Suddenly, the curtain flew back. Officer Douglas and Officer Reeves were staring back at us. Thankfully, I’d already pulled my hand away; otherwise, there was no telling what it might have looked like.

There I was, standing in front of X in nothing but my panties and shirt, with my hair down and blood on my neck and arm.

Before I could say anything, the COs moved in, snatching X away from me and slinging him to the floor.

“No,” I shouted. “Stop!”

But either they didn’t hear me, or they weren’t listening, because they were digging their knees into his back and putting him in cuffs.

His eyes met mine from the floor, his face contorting in some unrecognizable expression.

“Duggie, please stop. Just listen to me,” I yelled as I reached down and began pulling on Officer Douglas’ arm.

Getting the CO’s attention, I quickly explained what happened. When I told them that X had saved me, their eyes went wide in shock.

Surely, someone who’d murdered two people wouldn’t give two shits about me, but he did. He came in and saved me, and something in his eyes told me he’d do it again and again if I needed him to.

He stood against the wall, still cuffed, and I watched as his carefully placed mask slipped back over his expression. Gone was my savior. In his stead was the monster. That was it. Christopher Jacobs was only wearing a monster mask. I was sure of it. Especially now.

Leaning against the bedrail, I watched as the COs put Carlos in restraints and hauled him off to solitary confinement. Everything began moving in slow motion as Officer Douglas handed me my scrubs. Pulling them over my hips, I covered myself. I couldn’t even believe I’d stood there as long as I had without any pants on.

I was in shock.

At that moment, Dr. Giles arrived. He leaned over me, calling out to the COs for supplies even though they had no idea where to look for it. I hadn’t even noticed the large amount of blood that was running down the front of my shirt.

“Lyla, put pressure on your neck until I get back,” he said, rushing from the space toward the supply closet.

I reached up and covered the cut on my neck. Everything around me began to move quickly as Dr. Giles tended to my cuts. I heard nothing as I sat and replayed X rescuing me through my mind like a rerun of my favorite show.

I couldn’t make sense out of it. Nothing I’d learned about him over the last few weeks was fitting. It was like I had different pieces to several puzzles. I freaking hated puzzles, but something in my gut told me that things were off when it came to X. Things just weren’t right.

“Lyla? Can you hear me?” Dr. Giles asked, trying to get my attention.

“Yes,” I mumbled. I was slowly coming out of my shock, and the room around me was starting to come into focus. Relief filled his wrinkled face.

“Your neck wound isn’t too bad, but the one on your arm required several stitches. I’m sending you home for the rest of the day.”

Stitches? He’d given me stitches, and I’d had no idea. Suddenly, I remembered giving X stitches and him not even flinching.

Was this how he felt? Cold and emotionless? Full of shock and fear?

I nodded instead of talking.

After filling out an incident report, I left the prison and walked to my car. Starting my engine, I sat in the driver’s seat and stared at myself in the rearview mirror. I couldn’t wrap my head around the things that had happened. But the same question kept surfacing.

If X was such a cold-blooded murderer, why did he save me?

CHAPTER 10

x

I TORE MY eyes away from her as the door shut, cutting off the connection between us. She was going home for the day, which made perfect sense, and while I knew I’d miss her sunny smile, I couldn’t help but hope she’d never come back.

She’d seen firsthand the demons that occupied every corner and shadow of this purgatory. I wouldn’t always be there to save her, and even thinking of something happening to her when I wasn’t there made my blood boil.

Closing my eyes, I could still see her piercing green gaze and the haunted look that moved over it. I could still see the way her face contorted in agony as the scum of the fucking earth violated her. It was a memory that was sure to be etched in my brain for the rest of my life. It would stick the way the lifeless eyes of those I murdered did. Except I felt more fear seeing Lyla hurt than I ever did when I realized I’d murdered people.

It was sad to say, but I couldn’t abide by her getting hurt. Ever.

The cuffs were tighter than usual on my wrists as the COs escorted me back to my bed. I hated being in restraints all the time. They were symbols of my enslavement, taunting me and reminding me that I was forever locked behind the bare walls of this dark and lifeless place. A place where innocent women could be raped and murdered not five feet away from those who were meant to protect them.