Chapter 2

The security guard shoved Noah into the back of the car. The man' s grip was tight on his arm, a brutal reminder of his helplessness.

"I didn't attack anyone," Noah said, his voice thin. He looked at Emily, who sat opposite him, her face unreadable in the dim light.

David slid in beside her, putting a possessive arm around her shoulders. "Don't lie, Noah. We all saw you. You ran right into traffic. You could have been killed. You could have killed someone else."

The mention of the band, of David's presence, sent a tremor through Noah. He could almost feel the phantom pains of old bruises, the sting of long-past insults. David' s specialty was pushing him until he broke, then acting like the victim when Noah finally reacted. It was a pattern he knew well, a dance of abuse he was too tired to perform anymore.

Emily watched him, her eyes narrowed. "Enough, David."

Her voice cut through the tension, and David fell silent, though the smirk remained on his face.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a thick stack of cash, handing it to the guard in the front seat without looking at him. "This should cover any trouble with the police and the driver of the car he hit. Make sure this all goes away."

"Yes, Ms. Stone," the guard said, taking the money.

The car pulled away from the curb, gliding silently through the city streets. They were heading back towards Emily's penthouse, the place that had been his home, his studio, and his prison for the last five years.

"Why did you run, Noah?" Emily asked, her voice soft now, almost gentle. It was the voice she used when she wanted to peel him apart, layer by layer.

"I needed some air," he lied.

"You needed air," she repeated, a humorless smile touching her lips. "You checked yourself out of a top-tier facility, ran from my staff, and threw yourself into traffic for 'air'?"

She leaned forward, her scent filling the small space. "I hate liars, Noah. You know that. I hate them almost as much as I hate traitors."

The word "traitor" hung in the air between them. It was the word she had used when she first accused him of causing Liam's death.

He looked away, out the window at the blurred city. He couldn't tell her the truth. He had made a promise to a dead man. A promise to protect the woman who now saw him as a monster.

The fire, the smoke, the heat. Liam grabbing his arm, his eyes wild with fear and regret. "She can't know, Noah. Swear to me. She has to remember me as her brother, not... this." Liam' s final wish was for Emily's peace, even if it meant Noah's damnation.

"I just wanted to be alone," Noah said, his voice barely a whisper. It was the closest to the truth he could get.

"You think I did all this for fun?" Emily's voice hardened again. "Putting you in Serenity Hills, paying for the best doctors? I did it because I care about you. Because Liam would have wanted me to look after you, even after what you did."

The irony was a bitter pill. She was torturing him in the name of the man he was protecting her from.

"He's sick in the head, Emily," David chimed in. "He needs to be locked up."

Emily shot David a look that silenced him instantly. She turned her attention back to Noah. "You will go back to the center tomorrow. You will cooperate with Dr. Reed. You will get better."

It wasn't a request. It was a royal decree.

"And you will stay away from David," she added, her eyes flashing. "Whatever issues you two had in the past are in the past. He is with me now."

The car stopped in the private garage of her skyscraper. The guards opened the door, and he was pulled out. There was no escape.

She led him into the elevator, David and the guards following. The ride up was silent and heavy. When the doors opened directly into her penthouse, the familiar sight of the floor-to-ceiling windows and minimalist decor felt suffocating.

"Go to your room," she said, her voice flat, dismissing him like a child. "We will talk in the morning."

As he turned to walk towards the room that was his cage, she said one last thing, her voice laced with a cruel finality.

"And Noah? Don't ever try to leave me again."

The words sent a chill down his spine. It wasn't a threat. It was a promise. She was unintentionally trapping him with her, the one person he had sworn to protect, and the one person who would never know the truth.