“Once they take me away, they’re going to search for you. It’s very important that they do not find you. Do you understand, Grace?”
She nods, biting her lip.
I reach in, cupping her face. “I don’t want them to use you. More than that, I don’t trust them.” I look deep into her eyes, hoping she sees how serious I am. “I’ve seen too many things, Grace, and I can tell you, the Moriton Police are not good people. They will torture you to get any information you may have gained about me, no matter if I give it all up willingly. I won’t let them hurt you. I won’t letanyonehurt you.”
My expression grim, I reach into my pocket, pulling out two phones and shoving them into Grace’s hand. “When they’re gone, call Saffron to come pick you up. And then, when you’re alone, contact Viktor. He’s the only person I trust. He’ll keep you safe.”
“What about you?” she asks, her voice tinged with desperation. “How are you going to get away?”
“I’m not,” I say. “I’m going to give myself up.”
“What? No!” She shakes her head furiously. “You can’t!”
More banging sounds from outside the bedroom door, and I know we’re out of time.
“I love you, Grace.” I lean down to place a lingering kiss on her forehead. “I’m sorry.”
The look on her face when I close the hatch breaks my fucking heart.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
GRACE
Seven is gone.They took him.
I replay the moment in my mind, bile rising in my throat as I remember sitting in that hole, unable to do anything but wait and listen as the police busted down the door and took him away. They searched the apartment briefly after Seven was gone, but thankfully, no one discovered my hiding spot.
Once I was positive they were gone, I waited another hour, then called Saffron just like Seven told me to. She was beside herself—with joy, disbelief, and a little bit of anger—but as soon as I uttered the words “I need you,” she dropped everything to come get me.
Now, I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Saffron’s car with a sleeping raccoon in my lap, staring out the window, unblinking and silent. My chest is aching, my eyes are burning, yet I can’t bring myself to cry, to feel much of anything.
I know Saffron wants to talk, to figure out where I’ve been and try to help, but I’m too wracked with guilt to evenlookat her right now. She’s probably been sick with worry for the past few weeks, worried I was dead on the side of the road or buried in the Moriton forests. Meanwhile, I was busy getting dickeddown by a masked killer and living my best life, uncaring of the consequences.
I hurt my best friend, and Seven is gone. Everything is fucked, and I have no idea how to make it better.
“I’m sorry, Saf,” I whisper, still staring out the window.
“For what?”
“For worrying you. For not trying harder to contact you. For being a horrible best friend…”
I turn to face her, noting how her grip has tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t worried sick. I thought the worst, and no one would help me try to find you. No one except Robert—Dr. Herrera.” She shakes her head. “I wish you wouldn’t have left me in the dark after you called that one night. It… didn’t help.” She lets out a long sigh, turning to me with a small, tired smile. “But you’re not a horrible best friend, Grace. You’re the best one I could ever ask for. At the end of the day, I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Saffron reaches out, her palm facing upward. I place mine in hers, and her fingers curl tightly around my hand. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, though, promise?”
“I promise,” I say.
“Good. Then all is forgiven.” She turns to me for a quick second, her lips tipped in a wry smile. “Did you have fun?”
I cough, choking on whatever I had planned to say. “What?”
“Did you have fun? Youwerewith Archer, right?”
I gape. “How did you know that?”
She shrugs. “You went on a work trip with your boss, and then you and him went ‘missing’. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out.”
My mouth opens and closes, but no words come out.
