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Sam raises an eyebrow at the mention of my full name. It’s such a horrible name. I hate it and never go by it. I don’t even know who gave it to me.
Sam knows I would punch the first person to call me by my full name. Somehow, it’s become a habit I can deal with when it comes to Viktor.
“Will you let me?” Sam asks Viktor, showing his cuffs to point out he can’t really bring me home without Viktor allowing it.
“I thought we could give her the choice. Right, Rosalind?”
“Right,” I huff, not sure what else to add.
Sam’s eyes light up, not quite believing he heard my voice again. “Rose,” he calls me. I only realize then that I keep avoiding his gaze. “Rose, come home with me. Everyone is missing you so much, you have no idea. Jake is dying without you.”
There’s a long deafening silence, both men waiting for me to speak. I should ask about my twin, my other brother, my friends. Yet there’s only one thing at the forefront of my mind, one thing freezing my thoughts with fear.
“Is Bianco going to get released from prison?”
I can see the shock in his eyes. He didn’t expect me to know.
“I don’t know,” he admits.
“But you testified in his favor? You’re helping him get out?”
He glares at Viktor and fights against his bonds slightly. “You fucking bastard,” he tells him.
“I didn’t lie to her.”
“Sam,” I insist. “Did you, or did you not, testify for Bianco to be released?”
His Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he struggles to swallow. “I did,” he murmurs.
I can’t quite describe the pain that pierces my heart, but I know it hurts like nothing ever has before. I know it burns through my flesh, tears up the muscle, and leaves me bleeding to death.
A true betrayal.
It doesn’t matter what I was to him. A friend, more…less…it feels all the same.
“You want me to come home…to a reality where Bianco is free? Where he could get to me at any time?”
“No, of course not!” he defends. “You don’t understand, Rose. It was the only way. How do you think I found you?”
“With his help,” I tell him with all the disgust I can muster.
“And I would do it all over again if it meant finding you!”
Fear grips me deeply. I imagine going back to Stoneview. Bianco finding me and forcing me into his car. I imagine the pain he would impose on me. The promises he always said he’d keep. The anger at having put him away.
I shake my head. “I can’t…”
“Rose—”
“I can’t do it. I can’t go back to him.”
“You’re not going back to him, you’re coming home to me.” The panic is palpable in his voice.
“You work for him! With him…I don’t even know anymore.”
“No! I used him to find you.”
“He usedyouto find me. And you played right into his hands.”
