mind. "No, you don't," I sob, trying to move as far away from him as possible. "This isn't love, what you're doing to me."

His hand doesn't leave my face, but I can see his patience thinning. "Don't you see I'd do anything for you? How much I care about you? What has Jack ever done for you? What has your family ever done for you?" My sobs get louder when he places his other hand on my cheek, making me face him.

"My family loves me more than you ever will," I spit through my tears. "Jack loves me more than you ever will."

It was a stupid thing to say, and I know from the moment his gaze turns to anger that I shouldn't have let my fury get the best of me. But he has to hear it. "You still don't see it, do you?"

"That you're a psychotic narcissist who thinks he rules my life?" I yell despite the terrifying thought that nothing I say will get through to him. "No, I think I see that pretty clearly."

There's that look again—that look of sympathy toward me like I'm just some stupid child. I wonder how many times he's looked at me that way before and I just didn't see it for what it was. "You still haven't put it together. You still don't realize what I've done for you."

He's talking in circles. "You've done nothing for me."

"I almost did it. If my plan had worked, you would be free right now." He searches my eyes for any clarity. "Has your family—or Jack—ever done anything like that for you?"

"Just spit it out."

He pauses, and it feels like he's taunting me. "I wanted to free you the same way I'd freed myself," he repeats, but this time, I see the double meaning behind his words. The same way I'd freed myself. He killed his . . .

"Zeke's death was an accident," he says, "but looking back, I know it had to happen. The freedom I felt afterward was unlike anything I'd ever thought possible. For once, I had no one that I felt responsible for, nothing to feel guilty about."

My anger toward him magnifies as I put together the pieces. "You didn't—"

"I wanted you to experience that same freedom." And my heart drops, and I know for certain what he's done. "If it weren't for me, you would spend the rest of your life weighed down. By Dani and the guilt that she keeps in your life. It's sickening to think about. It's a waste of a person like you. You deserve so much more than that."

"You drugged her."

"I was helping you," he exclaims, and this time, he's the one pleading. Pleading for me to see things from his perspective: his warped, evil perspective. "With Dani out of the picture, you would have experienced the same autonomy that I've enjoyed ever since Zeke died. Is it so bad for me to want that for you?"

I'm thankful for the tears blurring my vision, keeping me from seeing his face fully. My teeth hurt from clenching so hard. "I trusted you. Around me. Around her." I don't even have words to describe how much I want to hurt him right now, imagining all the hurt he caused my family. And he doesn't look the least bit regretful.

I don't even care that tears are running into my mouth. "You tried to kill my sister, Levi." I can barely even say the words. "You almost killed her."

"I told you this from the beginning," he soothes. "I'm willing to do things my way if that's what it takes to get what I want. I'll be the bad guy. For you, Scarlett." He leans his face closer to mine. "Now do you see what I'm willing to do for you?"

I just cry, closing my eyes so I don't have to see the way he's looking at me.

"Imagine the life we could have together. Just the two of us. No past, no guilt, no obligations, no people that feel like they own some part of us. Nothing. Just you and me," he says, making it more and more obvious why he brought me up here. Somehow, it's even more terrifying that he kidnapped me, not to hurt me, but to beg me to be with him.

The reservations are clear on my face. "I'll love you like you need to be loved. I see the person you could be, that fire that drew me to you in the first place, and I want to free her," he says, his voice compelling me to listen. "For once, do something for yourself and be with me. Show me that you're more than your past, more than what your family expects of you."

I see the wildness in his eyes that tells me that his mind can't be changed. He truly believes that he loves me.

I take a deep breath.

My tears begin to slow, and I blink away the wetness to look at him. My gaze softens, mirroring the passion in his eyes. "Dani yelled at me," I say. "Over Christmas. She said I was narcissistic for caring about her. She said I always make things about myself."

Levi tries to conceal his surprise at my cooperation. "She doesn't appreciate you. Everything you've done for her, and she says that," he says, trying to stoke my fire. "She doesn't deserve you."

I nod my head. "It's just, she's my little sister. I love her. I love my whole family." I start to pathetic tears, leaning my cheek into his hand. His skin is warm against mine. "And Jack. I've known him my whole life. I feel like I have to be with him. Levi, I can't just forget about them."

"Yes, you can. You don't have to do anything." He's given up trying to hide his elation as he listens to me. The shine is back in his eyes, and he looks like the Levi I cared so much about. "You and me. We can do whatever the hell we want."

"Come with me," he says. "Somewhere, I don't fucking know yet. Somewhere we can just be." He pauses, breathing deeply. "Tell me you love me, Scarlett. Tell me you understand why I did what I did."

I look into his eyes and spot a crack of vulnerability in his dark irises as he asks for my love. And for a second, I let myself feel sad for him. For this broken boy in front of me who wants so badly someone to love him. Someone to appreciate and understand him.

I nod, even starting to smile. "I do. I love you, and I understand why you did everything," I whisper. "Thank you."

The smile he returns is so sweet, so loving that the pain in my chest returns.  "I'll give you the world, Scarlett," he says. "You don't understand everything we could be together. You're everything to me."

My tears start to fall again, and panic takes over Levi's expression. "Tell me what's wrong," he says gently, wiping my tears away.

"It's just hard for me to accept everything. That my whole life is a lie. But I—I want to be with you," I sob. I lean forward, resting my cheek on his shoulder. He gathers me in his arms, hugging me tightly. I continue to cry into his neck as he comforts me.

"I'm sorry I had to do this to you. But it's what you needed."

When I feel his hands start to unwrap the tape around my wrists, I try to keep my breathing even, even as my heart continues to beat faster. But just before I feel the tape rip painfully off my wrists, I feel a buzzing between our bodies.

My heart drops, and the tears that fall after that are more than real.

Levi freezes before pulling away. I try to keep my face straight as his eyes fall to my jacket pocket, at the phone vibrating loudly. His eyes rise to meet mine, and that cold, terrifying smile returns.

He slips the phone from my pocket and looks at the screen. The call went to voicemail, and he's left staring at the lock screen. It's a picture of me eating ice cream, sitting across from Jack as he took this picture. There's a smear of chocolate ice cream on my nose, one that Jack wiped off just after this photo was taken. It was only a week ago, and yet, it seems like years ago from this moment.

"How domestic," Levi says dryly before slamming the phone on the ground and crushing it like he did to mine.

"You're quite the actress, Crimson. I have to admit, you had me there for a second," he says slowly. "What was your plan? To call someone once your hands were free?"

"You should have known I'd never be with you. Not now, not ever," I spit, having nothing to lose now. "You're nothing to me."

He shakes his head, never taking his eyes off me. "What a waste," he says quietly, almost solemnly. The whole time as he rewraps my wrists, I don't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I hold it all in, even though my best attempt at escaping just slipped from my grasp.

But just before he places a new piece of duct tape on my mouth, he leans in and presses his lips against mine. I pull back, but not before biting his bottom lip hard. I taste the copper in my mouth.

He drags his thumb against his bloody lip, looking down at it. "Shouldn't have done that," he says, smearing his blood-covered thumb over my own lips before covering it my mouth with duct tape. I want to throw up.

Then he stands up and takes a gun out from his waistband. "I was hoping you'd change your mind. But you've made it quite obvious that you're unable to accept the truth," he says as I start to panic. He raises the gun. "If you can't see your life for what it is, then I'm doing you a favor by ending it."

I start shaking my head, widening my eyes at him, begging him to think about this. He just smiles at me sympathetically, standing close enough to cup my cheek again. "They say death is the ultimate equalizer. I say it's the ultimate freedom." He towers over me. "Don't worry though. I'll be right there with you. Because I didn't lie when I said you're everything to me. Without you, I have nothing."

"Because I'd do anything for you." He pauses, turning off the gun's safety. "Even die."

I close my eyes, thinking of my mom and my dad, imagining their arms wrap around me, calming me down. I try to remember their voices when they told me they love me. My heart breaks when I think of them burying their daughter, their baby. I think of Archer and Dani, hoping they don't hold onto my death as hard as I'd hold onto theirs.

Then I think of Jack and how sad he'll be, never knowing the extent of my love for him. And I mourn the future that we promised to each other, the future I want so badly. I hope he understands that I'd do anything to stay with him.

Then for a split second, I think of the stars.

I'm lowering my head to my chest, waiting for the pain to come, when I hear the fire escape creak. I lift my head and, for a second, assume that Jack's face approaching is only a manifestation of my own imagination. But then I see that Levi heard it too.

Without turning around to see Jack for himself, Levi sighs, keeping his eyes trained on me. "That's the man himself, isn't it? Perfect timing, I guess." He lowers the gun. Jack is running toward us. "Your knight-in-shining-armor coming to your rescue. This is just adorable."

Then Levi turns around and raises the gun at Jack's head.

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