Weeks have passed, and there have been no leads on where Franky is being held. Thomas has told Melina about his plans for the day of the exchange, but it didn’t lessen her worries as things could always get out of hand in such situations. Regardless, they haven’t stopped trying to find Franky and hope to before the trade-in. Richard was close to finding her once, but Rafael and James found out and moved her. Melina worries about how she’s faring under the control of James and Rafael. They are monsters and every second Franky spends with them puts her life at significant risk. Melina snaps out of her reverie when Serena asks her a question while they make dinner in the kitchen. Linda is feeling under the weather, so Serena is making dinner for the maids today.
“Have you ever thought about what you will do if things work?”
“What do you mean?” Melina asks.
“If Franky is found without Thomas having to trade himself in.”
“I haven’t,” Melina says, realizing she never thought about it, but she couldn’t with everything that’s going on.
“What would you do if it does, and I’m not talking about your plans with Thomas?”
Melina takes a deep breath and thinks about her response before answering. She had always wanted to be a nurse. She searches her heart to see if such desire still exists, but it doesn’t. Something else speaks to her as to what she should pursue in life.
“I will have a center for women like me?”
“Like you?” Serena asks, looking a little confused.
“Victims of abuse.”
“That would be an amazing thing to do, Mel.”
“I know,” she smiles softly.
“Hopefully, you will achieve it with your sister and Thomas by your side.”
“I pray so too.”
***
Melina walks back to the family house after she’s done helping Serena with dinner. She comes to a halt when she hears her name. She turns around to see Kimberly standing just a few feet away. Thomas said he would deal with her. What exactly is she doing here?
Melina thinks about ignoring her but decides against it. Melina walks up to where she is, clutching her phone tightly as it’s her only weapon against Kimberly.
“No need to hold your phone so tight; I come in peace” Melina raises her brow at her, not buying her words.
“Seriously, I didn’t come to fight you,” Kimberly adds, trying to assure Melina by showing her hands up in surrender.
“Why are you here?” Melina asks once she stands before her.
“To make peace.”
“Really?” Melina doesn’t believe her.
“Yes, I want to apologize for everything I’ve done to you.” Melina’s eyes widen. She can’t believe Kimberly just said that.
Kimberly takes a deep breath and clears her throat before continuing to speak. “I am sorry,” she says. Melina blinks her eyes rapidly; she’s not sure she heard her right.
“What!”
“I know it might be too late, but I still wish to ask for your forgiveness. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you.” Melina is completely stunned. She simply cannot believe it. Did Kimberly truly apologize to me?
“I don’t know what to say,” Melina says. Kimberly’s apology came out of nowhere, so she’s short of words to respond.
“You don’t have to say anything; just think about accepting my apology.”
“Okay, I will.” Melina turns to walk back to the house, but Kimberley stops her again by grabbing her hand.
“I was thinking we could go out tonight and get to know each other.” “I was hoping you would see a side of me that you haven’t, which is the good side. I’m hoping it will make me worthy of your forgiveness.”
“Really?” Kimberly continues to astound Melina with her words today.
“Yes, please.”
“I don’t know. You just apologized; I’m still trying to come to terms with that, so I don’t think I can go out with you tonight. It will be a very awkward outing, don’t you think?”
“I know it might be a little awkward, but you will be surprised with how quickly we’ll bond once we spend time together.”
“Hmm.” Melina knows it’s important to be the bigger person in situations like this and accept Kimberly’s apology, but she thinks Kimberly is pushing a little too hard. She abruptly apologizes and now wishes for them to spend time together. Melina doesn’t know why, but she has a strange feeling about it, but she also thinks she might be overthinking it.
Thomas said he would ensure Kimberly never attacked me again. Could he have made Kimberly see that hating me was wrong? It’s farfetched but not impossible.
“Please, Melina, I’m trying to make amends,” she pleads. Melina takes a minute to think about it before giving her an answer.
“Okay, no problem, let me change and meet you outside.” She appears to be sincerely seeking Melina’s forgiveness, so Melina feels it’s only natural that she makes it simple for her.
“Thank you, I’ll be waiting in front of the family house,” she says and walks away from her.
Melina walks into the house and into her room to change. She needs to change her clothes because the ones she’s wearing smell like food because she just made dinner. She dresses in blue denim jeans and a long sleeve polka dot chiffon mesh crop top. Melina wears it with a pair of crystal heart earrings Kat recently gave her and silver toe ring flat sandals. She steps outside and joins Kimberley on the front porch, where she’s waiting in her car. They leave the estate after Melina fastens her seat belt and texts Thomas about what happened. She’s informing Thomas in case he arrives home before her and Kimberly and wonders where she is.
***
A few minutes into the drive, Melina notices they’ve been on the road for some time, so she asks Kimberly how much longer before they get there.
“A few more minutes,” she replies.
“Where are we going?” Melina realizes she forgot to ask before they left the house. She assumed it was a restaurant, but she’s starting to think otherwise.
“You’ll see.” Kimberly steals a glance away from the road and smiles at her. Melina pretends that wasn’t strange at all and smiles back. She isn’t used to seeing Kimberly smile, let alone at her.
“I hope there’s food there because I’m hungry,” Melina says.
“Don’t worry; it has everything you need.”
“Okay.”
Kimberley drives for a few more minutes before coming to a stop. Melina lifts her head from her phone screen and steps out of the car with her brows furrowed. She expects them to be in front of a restaurant or some other place, not an abandoned building. Melina was distracted by her phone and wasn’t looking out the window as Kimberly drove.
“What are we doing here?” Melina asks Kimberley as she walks toward her from the driver’s side.
“I brought you to where you belong, you bitch,” Kimberly says, glaring at Melina with hatred in her eyes. Melina couldn’t believe she believed Kimberly when she apologized. She didn’t want her forgiveness. Kimberly only needed an excuse to get her out of the house. Melina wonders what she intends to do to her.
“Do you plan to kill me?” Melina asks.
“I wish, but someone won’t let me.”
“Who?”
“Me, my love,” a voice says from behind Melina. Her blood chills as she recognizes the voice. She turns around and faces the person who just spoke. Her legs weaken as she realizes she didn’t hear incorrectly.
“I got you, love,” James says, holding her as she loses her balance.
“James,” Melina rasps, her heart rate quickening as he wraps an arm around her waist. Melina swallows hard and steps out of his arms. She tightens her fists to stop her hands from trembling. She doesn’t want to show him she’s afraid of him. People like him live off of it. That was one of the things Thomas taught her the day they trained.
“I missed you. Did you miss me?” James asks, wrapping a strand of her hair around his pinky. His scent drifts through her nose as the wind blows by. She inhales it and tears well up in her eyes. Melina remembers how she’ll always get wrapped around his scent before pain was inflicted on her, but not today. No more pain. Melina blinks her tears back, looking to the sky. I’m not the same woman he knew a few weeks ago. I’ve grown stronger and wiser. I’ll not be blinded by fear and miss my chance to escape. Melina takes a deep breath and drops her eyes to meet James’.
“I didn’t,” Melina states confidently, her voice firm. His eyes widen in surprise as he realizes she is not afraid of him. She smiles, adoring his expression. Her self-assurance grows.
Melina looks around and realizes Kimberley left with the car. She observes James about to grab her hand through her peripheral vision and quickly moves away before he can. She takes off into the surrounding woods, running for her dear life. There’s no way I’m letting myself get abducted again. I will do everything in my power to get away tonight.
Melina doesn’t dare turn to check how close James is to catching up to her, even though she can hear him yelling for her to stop. She knows the moment she turns back; he will gain an advantage and capture her. Melina thanks Thomas for all the morning runs he forced her to join as she sprints through the woods. She bets she would have been exhausted right now if it wasn’t for them, and James would have caught up with her by now.
As Melina continues running, she sees a ranch up ahead. Hoping there are people inside and they’ll be willing to help her, she forces her body to keep going. Unfortunately, just as Melina is about to run onto the main road to cross over to the ranch, a gunshot is fired. She comes to a halt and freezes in place.
“Fuck!” she says, as someone uses their body to tackle her to the floor.
“Aren’t you quite the runner now,” James says, straddling her, panting with a smug smile on his face. Melina tries to catch her breath and slow her heartbeat. She wonders what he’ll do to her. Melina knows he won’t kill her, but she’s prepared for whatever he has in store for her.
I’m not the same woman I used to be. I survived the last time without any skills, and now I’ll be damned not to with the skills I’ve acquired.