"Or if they send you back."
I didn't answer. I didn't have to.
Chloe covered her mouth for a second. When she dropped her hand, she looked furious and scared, which was one of her default settings when James came up.
"Okay," she said. "Then you have to do whatever it takes to stay there."
I hated those words immediately.
She didn't notice. Or the delay didn't let her notice.
"These people are not normal bad guys," she continued. "They're rich bad guys. That's worse. They have lawyers and timeand too much money, and James is petty enough to spend all of it just to drag you back and prove he can. Maybe you should jump on a shuttle to somewhere even further away. Abandon this whole matchmaking thing and just run.”
My spine went stiff.
"Chloe."
"I'm serious. I know he's nice. I'm glad he's nice. Really, I’m thrilled the giant farmer is apparently a consent king or whatever. Truly. I love that for you. But it's been a week."
"It’s been a very complicated week. You don’t–"
"It's always complicated. That's how they get you."
I flinched.
She saw it and her face crumpled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean?—"
"It's okay."
"No, it's not. I just mean..." She dragged both hands over her face. "Keep a door open. That's all I'm saying. Keep something back. If this goes bad, if the auditor rules against you, if your guy changes his mind, if any of this falls apart, I need you to have somewhere to land. Don't go all in because the first man who treated you gently happens to be huge and hot and owns an orchard."
I almost laughed.
I didn't.
Because the words had landed wrong.
Not because Chloe meant them wrong. She loved me. She'd put me on that ship and had lied for me, packed for me. She’d hugged me so hard in that parking garage I thought my ribs would crack.
But ‘keep a door open’ felt too familiar.
Keep something back.
Don't need too much.
Don't trust too much.
Be ready to leave.
I'd lived like that for four years. One foot out the door, one eye on the exits, one hand wrapped around whatever tiny piece of myself James hadn't managed to claim yet. I'd thought that was being smart.
Maybe it had been for a while. Maybe it had kept me alive.
But it hadn't made me free.
"Maisie?" Chloe asked.
I looked at her flickering face. "I love you."
