Emily’s POV
Those words echoed in my mind endlessly, like an anthem I had to remember, like a mantra carved into my bones.
I have to get out of here.
It was all I thought about. The sentence repeated in my skull until it did not feel like words anymore but a drumbeat that rattled my chest. If I lost it, if I stopped reminding myself, I knew I would sink and never rise again.
As Marco came to have his way with me every night, those words were my only anchor, the only thing that kept me sane. I told myself I was not a prisoner, not fully, not yet, not as long as I could still dream of escape. But every time he touched me, forcing himself with that mixture of cruelty and obsession in his eyes, I felt more of myself slipping away.
Tonight was no different. He took what he wanted, leavi
