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Buck rushes toward me, helps me to a bathroom that I didn’t even know was there.
Then I’m in front of a toilet, still dry heaving.
“It’s okay,” Buck says softly. “Let it out. Let it all out.”
But nothing comes out.
Empty. I’m empty.
And I fear I’ll never be filled again.
41
LUKE
Go to the Beverly Hills Hotel. A car will come for you.
Thank God. At least now there’s something I can do. I race out of the house, ready to go when—
“Lucy?”
Shit. My mother.
“Yeah, Mom?”
“Your sister is coming for dinner. Your brother also.”
“All right, Mom.”
“They’re both looking forward to seeing you.”
“I already saw Bas.”
“Yes, he mentioned that.”
“Mom, I’ve got to go.”
“Dinner’s at seven o’clock sharp,” she says. “Don’t be late.”
“Right.” Then I walk toward her, give her a kiss on her cheek. “I love you, Mom.”
She lifts her eyebrows. “I love you too, Lucy.”
She’s surprised. I can’t remember the last time I told anyone in my family I love them. But I do, especially my mother.
She’s the one who always believed in me.
As I look at her beautiful face, her blue eyes so much like my own, I realize this is the last time I’ll see her.
Ever.
“See you at dinner,” she says with a smile. “And Lucy?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s so good to have you home. It’s just so…good.”
I nod.
Losing me will kill my mother, as my father says.
I wish things were different. I wish I could go back ten years and make different decisions.
But I can’t, and it has all led me to this.
“Mom, I want you to do something for me.”
“Of course, Lucy. Anything.”
“There’s a woman. Her name is Katelyn Brooks. Her parents live here in LA somewhere. Her father’s in the hospital, something with his liver. He’s waiting for biopsy. She and her mother are at the Beverly Hills Hotel.”
“Okay. What about her?”
“She deserves the best. Could you do something for me?”
“I can try.”
“Take care of her. Find her and take care of her. Make sure she has the best of everything.”
“Lucy, I—”
“Love you, Mom.” I kiss her cheek again. “See you at dinner.”
The words are acidic on my tongue. They’re a lie, but I need to give my mother this. I need to give her an afternoon free from worry.
The worry will come soon enough.
An hour later, after grueling traffic, I’m waiting outside the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Car after car, limo after limo, and none are for me. Until—
A silver Mustang drives up. A man dressed in black gets out of the car and meets my gaze.
“Luke Johnson?”
“Yes.”
“Get in the car.”
I was instructed to lie down in the back seat. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t drug me and blindfold me, but I guess they know how important Katelyn is to me.
Obviously they do, or they wouldn’t have taken her.
We drive for a while, over an hour. I have no idea where we’re going. I don’t dare try to look. Any disobedience and they may harm Katelyn.
I want to ask questions as well, but I don’t.
Whoever this guy is, he has his instructions, and one of them is undoubtedly not to answer any questions from me.
I know how these things go.
Hell, I used to be in the driver’s seat. This was my job when I was new in the organization. I was the person who showed up as a driver, who took people where they were supposed to end up.
And a lot of them never saw the light of day again.
No, I never pulled the triggers—not once—but I contributed to many deaths.
Most of them were more people like me—people who fled the organization or at least tried to.
How did I ever think I could deserve Katelyn? How did I ever think I might possibly be worthy?
I’ll take death by a thousand paper cuts—I’ll take death in the most heinous, horrid, torturous way possible—to save her life.
To make sure she has the life she deserves.
Finally, the car pulls into a driveway and stops.
“Get up,” the driver says.
I rise into a sitting position.
I don’t recognize the place, which of course I don’t expect to.
“What now?” I ask.
“That’s not for me to say.”
When he opens the door, I get out. I stand on my own two feet. Determination courses through me. My old friend rage appears, and I attempt to keep him in check.
Whatever King makes me do, I’ll do it.
Anything for Katelyn.
A house. An old country farmhouse. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet I can see the LA skyline through the smog on the horizon.
We’re not overly far from the city.
This is a safehouse. Already I know this. Already I know King is here.
I feel him. Insects crawling up the back of my neck. That’s King.
And Katelyn.
Meandering alongside the insects is warmth, love.
Katelyn is in this house.
And so far she hasn’t been harmed.
It’s my job to make sure it stays that way.
“Follow me.”
I obey the driver. It’s not like I have any other choice. We go inside the house, and of course it’s empty. Or so it appears to be.
