Three Years Later, He Came Back Begging novel Chapter 144

In her dream, darkness stretched out endlessly, thick and suffocating. Bonnie found herself clawing her way up a sheer cliff, her fingers scraped raw, nothing but yawning emptiness beneath her feet. Just one misstep, and she’d be gone.

Then the scene changed. She was sprinting endlessly down a road leading to the airport, heart hammering in her chest, the finish line never getting any closer no matter how desperately she ran.

She was pinned down in an airport bathroom, strangers holding her arms, and the sound of someone’s palm striking her face echoed sharp and clear, ringing through the tiled space.

She felt the icy sleet of an American winter pour down on her, soaking right through to her bones.

Fog rolled in, swirling around a blurry figure. Lawrence was there, then gone, calling her name one second, urging her to hurry, then suddenly demanding she stay away.

Bonnie knew she was awake. Or at least, she thought she was. So why was she stuck in these dreams? More faces floated into view—her family, her friends, the Lane family. And then, there was Lawrence, holding hands with Hannah. Hannah was wearing a wedding dress, a baby cradled in her arms.

Somehow, everyone was smiling, celebrating Lawrence and Hannah’s wedding. Even her parents joined in. Helen was there. Aiken, too.

Then, all those happy faces turned toward her, their smiles gone. Blank, cold.

“You’re too weak, Bonnie. Too timid. Such a disappointment. You don’t deserve our blessing.”

She jerked awake, her heart racing so fast it hurt. The darkness in her room felt thick and heavy. She gasped for air and pressed her palm to her chest, trying to steady herself. Her body was drenched in sweat. Lying there, Bonnie realized her pillow was soaked right through. She had no idea if it was from tears or from all the sweating.

She took a shaky breath and reached for her phone. Five a.m. already. She scrolled through her notifications out of habit, but nothing much had changed. Eventually, she got up, stripped her bed, tossed the sheets, pillowcases, and her dirty clothes in the washing machine, and jumped in the shower. She made herself some breakfast, washed the dishes, and hung the laundry—all before seven.

Once he was sure she’d left, Lawrence slipped out and went over to her door, curious about what she’d been up to. The moment he spotted the keypad’s handle, he stopped. A thick red X glared out at him, smeared across the shiny surface of the handle—and the color was layered on both sides.

A memory snuck up on him, something from before he’d ever gotten through Bonnie’s walls. He remembered a hiking trip, when they got stuck overnight at a little mountain hotel. Only one room had been left, with a huge bed right in the middle.

Lawrence tried to assure her he wasn’t planning anything and hadn’t bribed the hotel clerk, but Bonnie was having none of it. She stared him down with this stubborn look in her eyes, just like the little deer they’d seen in the woods earlier.

He had laughed at her suspicion, asking what it would take for her to trust him.

She’d sat there thinking, lips pressed tight, for the longest time. Finally, she reached into her bag and pulled out a tube of lipstick, holding it up like a weapon. “You’re sleeping in the bathroom and you’re not sneaking out,” she told him, voice fierce and determined. “I’m making a mark. If I wake up tomorrow and the lipstick’s gone? Lawrence, that’s it. You’ll never have another shot with me.”