“Everything,” he repeated.

I was across the room, standing on the other side of the bed, when I turned around, staring at him.

“Ren, I came to help you. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“You don’t have to stay here.”

“Why would I leave?” he said. “This is my home.” His fingers grazed the satin surface of the bed linens. “Our home.”

“No, it’s not.” I gripped one of the bedposts. “We didn’t choose this; it was chosen for us.”

“You didn’t choose this.” He walked to the other side of the bed. “I thought we would have had a good life here.”

“Maybe.” My nails dug into the wood varnish. “But it wasn’t really a choice. Even if it might have been good.”

“You never wanted it. Did you?” His fists were clenched at his sides.

“I don’t know,” I said. My heart was beating too fast. “I never asked myself what I wanted.”

“Then why did you run?”

“You know why,” I said softly.

“For him,” he snarled, grabbing a pillow and hurling it across the room. I stepped back, forcing my voice to remain calm.

“It’s not that simple,” I said. The moment he mentioned Shay, something inside me stirred. I still felt sad, but stronger. Shay hadn’t just changed the path of my life. He’d changed me. No, not changed. He’d helped me fight for my true self. Now it was my turn to help Ren do the same.

“Isn’t it?” He glared at me.

“Would you have been able to kill him?” I asked, holding Ren’s gaze. “Is that how you wanted to start a life with me?”

Part of me didn’t want to know the answer. Could he really want Shay dead? If I was wrong about Ren, coming here was a terrible mistake. We would fight and I would have to kill him. Or he would kill me.

He bared sharp canines at me, but then he sighed. “Of course not.”

I slowly moved around the bed. “That’s the only life they would have offered us. Killing the people who need to be helped.”

He watched me approach, remaining stone still.