He pauses at the threshold. I glance up, half expecting him to say something. Instead, he waggles his brow.
He fucking winked at me.
I have no idea what the hell is going on, but I decide to hold my cards close for now. This isn’t the place or the time for a meltdown. I need time to process, to figure out the right questions to ask. One thing’s clear though. Both men are keeping secrets. Big ones. And I don’t know if they’re working together or plotting against each other.
Once Cade’s footsteps fade down the hall, I turn to Malachi.
“What happened?”
“A bomb or some kind of device went off in my father’s storage room downstairs,” he says, eyes still scanning. “He must’ve detonated it before disappearing.”
He tucks the vial into his pocket like it’s nothing.
“What the hell was he hiding in that room that someone would risk blowing it up to keep it secret?” I ask, shifting my weight, my nerves coiled too tight to ignore.
“I don’t know,” he says, “but I’m going to find out. I’ve got a team searching what’s left of it right now. First, I need to get you out of here.”
He slides his arm over my shoulders, tucking me protectively into his side. I let him. For now.
Together, we move through the compound and out a side door, where a line of black vehicles with tinted windows are parked. And for some reason, I can’t shake the uneasy feeling festering in my gut that I’m being freed from one prison and sent straight into another.
I try to dismiss it. It’s insane, right? I know Malachi. I know what the Syndicate is doing. They’re saving people. They’re saving Avids.
They’re saving me.
But if that were the whole truth, why does this sinking feeling in my gut keep feeling heavier by the second?
Malachi opens the passenger door of a black SUV, and I slide in. He jogs around to the driver’s side, barking something to one of his men at the front of the property, then jumps in and starts the engine.
“Where are we going?” I ask, glancing out the window, hoping this is the last time I ever lay eyes on this place.
“We’ve got a safe house not far from here. I’m taking you there for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll catch a flight off this damn island.”
He doesn’t look at me when he says it. The furrow in his brow, the tension in his jaw tell me he’s deep in thought, probably ten moves ahead.
I should stay quiet.
I should let him think.
But the cacophony of questions firing through my brain is too much to keep bottled up.
“Malachi.” I clear my throat. He glances at me, then focuses back on the road. “How do you know Cade? And why didn’t you tell me he was still alive if you knew the connection between us? Why was he working under the alias Brian and?—”
I stop myself. One question at a time. If I want real answers, I can’t let him pick and choose what to tell me.
I breathe in slowly and turn to the window. The sky is stained with soft hues of orange and pink, serene and beautiful, a jarring contrast to the storm unraveling inside me.
“I’ve been working with Cade for a few years now,” Malachi says. “Fuck, I didn’t know for sure you were the girl he’d been searching for until the night we rescued Aurora and the other Avid. Cade was there. He’s the one who took Aurora to our safe house nearby.”
The memory flashes through my mind. One of the team members had stared at me a little too long. I couldn’t see his face through all the gear, but I remember the way he tilted his head like he recognized me or I meant something. That was Cade. He was right there. And Malachi kept it from me.
I chew the inside of my cheek, fighting the urge to explode, to scream at him for every lie he let me believe.
“By the time I knew he was your Cade, it was too late. Call me an asshole, Kat, but I was already starting to feel something for you. And I had to keep Calloway busy. I needed to get to know you without him interfering. Without risking never getting the chance at all,” he says, gripping the steering wheel tighter.
“That’s no excuse. You’re a real fucking asshole, Malachi,” I say, all the rage and heartbreak I’ve swallowed surging. “I thought he was dead. He was my best friend. And all this time, he’s been looking for me. He joined your twisted underground team to rescue Avids, all because he hoped he’d find me. And you deliberately kept us apart. All so you could get your dick wet.” I say it before I can stop myself. It’s bitter and ugly and exactly what I’m feeling. I won’t take it back.
“It wasn’t like that. You know me, Katja,” he says. “My idea was?—”
