Chapter 206
Chapter 206:
Eliza began to hyperventilate. Her chest heaved, but no air seemed to reach her lungs. The sterile hospital room felt like a tomb, the walls closing in, painted with the lies she had lived for a decade.
“I ate dinner with him. I lived in his house,” she gasped, clawing at her chest. “He killed them p>
“Breathe, El.” Dallas placed his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me p>
“He killed them. And Anson knew. Everyone knew but me.” Tears streamed down her face — ugly, raw sobbing that shook her entire frame.
Dallas pulled her into his chest. “Let it out p>
She screamed into his shirt. A sound of pure grief, of ten years of lies shattering all at once. She struck his chest with her fists — weak, desperate blows. “Why? Why me p>
Dallas absorbed every blow. He only held her tighter. “I’ve got you. You’re safe p>
The pain was too much. It rose inside her like a tsunami, and she needed something to ground herself — something real, something sharp enough to cut through the suffocating fog of betrayal.
She grabbed his forearm. “Dallas… I can’t p>
“I’m here. I’m real.” He offered his arm, understanding what she needed before she could find the words.
She bit down on his forearm. Hard.
T𝗁𝘰𝗎𝘴𝖺ոdѕ 𝗼𝗳 𝗋e𝘢𝖽еr𝘴 𝗈𝘯
Dallas didn’t flinch. He winced slightly as her teeth sank into his skin, but he didn’t pull away. He accepted the pain as a transfer of her own — a brutal, wordless communion — and stroked her hair with his other hand. “That’s it. Give me the pain. Give it all to me p>
She tasted copper. Blood.
She released him, gasping, and recoiled in horror at what she had done. “I’m sorry — I bit you p>
Dallas looked at the bite mark. It was bleeding, a perfect circle of her teeth pressed into his flesh. “It’s fine. It proves you’re alive.” He wiped the blood with his thumb, smearing it slightly. “It proves we’re here p>
Eliza collapsed against him, utterly spent. The hysteria had broken, leaving only a dull, hollow ache in its place.
“I want them to pay,” she whispered. “All of them p>
“They will. I promise.” Dallas kissed the top of her head. “I will ruin them p>
“Even Anson?” she asked.
Dallas was quiet for a moment. “He saved you. But he also caged you p>
“He’s not my savior,” Eliza said, the words settling with a quiet finality. “He’s my jailer. He kept the truth to keep me p>
“Then we break the jail,” Dallas said.
A nurse entered, stopped short at the sight of blood on Dallas’s arm. “Mr. Koch! Your arm p>
“I scratched it on the bedframe. Leave us,” Dallas said smoothly.
The nurse looked unconvinced, but she produced an antiseptic wipe and a bandage from her pocket and set them on the tray before backing out of the room.
Dallas cleaned the bite mark quickly, wincing at the sting of the alcohol, and wrapped it. Eliza stared at the bandage. “I’m a monster p>
“You’re a survivor,” Dallas said. “And you’re mine. This is nothing p>
They lay together in the narrow hospital bed, the silence between them heavy — but shared.