Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 223

11:20 Fri, Apr 24 ↑

Chapter 223

Chapter 223

Daphne’s POV

“Kyle… Kyle, please, let go of me.”

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My voice came out thin and shaky, barely more than a whisper in the dark. I was tossing, my limbs tangled in. the silk sheets that now felt like thick, restrictive vines.

I wriggled, shaking my head from side to side as the images behind my eyelids refused to fade. The smell of burning rubber, the sound of metal yielding….it was all so vivid.

My heart was slamming against my ribs, a trapped bird seeking an exit.

With a final, desperate shove at the air, I sat bolt upright and let out a scream that tore through the silence of the villa.

“Daphne?”

The bed shifted instantly. David’s voice was thick with sleep but spiked with immediate alarm.

The room was pitch black, the vastness of the sea outside the windows having long ago swallowed the moonlight.

I was panting, my breath coming in shallow, ragged hitches. Sweat coated my forehead, making my hair stick to my temples in damp, uncomfortable clumps.

The nightmare still clung to me: Kyle’s grip on my arm, the way he had cornered me that night, the fear that had never fully left.

David scooted closer on the bed, his arm sliding around my waist and pulling me against his chest.

“Hey, hey… I’ve got you.”

I didn’t fight him. I collapsed into him, my face burying into the crook of his neck as the first of the tears began to fall. These weren’t the kind of tears I could hide-they fell heavy, one after the other.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that night again. The crashing of ceramics. The silence that followed the chaos.

“No one is coming to hurt you,” David murmured, his hand moving in slow, soothing circles across my back. “I’m here. You are safe. I’ve got you.”

I held onto him with a white-knuckled grip, my fingers bunching the fabric of his shirt. I was trembling so violently I thought I might come apart.

When he tried to pull back slightly, perhaps to look at my face or check my breathing, I let out a small, broken sound and clung tighter.

“Don’t,” I pleaded, my voice cracking. “Please, don’t leave me.”

11:20 Fri, Apr 24

…

VPH

79

Chapter 223

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“Relax, love. I’m not going anywhere,” he said, his voice dropping into a register that was meant just for me.

Love. Despite the sheer terror gnawing at my insides, my heart latched onto that single word. It sent a tiny, unexpected spark through my chest, a temporary distraction from the dark.

“I just want to switch the lamps on,” he explained softly. “I’m right here.”

I wouldn’t let go, so he didn’t force me. Instead, while keeping his arm firmly anchored around me, he managed to stretch his free hand toward the bedside table.

I heard the soft click of wood, and then he was handing me a bottle of water he’d grabbed in the dark.

“Have this,” he said, twisting the cap off before pressing the cool plastic into my hand.

I took a small, hesitant sip. The water was cold and crisp, helping to wash away the metallic taste of fear in my mouth. I handed it back to him, and he set it aside, returning both arms to me.

We sat there in the silence for a long time, the only sound the distant, muffled movement of the ship through

the water.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” he finally asked, but went still-like he’d wait as long as it took.

I didn’t answer. The words were there, but I couldn’t push them out. I just stared into the blackness.

Eventually, I let out a long sigh and pulled away just enough to meet his eyes. Even in the shadows, I could see the calm, focused way he was watching me.

“I… I want to, but I can’t,” I stuttered, my breath hitching again. “I just… I…”

I felt the panic starting to rise again, the stuttering in my chest returning, but David was faster. He reached out, his hands framing my face.

“Shh,” he whispered. “I wasn’t asking you to tell me right now, Daphne. I don’t need the story. I just need you to know that I’m here. Whenever you’re ready, or even if you’re never ready, I’m not going anywhere.”

His words acted like a balm, cooling the fever of my anxiety. I leaned my forehead against his, closing my eyes and just breathing in the scent of him-sandalwood and safety.

“Can we go to the balcony?” I asked after a moment. “I need to see the sky.”

“Anything you want,” he said.

He grabbed a throw blanket from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders before guiding me toward the glass doors.

He slid them open, and the night air rushed in, cool and smelling of salt.

Outside, the world was a void. There were no lights on the horizon, no moon to guide the way-just the deep, endless black of the ocean meeting the black of the sky.

Somehow, in my current state, I found it beautiful. It matched the way I felt-vast and a little bit lost.

11:20 Fri, Apr 24 ↑

Chapter 223

VPH

79

E55

55 vouchers.

The wind was strong, whipping my hair across my face, but David stood right behind me, his chest a shield against the breeze.

We stood there in a long, contemplative silence, watching the white foam of the wake disappear into the dark.

“Sometimes, on nights like this… I really miss them,” I whispered.

The words felt heavy, as if I’d been carrying them in my mouth for years and was finally letting them drop. A. fresh wave of tears slipped from my eyes, hot against my wind-chilled skin.

David remained silent for a beat, letting the space exist for me. “Your parents,” he finally said. It wasn’t a question.

I swallowed hard, a sob escaping before I could choke it back. David moved to pull me into a hug, but I held up a hand, stopping him.

“No,” I said, my voice trembling. “Just… let me get it out. If I don’t say it now, I’ll bury it again. And I’m tired of digging it up in my sleep.”

He stepped back just an inch, giving me the room I needed, though I could still feel the heat of his presence.

“It was so fast,” I began, my voice small and hollow. “One minute we were laughing about a song on the radio, and the next… the world just ended. I remember the silence most of all. It was so loud. I was thirteen, and in the

span

of a heartbeat, I went from having everything to having nothing but the clothes on my back and a police officer telling me they were gone.”

I leaned against the railing, my knuckles white as I gripped the cold metal.

“I felt so alone. Like I’d been dropped into the middle of the ocean with no life vest. I went through the foster system-different homes, different rules. Most of them were okay, but one…”

I shook my head, a bittersweet smile touching my lips through the tears.

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