"What is it?" Dominic snaps, seeming to have noticed my reaction to what I'm looking at on my phone.

I hand my phone over to Dominic with a shaky hand.

Dominic reads over the text and I can see him grow furious. He clicks a few buttons, I move to stand next to him so I can see what he's doing. He's gone into my find my friend account and deactivated my location before going into my phone settings and doing the same thing. Dominic then goes back into the text from Liam and deletes it. Dominic sets my phone down on the entrance table before his eyes search my face. "It's ok." He tells me softly. His eyes pick up something on my face and he looks a little panicked himself now. "Are you going to be sick again?" 

I feel like I might. But I had already emptied my stomach contents back in New York. I shake my head slowly. I feel my bottom lip begin to tremble as the events of tonight come crashing down on me. 

Dominic cups my face with both his hands. "Let's go back upstairs?" He asks. I nod. Dominic weaves his fingers through mine again, keeping a tight hold on me as he leads me back up to the bedroom we'd been in before he'd gotten his phone call. He sits me down in the arm chair next to the window, crouching down between my legs. His hands move back up to cup my face, his thumbs dragging lightly under my eyes as he collects my tears. "Ell, I need you to talk to me." He says softly. "Please." Dominic whispers.

"I... I can't." I sob to him, staring down at my hands in my lap. How could I ever tell Dominic the truth about all this? How could I tell him who that man really is? I can't help but to worry that Dominic would see me differently if he knew the truth. 

I hate the reality that comes with the truth of who that man is. I hate everything I have been through because of that man. I've been having night terrors since I was six, because of him. I moved here to get away from him. I fled England just to get away from him, knowing that the continent wasn't big enough to stop him coming after me. I had been optimistic when I thought being an ocean away from him would stop him, would lessen his hold on me. I was stupid to think so. 

Of course he came after me. Of course he showed up to claim me and drag me back. How could I have been so stupid? 

I can't help but wonder how he'd found our apartment building though, I never told him that I was leaving let alone where I was moving to. Liam hadn't given him my find my friend tracker until after he'd shown up at the apartment building. 

Liam! What was going through Liam's mind in order to just give out information like that? He allowed the man to find me, he practically handed me on a silver platter. What could he have told Liam to make him so convinced to give away my information like that? This man just came off of the streets and demands to see me, and Liam just hands out my exact location? What planet does he live on where he thinks that would be a good idea!

Max stayed back to handle him, but I know he affected Max just as much as he does me. What was Max thinking, making me leave without him? Why didn't he come with us? There were plenty of guys there who seemed fully capable of making him leave so why didn't Max come with us? Max still has his stitches in. If he does anything to rip them open it could be very very bad for him. 

What if he hurts Max. Max is the one who moved me here. Max is the one taking care of me so that I could leave him behind in England. My gut wrenches at the thought of the man hurting Max out of revenge. Max left him too, and I know he still felt bitter and angry about Max leaving us.

"Hey, hey, hey." Dominic says in a soothing tone, drawing me back to the present. "Shhh, princess. It's ok. You're safe." He assures me. "No one is ever going to hurt you." Oh how I wish that were true, I really do.

I shake my head at him. My eyes close as the memories overpower me. All the memories I have of that man hit me like a tidal wave. I feel like I'm drowning. I'm vaguely aware my breaths are becoming shallower, but somehow that seems low on the totem pole of things to worry about right now.

"Ell, baby, please look at me." He pleads with me softly.

I open my eyes and get locked in his eyes. 

"Ell, that man isn't here. He is not coming. He will never get that close to you again." He tells me in a firm voice. "I won't let him hurt you." Dominic presses his lips lightly to my forehead as if sealing in his promise to me. He leans his forehead against mine and takes exaggerated breaths in order to get me to follow his lead.

I focus on Dominic. Just Dominic. His green eyes. His light stubble. His soft lips. His slow, deep breaths. I mimic his breathing the best I can. After a bit I close my eyes and focus more on our breaths, just our breaths. In. And out. In. And out. 

Dominic is here, so long as Dominic is here I know I'm safe. I'm safe. Dominic will keep me safe. 

"What is going on here?"