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“What if Bridgett had been the one who was with him?” I ask. “If you brought Emmett here to kill him…would you have killed her too?”
He thinks for a moment. “I don’t trust any of them,” he admits. “But no, of course not. I could have never killed her for that alone. I promise you, Ophelia. Now will you please come here!? Before you fall!”
It’s getting harder and harder to hear over the roaring sound of gushing water all around us. I hear the distant crashing of trees as the flowing waters eat away at the soil around their roots. More and more debris shoots past as the flood overtakes everything, and the rain shows no signs of stopping. If anything, it only falls harder with each passing second.
My clothes are heavy and completely drenched, sticking to my shivering body. My eyes are gritty and swollen from stress and lack of sleep. Every one of my muscles aches. Chills and shivers ripple through me, up from the puddles of water in my shoes as I’m sucked down further into the mud. I wipe my eyes again, feeling the pruned grooves of my soggy fingertips.
Another big cracking sound startles me from the side. I cut my eyes just in time to catch sight of a shed on the other end of the junkyard being yanked off into a stream of floodwaters. Steady rain continues pounding against everything around us, pinging off of the old cars that are still clinging to solid ground.
“I don’t know what to do,” I mutter under my breath. I’m desperate but stuck in the crossfires of Theo and Emmett.
I start to wonder if it even matters who I believe. Why should I die out here with them? Maybe Emmett really can’t be anything more than an Elite who was doomed to be a monster from birth. And maybe Theo really is every bit as greedy and manipulative as I have wanted to believe from the start. What does any of that have to do with me? I didn’t ask for any of this.
“Please, Ophelia!” Theo begs again.
Emmett grabs my hand suddenly, squeezing it tight. I look into his gray, piercing eyes. Water streams down his flattened hair that spiders along the edges of his face.
“Don’t go,” he pleads quietly, so that only I can hear. “Stay with me. Trust me.”
It’s all he has ever asked of me all along. To stay with him. To trust him. Even when none of his words or actions made him deserving of those things.
“I have stayed,” I cry softly. “I have trusted you. And look at where it got me?”
“We’re almost out of here, Ophelia. If we make it through this night alive, we can get the hell out of Jameson and never come back.”
“What were you going to do if you got away with me in your car that day?” I ask again. I stare into him longingly, desperate for an answer. Desperate for the truth. “Tell me the truth. What were you going to do?”
A sad smile flashes across his lips. “Drive away,” he answers, his voice cracking. “Drive away and never look back. Take you somewhere far away from here. Tell you everything and get us out of Jameson, so I could give you everything you deserve. It’s all I wanted to do then, and it’s all I want to do now.”
“But my family,” I whisper. “You would’ve taken me away from Mom and Brendan?”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he shrugs. “I didn’t see any other choice. I knew what was about to happen and I wanted to save you. I couldn’t let them make me keep hurting you.”
My heart shatters as deeply as the dissolving ground around us. I wonder what would have happened if I would have gone with him that day. If I hadn’t grabbed the steering wheel and sent us crashing into the pole. Could we really have driven off into the sunset and found some kind of happy ending? The kidnapping. Being held hostage in Jameson manor. Meeting Thomas. Every single bad thing that happened from there…I’ve blamed Emmett for it this entire time. Maybe he did just want to save me all along.
I lose myself in Emmett’s eyes as Theo continues yelling, pleading for me to come to him. I barely hear him anymore as we stand there in the dark, looking at each other hopelessly.
Suddenly, his hand drops mine. His face stiffens with a strange, new resolve. “Go,” he says. “Go to him.”
“What!?” I cry. “Emmett! I don’t know what to do! I don’t know who to believe!” I look back at Theo, then back to Emmett, hoping at any moment some answer or sign will come to me.
“Go to him,” he insists again. “None of this is your fault. You have a chance at a big beautiful life outside of Jameson. I wanted to have that with you, but it may be too late. I’m not going to let you die out here with me. You don’t deserve that.”
“Don’t make me do this,” I sob, wishing there was more time. If the water wasn’t rushing around us so violently, we could stand out here and argue all night. They could debate and tell their stories, and maybe somewhere along the way I would find some shred of truth that I could believe in beyond a doubt.
“I love you,” Emmett whispers.
I feel something shoving into my back. I’m flung forward, plopping down into the mud. Not knowing what else to do, I slip and slide my way back up and run for Theo’s arms. He reaches for me, crying as I rush to cling to him for safety.
But just as I am about to fall into him, he goes toppling over. Emmett pummels into him, tackling him to the ground.
29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Just as I have wrapped my head around the idea of abandoning Emmett to die, still feeling no closer to knowing who is telling the truth, I watch Emmett plow into Theo. They crash into the flooding ground, splashing around in the mud and water.
After they hit the ground, with Emmett on top pinning Theo down, Emmett rears back. I watch in shock as his arm hangs in midair for a moment before thrashing into Theo’s face. He immediately pulls back to get in another punch, but he’s thrown off. They roll around for what seems like an eternity, throwing relentless punches and kicks.
