Elizabeth wasn't sure what she had heard, but she knew that she had to get out of there as soon as he had finished telling her. He had let her go. He hadn't even bothered to try and stop her or chase after her. He'd promised her that once he'd told her everything then she didn't need to bother with him again if she didn't want to. She'd grabbed her coat and bag, fleeing into the night without looking back. He'd sat there in the restaurant, holding his glass and taking another sip of the alcohol to let it burn his throat. Elizabeth had gone. She had left and he doubted he would see her again.

She'd gone back to her hotel and had locked and bolted the door, her head spinning. Tossing her bag to the floor, she threw her coat onto the bed and pulled her shirt from where it had been tucked into her skirt. She kicked her shoes off her feet and just paced the room. She raided the mini fridge, hardly caring about the bill that she'd get from doing it. She drained mini bottle after mini bottle of spirits, but none of them seemed to do anything to help her make sense of what he'd told her.

She hadn't believed him to begin with. She thought that he was lying to her again, but he had just sat there and calmly explained to her that he was telling her the truth and she saw that he was. He was being completely honest with her and that scared Elizabeth even more. But she had sat there and she listened to him explain it all to her. He had told her everything and once he'd finished, she needed to get away from him. She had run away and she doubted she'd see him again. How could she?

In fact, she figured that she should go to the police. Did they know anything about what was going on? Elizabeth doubted they would believe her even if she did go to them. Then again, surely they would notice so many people disappearing? Had that not raised suspicions? Elizabeth couldn't fathom it.

Sinking to the floor of the hotel room, she slid down the wall and her legs curled up beneath her. She buried her face into her hands and started to cry, the tears flowing and she swore that her heart had shattered into a million pieces.

…

Going back to his apartment, he just stood looking out of the window. He'd loosened the tie around his neck and had rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. He had poured himself another glass of scotch. No matter how many glasses he tossed back, it didn't seem to numb the anguish he was feeling inside. She had been furious. She had been horrified. But then again, what did he really expect? He remembered when he'd first joined the games, he'd felt the same type of revulsion. He'd done things that he wasn't proud of. Out of 450 people, it had just been him who had left that island. But it had been far too late for him to save his wife.

He suspected that was when Oh Il-nam had struck. He must've seen how lost he was and he knew that he could give him purpose again. Over time, he had lost compassion. The games had broken him, yet here he was about to run them again. But he didn't care for the people who entered them. They had made their choice and sometimes death was sweeter than living in desperation. A part of him had been ready to die in the games, knowing that without that money there what was no point in him returning home. He suspected his empathy had suffered since then and that was what made him the perfect successor for the games. His sympathy for people had disappeared. But then there was Elizabeth.

His life would've been simpler if he had never gone to her. Why did she have to be the lawyer working on Oh Il-nam's will? It almost felt like the old man had delivered one final curveball from beyond the grave. He suspected that was unfair, however, how could he have known that Elizabeth would be there? And how could he have known that Young-il would develop feelings for her? Then again, he supposed he didn't need to pretend to be Young-il now. He'd told Elizabeth his real name and he knew that was the thing that could unravel everything.

If she went to the police then no doubt they'd track his brother down. His brother already knew about the games, but In-ho hoped that he might stop digging. Then again, he knew how tenacious his brother could be. He might've been adopted, but he still saw him as his brother. They both had a stubborn streak in them which he guessed his mother must've developed in the pair of them.

But he didn't think Elizabeth would go to the police. She knew that it would be irrational to go to the police. Would they listen to her? Chances were that they wouldn't. If they actually did start to dig a bit further then they might see that things didn't add up. But the police didn't dig. The people who went missing were hardly thought of.

"How can you do that to people? Are they not suffering enough? You put them through…torture…"

"They have the choice to leave, Elizabeth. No one keeps them hostage. On the outside world, they suffer from nothing but inequality and pain. The games gives them a chance to fight fair and if they don't want to be a part of it then they can leave…but the people in there…the games are their last chance."

"I don't believe that. I don't believe any of this. You're preying on the weak for amusement."

"You can see it that way, but it isn't. I'm not going to argue with you, Elizabeth. It's up to you to make your mind up, but we both know that things are never black and white. You're still the same woman who was going to frame her husband for her murder. You're the same person who said that there is no faith in humanity. After everything you've been through, we both know that people…sympathy…it's a wasted emotion."

"Yet you had sympathy for me. If you didn't then you wouldn't have taken me in."

"You've been the exception to all of the rules that I have. I admit that much."

"Then there's still some empathy inside of you."

"Not enough to stop this."

She'd just shook her head at him and then left. He figured that they were finished. It had been brief, but he couldn't deny that it had meant a lot more to him than he initially thought it would. She'd gotten under his skin and he didn't know how to get rid of her now, but he had to try because he knew that she wasn't coming back. She was finished with him and he had to accept that.

…

Robert knew that he had recognised the man who his wife had been having an affair with. His face seemed familiar and it turned out that it was the same man he had briefly met at a gala one night. He usually didn't bother with people's names or faces. In his job, he made sure he remembered the important people and anyone else he forgot. Had Elizabeth been sleeping with him when he'd come to the gala? He guessed that she might have. He wouldn't be surprised if she had been.

But then he had come to his house and humiliated him. He had beat him and Robert had bruises covering his stomach from where he'd punched and kicked at him. He didn't enjoy feeling humiliated like that and his wife was to blame. She was the one who had brought him to their apartment. She was the one who had left him. She thought that she could leave him? She couldn't. He wouldn't let her. And so he had one final act of desperation to go through with. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt. This was like nothing he had ever done before, but he needed Elizabeth back with him.

When she'd gone, he'd found the paperwork in her drawer. She'd had a pay rise. She was keeping things from him. And then he'd kept on digging and he'd found her email account. Granted, he'd had to ask someone in the embassy to hack into it. But then he'd read all of the draft emails she'd written to her parents, despite the fact she couldn't stand them. And he'd read the line at the end of the final email.

I honestly think he's going to kill me.

He'd cursed her as he started putting things together, especially when he managed to sneak into her hotel room after charming the receptionist and found the fake ID she had. She was going to frame him. She had intended to frame him for killing her. She was building an intricate web of lies, he would give her that. But he wasn't going to let her get away with that. She was never going to get away with it. He'd see to that.

…

Sitting in his apartment, he had his suitcase packed and ready for a weekend on the island. He knew that there would be no one there, but he longed for the solitude that it could offer him. He was desperate for it. It had been two weeks since Elizabeth had walked away from him and those two weeks had felt like agony. Every time the buzzer sounded, he thought that it might be her coming back, but it never was.

He was waiting for a cab to take him to the ferry terminal. From there, he knew the captain who would take only him to the island where he would stay for a week to finish preparations. He scrolled on his phone as he perched on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other when his phone began to ring. He answered the call, placing the phone to his ear.

"Have you seen the news?" the man on the other end asked him. It was very rare that he called him out of the blue. In-ho knew that he knew better than to bother him.

"What news?" In-ho questioned.

"I didn't know if you'd want to know," he replied. "You asked me to stop keeping tabs on her, but…well…I liked how spirited she was. She was quite entertaining."

In-ho was about to snap impatiently at him that he didn't want his time wasted and he definitely did not want Elizabeth Jacobs brought up when she was no longer a part of his life.

"She's been fired," he told her and In-ho sat up straight then, his grip increasing on the phone and his jaw clenching. "Disbarred too…not allowed to practice law ever again. They found out that she'd been involved in gambling rings. She's been taking money from clients' accounts to cover her tracks and then here's the sucker punch, apparently she's even been sleeping with clients. I assume that covers you."

"When did this happen?"

"This morning," he replied to him.

"She's…how did this happen? How did he do this to her?"

"I don't know. You want me to find her?"

He knew he should say no. He knew that he should tell him to leave it alone and let her be. He'd promised her that he would. He'd promised her and he'd meant it. But he couldn't leave her now.

"Yes. Find her. Now."

…

"You bastard!" Elizabeth fumed. She couldn't believe what had happened. She couldn't believe the depths her husband had sunk to. She knew he'd been in the apartment. He'd be waiting for her to come back because he loved nothing more than wallowing in his success. Elizabeth had stormed into the apartment, tossing her bag onto the floor and storming towards where he was stood by the piano, glass of scotch in his hand. "You asshole! You despicable, joke of a man!"

He let her push him in the chest, but it hardly did anything. Her cheeks were red and her eyes filled with tears. She'd been crying already, her makeup streaked and looking nothing like the woman he'd met at the bar all those years ago.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said to her. "You're the one who brought this on yourself."

"You put all of your debts in my name!" she yelled at him. "You forged my signature! You've bankrupted me. And telling my work…I can never practice law again because of this…and I never took money from clients. I never did that. I would never do it. How did you do that? Why did you do that to me?"

"Oh, that part was easy," Robert promised her and she sniffed his familiar cologne as he waved a hand in her direction. "It pays to have friends in high places who owe me favours for keeping quiet about illicit affairs or drug abuse. It's much easier to call in favours than to make enemies. Besides, the part about you sleeping with clients was true," he told her with a tut. "Not your best move, sweetheart."

"He wasn't a client," Elizabeth retorted. "I stopped working for him. I would never risk my job like that. It was all I had. It was all I had and you took it from me. Why? Why would you do that? Why could you just not let me go? Let me leave?"

He almost wanted to sneer as the tears began to fall down her cheeks. "And you? You think you're so innocent? You think I don't know what you were planning. Is that what you and that lover of yours was plotting?"

"I don't know what you're on about," she denied.

He laughed darkly and slammed the glass down on top of the piano. He grabbed hold of her by the hair, ignoring her screams of pain and protest as he pushed her against the wall on the other end of the apartment. He slammed her forehead against it and her screams turned to whimpering grunts and he moved his other hand to her back, keeping her pinned face first to the wall.

"I found the fake ID…the money you were hiding…and the emails…my God, those emails made me vomit," he snarled. "And I began to wonder just what you were playing at. My first guess was that you wanted to escape, get away from me and run," he said, "but the emails were too much, Elizabeth. I spent a full night going through them after I hacked into your account and I saw the story you were spinning…the growing fear you had of me…it was imaginative, Elizabeth, very imaginative."

Elizabeth tried to buck him off of her, but he wasn't moving.

"You were going to ruin my life and see me rot in a prison cell," he said, the anger bubbling up inside of him. He shoved her harder into the wall and moved a hand to her neck, squeezing it tightly. She tried to claw at his fingers, struggling to breathe, but she couldn't prise them from her. "You were going to destroy me and so I destroyed you. I destroyed you and ruined you instead…your reputation…it's gone…and I'll give you what you want, sweetheart, I'll give you that divorce you crave so much."

He pushed her to the side and Elizabeth fell to the floor in a heap, gathering her breath and reaching for her throat. She coughed loudly and used the wall to help her back to her feet. Robert went back to his scotch, picking the glass up and finishing it in one gulp.

"And your debts?" Elizabeth asked from him. "I know that you have the debt from the bank…everything…but the others…the loan sharks…how're you going to pay them off?"

"With the money you've been hoarding from me, of course," he said. "I've already paid them and spoken to Lucy, you know Richard's girlfriend from the office? Well, we've been seeing each other for a while and she's agreed to help me. She was thrilled when I told her that we're through. She's moving in…really loves me, you know? More than you ever have."

Elizabeth nodded her head thoughtfully. "You had it all planned out, huh?"

"You shouldn't have gotten involved with that man," he told her. "Maybe then you wouldn't have gotten distracted and made as many mistakes as you did…but here we are."

"None of this had to happen," Elizabeth said with a firm shake of her head. "We didn't have to do any of this."

"You made the first move, honey," he said. "You were the one who started it."

"You stole from me!" Elizabeth roared at him. "You took everything I had! You beat me…you raped me…you gave me no choice. I had to get out and away from you. I had no other option and you…you were the one who drove me to that. You drove me to this level of desperation and now I have nothing. I have nothing and you…did you ever love me? Was there any part of you that actually loved me?"

He looked her up and down then and just shrugged. "I loved the fact that people talked about us when we walked in rooms…that my friends would tell me how lucky I was…that you knew how to behave in public…but you…for someone who seemed so remarkable on paper…you really are the most unremarkable woman I've known."

Elizabeth just shook her head at him. "I wish I'd never met you," she said.

"Likewise, baby," he said. "Now get out of here."

"I need to pack-"

"-Oh, I had all your stuff taken away," he said. "Everything is gone. Lucy didn't want any of your clothes. She claimed they were all last season and would be too big on her anyway…and I cancelled your reservation at the hotel…all your stuff there has been removed. And those fake IDs you have…burned."

"Why?" was all that Elizabeth could ask him.

"Because I can. Because you tried to fight me and you lost. You should've known never to go up against me, Elizabeth. Now get out. I imagine the police will want to talk to you…stealing client's money…what were you thinking?"

And then Elizabeth knew that she had nothing. There was nothing left for her and she didn't know what she was going to do.

…

She'd been arrested and released without charge. Apparently, the law firm had dealt with the clients and did not want to see Elizabeth charged. That had gone in her favour. But she was still jobless and her reputation ruined. She had no hope of ever working in a law firm again. She'd caused quite the splash in the press. The downfall of a diplomat's wife seemed to sell papers. Elizabeth had turned her phone off after it kept buzzing with requests from journalists. She had no idea how they'd got her number, but she didn't care. She didn't want anything to do with them. She'd gone to a cash point, but her accounts were frozen. She suspected the bank were recovering her debts after her husband had put them in her name.

And so she found herself just wandering round the streets of Seoul in her work clothes and with her satchel. She had no coat. She had nothing but the heels on her feet and they were starting to ache. She just wandered with nowhere to go and no plan.

…

"She was in the police station. How can you have no idea where she is?"

In-ho was stood in his apartment, phoned pressed to his ear and pacing the length of his living room. He had been tempted to drive down to the police station himself and wait for her, but he didn't know how she would react. He didn't want to upset her any more or push her further away. He had called the Salesman and told him to find her and let him know when he had a location.

"She must've gone out the back and her phone is turned off. There's no chance I can track her," he replied back to his boss. "She probably doesn't want to be found."

"You don't understand. She has no one."

"She must have a friend or someone to go to."

"You think her husband let her have friends?" In-ho snapped back. "I don't care how long it takes. You find her, do you understand me? Find her or you'll find yourself out of a job."

He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the sofa, hands going to hold onto his hips. He shook his head firmly, throwing his head back and looking up to the ceiling. Where the hell was she?

…

He didn't think that he slept at all, but it had been over two weeks since she had gone missing. She was still in the papers, but no one knew where she was. No one could reach her for comment. No one could get in touch with her. It was like she had been snatched from the face of the earth. He still had the Salesman looking for her, of course, even at the expense of recruiting more people to the game. He knew that the games were going to start soon, but his mind wasn't on them. He couldn't think about the games while Elizabeth was out there on her own.

He had even gone out himself, searching for her. He thought that she would stand out like a sore thumb, but she didn't. Wherever she was, she was doing her best to stay hidden. He had tried calling her, but every time he got her voicemail, but then eventually even that was full. He would walk round Seoul every day until late at night and even then he didn't want to go home. He'd read in the paper how her parents had just denied to comment on what had happened to her. He wondered if they even cared.

Robert had said how he just wanted his wife to get help. He just wanted her to be happy and he held no ill-will against her. In-ho had wanted to go back to his penthouse and beat him to a pulp for even daring to say that. He knew what he'd done, of course. He knew that he'd framed her for his debts. He'd pulled some strings and destroyed her life.

And if In-ho didn't find Elizabeth, then he swore he was going to ruin Robert Jacobs.

…

The Salesman was becoming exasperated. All he wanted to do was go back to his day job, but his boss had other ideas. He'd told him that he'd still be paid, but his main focus was finding Elizabeth Jacobs. He couldn't deny that she was an attractive woman. She had a classic, glamorous look about her. She was also spirited. He could see why his boss had taken a shine to her, but the fact was that she was just a woman and they had the games to organise. But the boss was distracted and he doubted the games would even go ahead unless Elizabeth was found.

And so he searched for her. He visited places that others were too scared to visit. He went to drug dens, brothels and even loan shark offices, but she was nowhere to be found. It had now been over three weeks and he wondered if she was even alive. He doubted it at times. She hadn't used her phone and she had no money in her account. He visited places where he knew the homeless slept, but she wasn't there.

He was going to call his boss and tell him to quit the search. If someone was missing then the chances were that they either didn't want to be found or they were dead. Either way, Elizabeth Jacobs wasn't going to be found. He was wandering down a backstreet alley, hands by his side. He'd forgone the briefcase in favour of an umbrella as rain poured down over the city. He had a dark coat covering his grey suit, umbrella open above his head. He ignored a couple who were hooking up in the alley, walking by them. They didn't even seem distracted by him moving past them.

He glanced around, but truthfully he had stopped looking intently. He hadn't really bothered to look at people's faces as he walked by. Looking down and into the doorway of the back of a shop, he looked away a moment later. But then he stopped. He turned his head to the side and peered down at her. He took his umbrella down and let it dangle by his side. Crouching down, he looked to her and he knew it was her.

Moving a hand to her cheek, he brushed her hair from her face to double-cheek. Her cheeks were smudged in dirt and she had a filthy blanket covering her as she curled into a ball and leant against the wall behind her, sat up with her eyes closed and lips parted. He moved his hand to tuck her hair behind her shoulder before he moved his fingers in front of her mouth. She was still breathing, but she was hardly coherent.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialled the number. "I found her," he said when the man answered.

"Where?"

"Some dead-end alley," he said. "She's sick, but breathing."

"I'm texting you an address. Bring her here."

He hung up the phone and he looked to Elizabeth, sighing as he set his umbrella down and shrugged out of his coat. "You've caused quite the stir," he told her, but she was still unconscious. "But maybe now you understand."

…

In-ho didn't care that the Salesman was going to see his face. He wasn't considering that an issue. He just needed him to get here so that he could check on Elizabeth as soon as possible. He stood by the door in the apartment and finally the buzzer he went. He opened the door and saw the Salesman stood there, holding Elizabeth in his arms. Her arm was around his shoulders and his arms were under her legs and round her waist. He'd pulled his black coat around her to give her some warmth.

"You might want to think twice before letting her sit down. She needs a shower," the man said and In-ho just shot a glare in his direction.

"Is she breathing?"

"She's breathing, but my best guess is she's dehydrated…burning up…and if she's been out in the cold then she's going to be sick."

"Lay her down," In-ho said and he let the Salesman into his apartment, pointing him to the sofa. He laid her down, hand cupping her head and then leaving her to lay against the pillow. In-ho knelt down beside her, the back of his hand going to her forehead. She'd felt warm and clammy. Her eyes were still closed and her breathing shallow.

"You know, she must be someone special if you've let me in here without your mask…given me your address."

"You're not on the island anymore. What does it matter?" In-ho retorted, but he knew that it broke protocol.

"It doesn't, I guess," he replied and wandered around his apartment, looking at how sparse it was. He had to confess himself intrigued by what the man who ran the games did during his downtime. In-ho let his eyes flicker away from Elizabeth and over to the Salesman. His grey suit was damp from the rain and his hair also wet, slicked back on the top of his head. He raked a hand through his locks, pushing them from his face. "It's just interesting, that's all. It's not as if your job gives you time to get close to other people, is it?"

"Is there a point to this line of questioning?"

"Just trying to make pleasant conversation," he replied and then pointed to Elizabeth. "She probably needs a doctor."

He guessed that she probably did, but he didn't know if he dared to call anyone considering the trouble she was in. He would look after her until she became coherent and then he would give her what she wanted. If she wanted to leave then he wouldn't stop her, but this time he would make sure she was set up to get away and make her own life away from the city.

"I'll pay you a bonus for bringing her here," In-ho told him. "But don't tell anyone about this."

"Trust me, there's no one I'd want to tell," he replied and he had a sense that he was being dismissed. "Good luck with everything," he told him and In-ho just swallowed down a lump in his throat.

"Thank you," he said to him, voice grateful.

The Salesman just glanced back at him over his shoulder, a corner of his lips arching upwards. He left the apartment, forgetting his coat and shutting the door behind him. In-ho remained knelt by Elizabeth's side, his hand brushing her hair from her face and he looked down at her. The white blouse she wore was greyer now and the green skirt ripped up the side. Her tights had holes in them and ladders running up them. Her shoes had clearly gone missing and so had her bag. She had nothing but the clothes on her body.

"Elizabeth," he whispered her name gently. "Elizabeth, come on, please wake up."

He kept on softly stroking her cheek, thumb running over her cheekbone slowly and trying to get her to open her eyes. He kept on whispering to her until she finally managed to peel her eyes open slowly. She was shivering and still in her wet clothes. "Young-il?" she muttered and he didn't correct her.

"I'm here," he promised her. "It's alright, I'm here."

"You were right," was all she could whisper to him. "You were right."

He didn't know what he was right about, but he guessed that things had been difficult for her. He shook his head at her and moved his free hand to take hold of one of hers. Her wedding ring and engagement ring had gone. He slowly moved his fingers to hold onto his and she clung onto his hand tightly, like he was her only anchor at sea. She closed her eyes again and he bent down and kissed her on the forehead.

"You're safe now," he promised her.

…

He had somehow managed to carry her to the bathroom, sitting her on the closed toilet seat as he ran a bath for her. He kept his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he made sure that the temperature was warm enough. As the water ran, he reached for her clothes and helped her out of them considering she was still out of it. He pulled the shirt from her arms and shimmied her skirt down her legs. He helped her out of her underwear last and guided her into the tub. He washed her hair for her, hands massaging her scalp and letting the suds slip down his arm.

Once he was finished, the bath water was almost black. He helped pick her up and out of the bath, wrapping her in a towel and drying her off. He gave her another one of his shirts and his robe, wrapping her up and urging her to bed. He made her hot tea and soup, knowing that she had to eat something. He carried the food and drink back into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.

She sat up against the headboard weakly and he spoon fed her the soup. She took it, not even bothered that he was feeding her like a baby. The soup slid down her throat, warming it up and settling in her stomach. She felt warm but also cold, her body shaking uncontrollably. She didn't think she could do anything to stop that even though she tried to get her muscles under control.

"We don't need to talk about it," he said to her. "We don't need to talk about anything. I just want you to get better and then we can go from there. You can go and I will give you enough money to get you set up. You can leave and never come back, but just…just get better, okay?"

Elizabeth looked at him, feeling too weak to really argue with him. And, truthfully, she didn't want to argue. She looked at him and she almost understood everything that he had told her in the past.

"Why did you not come to me?" he whispered to her. "Why did you not come back?"

"Because I didn't know how to," Elizabeth confessed and her voice was hoarse and shaky. "What you told me; I couldn't come back to you and I…I didn't know if you would even want me. I'm…I'm tainted…he ruined me…he took everything from me and he destroyed me…and I…I wanted it to end. I didn't know how to come back from it. And I understood. I understood how you must have felt…not the exact same circumstances, but the desperation. I understood it and people…maybe they don't deserve saving. Maybe some people don't deserve saving."

He let his eyes flicker over her face and noticed that she was almost crying. He didn't want to get into this. He didn't want her to be upset. He placed the bowl on the bedside table and shifted closer towards her. "What happened to you?" he asked her, but she shook her head at him and he saw her bottom lip begin to wobble. He reached for her, quickly grabbing hold of her and she moved her arms around his midriff. He let her cry against his shoulder, one hand holding the back of her head in his palm and the other running up and down her back. She clung tightly to him and just cried into his chest and he started to fear the worst about what had happened to her.

He waited for her to finish crying, her tears dying down and hiccups escaping her. She pulled away from him, but kept hold of his hand inside of her own. She squeezed his fingers in her own, almost like she was checking that he was really and still really with her. She didn't want him to go, not really. Despite everything, he was the only person she had now.

"I just wandered around Seoul," she confessed to him. "Robert took everything from me. He framed me at work, claiming that I'd been taking clients' money to pay for my gambling. He had the debts put in my name and everything. He worked with some of my clients…planned everything…I didn't have a leg to stand on. And then there came the infidelity. He claimed I'd been sleeping with clients just to twist the knife. The firm dealt with the clients and said they didn't want to see me get in trouble, but I was sacked…disbarred…my licence taken from me."

"But why?"

"Because he found out what I had planned," Elizabeth told him. "He found it all out. I was careless. I'd left things behind in the apartment and he looked. He found my payslip and figured out that I'd been getting paid more than I told him. He hacked into my emails and saw the ones I'd been sending to my parents, but then he went to my hotel room and found the fake IDs. He put things together and I…by then I couldn't deny it…and he…I had nothing. He'd sold everything I had. And so I left the apartment. I only had some cash on me, but not enough for more than a few meals…and I…I didn't know where to go."

He wanted to tell her that she should've come to him, but he kept quiet. She didn't need to hear that now. He just let her continue talking.

"I tried to use public bathrooms when I could…stay warm…but it…it was difficult…and then one night I couldn't afford a room and so I found this place in the park…and I just sat there…figured I'd be safe, but they…there were three of them and they took my wedding ring and engagement ring. They took my bag and phone…and they laughed while they did it. They just laughed as I cried and begged them not to," Elizabeth said to him and a heat formed in his stomach. "I tried to find food, but I couldn't. I just…some restaurants threw food out and I…" she trailed off and shook her head. "And I stood at the end of a street one night, watching these women wandering up and down…getting into men's cars and I…I wondered if maybe I could do that…if I could do it just for the night for some cash."

He shook his head at her and she closed her eyes, tears running down her cheeks.

"One of them came over to me and offered me cash, but I couldn't do it. I just ran. I just ran away and knew that it wasn't something I could go through with," Elizabeth said. "But I ended up walking again and I thought that there was no point. I tried to call my parents using a payphone, but they declined the charges. I wondered if I could come her, but I didn't know if that was for the best and so I…I started to just give up. I don't even remember how I got here."

"I've been looking for you," he said. "Ever since I heard the news, I've had people looking for you. I know you told me to stay away, but I couldn't. I just needed to make sure you were okay."

"You've been looking for me?"

He shook his head at her. Did she not get it? "Elizabeth, I've done nothing but look for you. I…I haven't been able to focus on anything except finding you."

Elizabeth looked at him and searched his gaze. He really had been looking for her. He really had tried to find her. "And I started to think that anything would be better than this," Elizabeth told him. "I'd never felt so alone…so hopeless…and even though I had nothing, I knew that I'd never do what others had done to me…I just…no one would help me. No one would look at me. I started to think that there was no point in even being alive."

"Don't say that," he urged from her and he squeezed her hand inside of his firmly. "Never say that."

"But it's true," Elizabeth said.

"There's a point, Elizabeth," he said to her. "There's always a point."

"But I understood it. I began to understand what you were saying about people feeling like there's no hope, that maybe death is better than feeling like that," Elizabeth said. "And people…what's the point…there's no humanity out there. Maybe people don't deserve saving."

"Not all people," he told her and he looked at her intently, wondering what this now meant. He wasn't going to push her on that, however. He knew that she needed time. He also knew that she needed rest and she looked exhausted. "You should get some sleep, Elizabeth," he urged from her.

"You sure you want me to stay?" she checked with him.

"Always," he told her.

She nodded and he let her lay back down on her side. He pulled the duvet up and over her. She stuffed a hand underneath his pillow and he picked up the bowl of half-eaten soup, leaving her the mug of tea.

"Thank you," she said to him. "For not giving up on me."

"Never," he just said to her.

"Will you stay?" she asked him. "I just…I don't want to be alone…not tonight."

He nodded his head, agreeing with her. He went to put the bowl in the kitchen and headed back to the bedroom. He didn't bother to get changed. He just laid on the top of the quilt next to her. She finally turned over after an hour or so and he felt her move a hand towards him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and picked her up in his grip, letting her shift so that her head was on his shoulder. He stroked her hair as she slept and almost didn't hear her whispering to him.

"I missed you," she confessed.

"I missed you too," he promised her and finally closed his eyes too, letting weeks of exhaustion consume him entirely.

...

A/N: If anyone is reading then I would love to know what you think!