Page 106 of Volatile Waters

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Who is to fall?

If you knew the road you were traveling to reach eternal peace would have many pit stops, in gut-wrenching hellholes, would you still proceed? Would you face all the terror for the final ending? Isn’t that what life is? A glorious promise at the end of an, at times, torturous life?

My future promised dark times, but I kept walking forward, no matter how many times I stumbled and fell back. And, I held two sets of hands while I did it. Yes, I yanked and dragged Wolf and Fire along my treacherous path.

Bang! Bang! “Yury,we have a situation.”

“I’m coming.” I got out of Wolf’s bed and quickly got dressed. I leaned down to his bed and kissed him. “I’ll be back, if I can.” I placed the gun back under his mattress, then headed for the door.

“Wait.” I turned just in time to see him before he slammed his body to mine.

Balance. We brought each other balance.

I could feel our roles had switched, and he was now the one who needed me to be strong for him as we fell into a deep kiss. That is why I wrapped my arms around him, to offer any shelter I could in our horrid situation.

Breathless, he pulled his mouth from mine. “I need you to know I love—”

I kissed him again because I didn’t need words, not when our connection was so powerful.

Outside his room, I was confronted with a handler who seemed very nervous—unable to hold still. I asked, “What is it?”

Gesturing for me to follow him, he ran. “Whit.”

Panicked, I ran, following him. “What? What happened to her?”

He raced up the stairs. “I’m so sorry! She jumped!”

Grabbing my chest, I fell sideways into the wall. “No.”

“Yes! Right over the railing! Blood! Everywhere!”

It felt as if my feet had suddenly turned to stone as I rushed to lift them up each step. My hands gripped the railing and half-dragged me up the rest of the stairs. I didn’t want to see her beautiful little body mangled from the fall, now on the ground, her skull wide open. “This cannot be.”

The handler tapped his remote and opened the door. “Dressed for her delivery, I was walking her toward the stairs this morning. She ran from me and leaped over the railing.”

Wait. Dressed for delivery?

With new hope, I rushed past him.

It is shameful, I know, but when I saw Fake Whit’s hair was almost as red as the blood spilling on the white marble, I sighed in relief. There was a dead body by the entrance in my home, yet I bent, resting my palms on my knees, and took deep breaths.

Another life over… because of me, and I was thankful.

I peered up at my bedroom door. Stay strong, Whitney. Only a few more days.

After that handler’s poor ‘handling’ techniques, he knew he technically owed me a slave. I told him that if he took supreme care of Wolf and Fire while I was gone, his debt would be considered paid in full. I instructed him to provide food beyond the normal slave menu for each of them. Fire could bathe herself in my bathroom, but he needed to escort Wolf to the shower room when needed. I didn’t mention that my male slave had a gun and the heart of the handler’s boss.

Using different connections, to purposely leave trails in all different directions if someone wished to hunt me down, I used several contacts to obtain fake identities. To be sure I had money in different countries, so I could travel light when running from enraged family members, I traveled to each of them, set up living arrangements, and hid cash. One identity was in the name of Jorien. It was the one I planned on using most.

When my phone rang in France, I knew I had to answer it. “Where are you?” asked my uncle.

“I have a few errands to run.”

“I see.” After a slight pause, he asked,“My son?”

“On a vacation.”