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“You know I won’t tell you anything like that unless it’s solid. I see what it does to you when we come up empty-handed.”
Bella grew quiet and nodded, pushing back her chair. “I’m going to take a shower. I trust you won’t do something crazy like run off.” Without waiting for me to reply, she turned and walked away.
Addy stared after her with a slight frown on her face. “Do you have any siblings?”
“I had—have—an older brother.” I corrected the terminology. I wasn’t placing a death certificate on Amo’s head until I had proof he was gone.
He was even more resilient than me. If I could make it this far, I believed he could do the same.
“Really?” Addy sat taller in her chair, strumming her fingers on the tabletop. “What’s his name?”
“Amo.”
The strumming stopped. “Hm,” she hmphed through folded lips. “Is he still at A.R.C?”
“Maybe. I haven’t seen him in a long time. The girls are kept away from the boys.”
She nodded and stood but didn’t go anywhere. Her cloud-colored eyes seemed to soften as she regarded me.
“Have Cam or Luce mentioned a tape to you?”
“No…” I schooled my features, knowing precisely what she was talking about.
“Okay, well, if what I think is happening is really happening, the
n you and I will have plenty of time to talk and get to know each other. Right now, I need to go see what they’re doing.” She smiled and pushed in her chair. “If you’re what he’s been waiting for, he’ll be very good to you. I sincerely hope you do the same.”
She left then, leaving me to wonder how she could have seen any of those tapes I was on. Who else at this table would have seen them? And why did everyone seem to think Luce and I were going to have some stellar relationship? Was the pull between us that obvious?
My thoughts whirled at a speed that was hard to keep up with. I wanted to hit pause and just breathe for a minute. Life kept flipping me this way and that.
I took my bowl to the sink and rinsed it clean, staring out the window when I finished. Nightfall was getting closer, which meant my time to plan was getting shorter.
When me and the girls first decided to run away, it all seemed so simple, but the world was forever changing. I found it unrealistic to think that things were remotely the same as they had been when I was eleven years old. Being locked away didn’t stop time from moving on.
My chaos wouldn’t stop it from continuing to do so even now. The A.R.C was out there without the key to sealing their alliance. The Stags were out there, the man meant to marry me amongst them, his bride now holed up with the Savages.
After the message Luce just sent, I had no idea what was going to happen in response.
There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that something would.
But they weren’t the only ones I had to worry about. Various factions and people looking do exactly what I was doing were all out there somewhere, fighting to find their place in the Badlands’ hierarchy.
The choice I needed to make seemed rather obvious. I was raised to be a survivalist. The only rule in life was: there were no rules. You had to do whatever was necessary to make it.
Aligning myself with the Savages made logical sense. I wasn’t worried about the initial acceptance; I was bothered by what would come after.
What did being his mean?
What would become of me once I made a deal with the devil?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Luce didn’t speak to me until after everyone left.
I was sitting on the couch when he came back in from outside and sat down, but not beside me. He placed himself where he would be able to see my whole face.
He wasn’t in his bloodied shirt anymore. He wasn’t wearing a shirt at all—not the kind of distraction I needed right then.
