He Made Me Feel Lost, So I Became Someone He’d Never Find Chapter 07
That night, after Grant locked me inside the maze, the sudden sound of footsteps behind me nearly scared
me unconscious.
I froze in place for a full ten minutes. It felt like an eternity as every horror-movie scenario imaginable ran
through my head.
Then the footsteps came closer.
My palms were slick with cold sweat.
A moment later, my hand brushed against a small, furry head.
“Woof!”
I opened my eyes.
It was a little dog.
I threw my arms around it, and the tears came instantly. All my fear vanished at once.
The dog led me out of the maze, and I made it back to my hotel downtown.
By then, dawn was already beginning to break.
There was no time to rest. I went straight to the airport and caught my flight.
I looked out the window at an endless sea of clouds.
The world suddenly seemed vast, and all the love and resentment I had once carried felt strangely
insignificant.
I had always been good at trapping myself, convincing myself that the small world around me was all there
was.
Now I wanted to find out just how many possibilities my life still held.
After I landed, I bought a new phone and got a local SIM card.
Now no one from my old life could reach me.
Once I had settled in, I submitted my graduate-school application. Before long, I received my acceptance.
Before I knew it, the first day of the semester arrived.
All around me, other students had family and friends with them, talking and laughing in little groups. For a
moment, loneliness crept in.
Suddenly, my bag was lifted out of my hand from behind.
I turned around.
It was Grant.
“Elena, congratulations.”
He smiled as though nothing had ever happened.
“If you wanted to study abroad, you could’ve just told me. I would’ve supported you. You were always free to make your own choices with me.”
“Free?”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“When you locked me alone in that maze, did you think about my freedom then?”
I snatched my bag back and turned away.
Grant followed close behind.
“Elena, I’ve been worried sick about you. I kept thinking something terrible might have happened.”
“This is all my fault. I didn’t protect you. You got into that accident because of me, and we lost our first
baby.”
“I was wrong. I was a complete asshole. Please forgive me. Please don’t break up with me. Just give me one
more chance.”
No matter what he said, I stayed silent and kept walking faster.
“Are you still upset about Camille? About the boy?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve made everything clear to her. I’ll never see her again. I’ll spend all my time with you.”
“And the boy… he isn’t mine.”
“Elena, you were right. Camille lied to all of us. The whole thing about her having no sense of direction- everything about her was fake…”
“Enough!”
I cut him off.
“How do you still not understand? Camille isn’t the problem. You are. The way you treated me is the problem!”
“I don’t want to hear any of this. I don’t want to start over with you. Just leave.”
“Why? I don’t believe you, Elena. I can’t.”
“Don’t you remember? We really did love each other once…”
“Exactly, Grant. Once. Not anymore.”
I said each word slowly and clearly.
“I don’t love you anymore.”
“Now will you get the hell away from me?”
Grant stopped, looking as if my reaction had startled him.
A few minutes later, he caught up to me again and put his phone on speaker.
“I don’t want to live anymore! I don’t want to live!”
“Victor Whitaker, you bastard! You son of a bitch!”
“Let go of me! Just let me die!”
My mother’s sobbing voice came through the speaker.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“Camille is actually your father’s daughter from an affair. Your mom just found out. She couldn’t take the shock and is trying to kill herself.”
I stared at Grant suspiciously.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth? What if this is another trick to get me to go back so you can lock me
up again?”
Grant let out a humorless laugh.
“Elena, I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this.”
He pulled up the DNA paternity report for Victor and Camille and handed me his phone.
“This came directly from the hospital’s online records system. It can’t be faked.”
I read the report carefully.
My mind went blank.
I immediately requested time away from school and booked the earliest flight home.
