Chapter 18 - Chapter 17

# Chapter 17

AYANDA

I can barely hear the ticking of the clock behind me. Four weeks have passed. The days blend into one. I work tirelessly on my story, look after Dad, and visit Vusi. The man in question is still secretive, offering me only enough to keep me on the edge, tethered to everything he's not saying. But the truth is that I still don't have what Themba wants.

Vusi's confession.

None of the details. Nothing.

We're still focusing on his childhood, but I'm okay with that. I could listen to him talk about himself forever. Even if the details are hard to swallow. This latest revelation of the sexual abuse is hitting too close to home. But it's also strangely comforting knowing the man in front of me, who holds my heart trapped with every spoon-fed revelation, shares some of my greatest horrors. We're much more alike than I dared to admit to myself.

"How often would she call you into her bedroom?"

Vusi unfolds his arms and rubs his corded neck. His voice is deep and raspy, as though he saves his words for this one weekly hour we spend together when he lets those notes seduce every nerve ending in my body. With a simple smile, he can send my heart skittering.

In fact, Vusi has become more generous with his smiles lately. Every time he aims one of those weapons at me, I willingly surrender to the sweet death he promises with the sparkle in his dark eyes. It's hard sometimes to forget that he's a predator in the night, who stalks women and lures them close to his vehicle before attacking and driving them away to their deaths. I don't think I would run from him.

Not anymore.