Spending more time with the Greens made me realize how badly I needed a sweet and supportive family while growing up. Maybe if I were placed in a different home, everything would have turned out better...or perhaps not, either way, I can't take back the past or how it's affected my life.

"Are you almost done?" Matt asks, holding the ladder for me while I screw in a lightbulb for the barn.

I felt bad for taking up a room and eating free food, I offered to pay for it, but Amy quickly shut that down. So, I negotiated with her to work at the farm during my stay, which she reluctantly agreed to. Matt's been trying his best to get me to open up, but after yesterday's conversation with Elizabeth about my family, I wasn't in the mood to talk this morning.

"Could you quit checking me out and hold the ladder still?" I felt it wobble a couple of times.

"I wasn't checking you out, I'm trying to make sure that you won't fall."

"Sure," I say and wipe the sweat off my forehead. The barn is hotter compared to the air-conditioned hotel rooms I got used to staying in. "And... done!" I yelp as I slip off the ladder, Matt catches me in his muscular arms, and I might have been staring at his fine physique longer than I should have.

"Are you okay? I see a little of...drool right here." He says playfully as he wipes my cheek.

"You're so funny, Matt," I say sarcastically as he puts me down.

"So, how is Mallory handling all of this?" He gestures around the barn. "I know that she likes horses, but that's all I know about her."

"Well, she's great at adapting to change. She never questions it when I move around from place to place. But I can tell that she's missing out on average childhood things, like making friends, going to public school, learning how to ride a bike."

"Yeah, but does she like it here?"

"She loves running around the farm with Elizabeth and playing with the horses, especially the ponies."

"If she loves it here, then that's all that matters." I guess he has a point there. "Maybe we could all ride together one day if that's okay with you? And maybe we could have dinner sometime and get to know each other better?"

"Matt, I told you I'm not interested in anything besides friendship right now. My life is too complicated to throw someone new into the mix. Besides, I'm leaving in a couple of days, so what's the point of starting anything new?"

"Fine, a simple no would have been nicer to hear. But I get it, you're still skeptical of me." He pauses. "Even though you already fell for me." He says with a wink, nodding to the ladder that's lying on the ground.

"Wow! That was super cheesy of you, Mr. Smooth."

"It's going hard for you to forget all this charm."

"I'm sure I'll be devastated when I leave." I joke and we walk back to the farmhouse. Mallory is playing with Elizabeth on the couch, she's an amazing babysitter and would make a great mother.

Matt leaves and goes upstairs to take a shower, leaving the three of us. "So... what's going on between you and my brother?" Liz asks.

"We are just friends."

"You two seem a little close for friends. Are you sure you don't like him...just a little bit?"

"Does it matter?"

"Is this because you're leaving soon?"

"Yes...and no. I can't drag Matt into my mess."

"Trust me, he's dated way messier girls in the past."

"And that should make me want to date him?"

"No, I'm saying that he's changed, maybe you should go on a date and see what the new and improved Matt is like."

"Maybe."

"Hey, Mommy?" Mallory asks.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Where is Matt?"

"He's upstairs right now, why?"

"I want to go pony riding."

"How about we go tomorrow, it's too dark outside."

"Yay! I want to go on the big horse."

"I'll see what I can do." I chuckled at my daughter. I can tell that she likes Matt, which is going to make it so much harder for us when we leave. I see her yawning and wiping her droopy eyes. "I think it's bedtime."

"Read me a story?"

"Sure." Me and Mallory go upstairs, and she quickly falls asleep. I, on the other hand, can't get any sleep and decide to go back downstairs. When I walk into the living room, it's a sight to behold. Matt is sitting on the couch wearing nothing but pajama bottoms, the moonlight hitting his chiseled abs perfectly, giving him that Hollywood movie glow.

He catches me shamelessly checking him out and smiles. "Hey, come sit." He pats the spot next to him. "What's that?" He points to the camera in my hands.

"It's nothing, just an object from the past. It's filled with pictures that I took when I was younger." I forgot that I packed it in the duffle bag.

"Why didn't you get the pictures developed?"

"I don't know." I say, "I guess I don't like sharing my art with other people."

"Well, could I have a look?" I hand him the camera and he starts clicking through the images.

Some of the pictures are ones I took in my small hometown when I was trapped there. The first photo is the inside of an abandoned subway station, I remember taking it while I was living inside one of the trains after my escape. Unfortunately, not all of these photos have good memories attached to them.

"Tessa, these are amazing," Matt says, slightly impressed.

"I guess they are okay."

"Okay? These are beautiful. They need to be hung up in a museum."

I blush a little bit. "Thanks."

"Who is this?" He points to a photo of a teenage version of me wearing ripped jeans, a leather jacket, and a baggy top that covered my baby bump. It was one of the few pictures I smiled in, and it was the day I found out my baby's gender.

"Who do you think it is?"

"I think she's cute." He smiles and nudges my shoulder. He keeps clicking through the camera. I look at some of the pictures with him now and then...sometimes I just look at him. He pauses at one photo and his expression drastically changes. His smile and cheeky manners are nowhere to be found.

"Tessa...what is this?" He quietly asks.

Confused, I lean over to see what he's looking at. I gasped when I realized that it was a picture of a younger me with fresh cuts and bruises. "I... I forgot he took those."

"Who did?"

"My brother, Mark. I haven't seen him in years. " I click through some more and see a series of images from my childhood. More bruises ran up and down my knees coupled with burns from cigarettes. I with a black eye when I was fifteen, and one of Mark was also cut up and bruised, freshly bleeding.

"Why do you have these?"

"It must have been for police evidence. We always talked about showing these to the police, but we never did. We got too scared to come forward about them."

I could see the hatred and disgust in his eyes towards the people who did this to me when he asked, "Who? Who did this to you?"

"My neighbors."

"Your neighbors? Did your parents know about this?"

"No, they died when I was little. My neighbors raised me and Mark."

"Does anyone else know about this?" I shake my head, no. "Does Mallory know?"

I try my best to hold back my tears. "She's seen the scars...but doesn't ask how or where I got them from."

Matt leans close to me and puts his hand over mine. "Tessa...you have to tell someone about this."

"I... I can't."

"These people are dangerous and still out there."

"You think I don't know that?" I raise my voice and stand up.

"Tessa, I'm saying that you're not alone anymore. I know someone who works at the police station, he's a family friend and-"

"No! The last time that I tried that...it didn't end well. I can't trust them."

"Okay, then trust me. I can help you...please let me help you." He pleads and walks over to me.

"I can't Matt, you know that....I can't pull you into this chaos. I won't."

"Tessa. Please-"

I grab the camera that's been sitting on the table and throw it in a trash can. "This was a mistake. Please, just stay out of it." I run upstairs and go to the guest bedroom. I open the door and peek my head in, seeing Mallory fast asleep. I walk into the bathroom, needing to splash some water on my face. Looking into the mirror, I am still the same scared little girl from my childhood. She's begging me to let her out, but I refuse to. I try to calm down and take a deep breath with a memory from the past starts to flood my mind.

"Open the door, Tessa!" Hunter shouted.

"No! Leave me alone!" I leaned back against the door to keep it shut because Mr. Harrison got rid of all the locks in the house.

"I'm not asking again. Open this door!"

"No! Go away!" We were watching a movie when I noticed his hand slowly creeping up my leg.

"I am in charge and you'll do what I say!"

"I don't have to listen to you, you're not my dad."

"No, your daddy is six feet under all because of you!"

He was right. If I hadn't been such a distraction, maybe he would have been able to see that stop sign before the truck hit him. "Stop it! It wasn't my fault!"

"Everything's your fault!"

"Leave me alone!"

"No!" I screamed as Hunter broke the door down, knocking me to the floor. He reached down and grabbed me by the collar, I kicked and cried out as he dragged me through the hallway. "Help me! Someone help me!"

"Shut up!" He picked me up and threw me on a bed. "I'm going to teach you a lesson about respect."

"Please, don't...I promise I'll be better. Please don't hurt me." I sobbed out in pain and begged for his abuse to end. "Mark! Help me! Mark!" There was no use calling for help, no one could stop him.

I snapped out of the terrible memory when I felt Matt's hands on my shoulders, shaking me. "Tessa?"

"What's going on?" I looked around and noticed that I wasn't in the bathroom anymore. "Where am I?"

"We're in the guest room. You walked in here and started having a panic attack. I think you're still having one."

"What?" I can't breathe. Why can't I breathe? "Where's Mallory?"

"She's downstairs with Elizabeth."

"I need to see her...she's not safe."

Matt moved his hands and started rubbing my arms in a calming manner. "Hey, she's safe right now, I promise." He leaned close and talked in a soothing voice. "Tessa, I need you to breathe. Can you do that?"

I nodded as I took a few deep breaths, matching Matt's breathing pattern. "Okay...I'm okay. I think."

"Good." I've never seen Matt look so concerned or worried before. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't know. I was in the bathroom one minute...thinking about something...and then I ended up here."

"Do you want to tell me what you were thinking about?" He lifts my chin to meet his intense gaze. "Was it them?" I start to shake in fear at the mere mention of the Harrisons. "Hey, I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to talk, we don't have to."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out...gosh, Mallory must think I'm crazy."

"Tessa, you're not crazy. You're normal, this is normal." I don't why but after Matt said that, I started sobbing uncontrollably. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest, letting my tears fall on his shoulder. "It's okay, it's going to be okay."

I kept reminding myself that Matt was different. He's caring and kind, he wants to listen to my problems and help me conquer them. He is not Hunter. "Why?" I mumbled against his skin.

"What?"

"Why do you care so much? I'm still a stranger to you and here you are holding me while I sob like a baby."

He pulls away and leans his forehead against mine, "Because I like you."

"Matt... I told you we can't do this."

"Why not?"

"Because...I'm broken. He broke me."

"You're not broken, Tessa. You're....perfect."

I lean back and look at him. "Matt..." How could I ever be with someone so kindhearted? "I..."

KNOCK.

A soft knock on the door breaks us apart, Elizabeth pokes her head into the room. "Hey, Mallory wants her mom." She looks at me and then at Matt. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, I was just about to leave," Matt says and leaves, placing a kiss on my cheek.

"So... what was that about?" Elizabeth asks.

I smile, "Nothing."