CHAPTER 85

ELENA

I stared in the mirror. It was faded. In fact, it was almost gone. Sure, I froze my butt off lying in an ice-cold bath for an hour last night, and I was pretty sure I had a cold coming, but the bruise was better.

Aiden walking in yesterday had ruined everything I planned. I didn’t want anyone to find out about my hellish past. I just wanted to come in, do my job, find myself. It seemed so simple before—but before, I didn’t know Aiden James.

I didn’t expect him to push. I didn’t expect the James brothers to be so . . . immature, at times. Of course, if I didn’t have Martin’s voice whispering in the back of my mind so often, if I weren’t a victim-turned-survivor of both mental and physical abuse, I wouldn’t have been so bothered by their words. I’d have simply laughed and maybe said something snarky back in response.

Instead I clammed up, got scared, and ran.

And now my past wasn’t so secret.

He knew. I was not stupid. I denied it until I was lacking in oxygen, but Aiden knew. The