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A smile pulls at my lips as I creep toward her open door, holding my breath and feeling like a fucking elephant trying to make my way across the creaky floorboards. Her voice flows out the door, and I realize she must either have someone in there with her or she’s on the phone, and before I scare the shit out of her, I figure I better get a feel for what I’m about to walk in on.
Pressing my back up against the wall by her door, I listen in, feeling like the worst kind of creeper. But honestly, this shit is tame compared to what I’ve been dealing with. Besides, I’d really prefer not to rush into her room only to find her in the midst of shooting an orgy gang bang and being cream-pied by five guys.
“I don’t know,” she hisses, and judging by the lack of response, I can only assume she’s on the phone. There’s a pause, and the way she lets out a frustrated sigh has me wondering who the fuck could have her reacting like this. “You don’t think I’ve been trying? They’re keeping her away.”
Shit. Whatever this is, it doesn’t sound like a conversation she would want me overhearing. I go to leave, but her words come out fiercer now, and I couldn’t ignore them even if I tried.
“I can’t do that. They’ll know,” she says. Another pause. “Oh, sure. I’ll just send Zade a text, asking him where the fuck they’re stashing her, shall I? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
What the fuck? Zade?
My blood runs cold. Cara told me she barely knew the guy.
“No. No, no, no,” she rushes out, fear in her tone. “Please don’t hurt him. I’ll . . . I’ll try harder. I’ll find her, but she hasn’t been back here in days. I can’t give you a location if I don’t know where the hell she is. Please, just give me some time.”
My heart races, and suddenly pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place.
Cara is the one who’s been giving up my location. She’s the one responsible for the attacks. But why?
Tears well in my eyes, and I desperately try to hold them at bay. I consider running straight back out the door and telling Zade, but I can’t do that without at least confronting her first.
Anger, fear, and betrayal pulse violently through my veins, and I storm through the opening of her door, my hands clenched into tight fists at my side. I meet her stare, watching her eyes widen as she realizes what I know. “Shit,” she breathes through the phone. “She’s here.”
The phone falls from her fingers, and all I can do is stare at her. “It was you. All this time. It’s been you.”
“No. No, Oakley,” she rushes out, stepping toward me only for me to quickly back up. “It’s not what you think. Please, I had no choice.”
I shake my head, not trusting her for a second. Her betrayal somehow cuts so much deeper than the guys’. “I’ve been running for my life,” I mutter, the lump growing in my throat and making it hard to breathe. “Attack after attack. I’ve come home to men in my bedroom, snipers, assassins. I was fucking drugged and put in Empire’s prison, and it’s all because of you. You betrayed me. You keep betraying me.”
“Oakley, please. I’m sorry. I—”
“No,” I say, shaking my head as I back up more. “No, this isn’t okay. No excuse could ever make up for what you’ve done. You lied to me. You made me believe you knew nothing about Empire. You said you didn’t know the boys, and you let me foolishly believe you were my friend.”
“I am your friend,” she insists. “Please, just let me—”
I scoff in disbelief. “You think I’m going to believe you now? You’ve lied to me since the beginning. Do the boys even know who you are?”
Her brows furrow, confused by my questions. “Yes, of course they know who I am.”
Why am I not surprised? Empire set me up here; Nikolai told me himself in the cells. I should have put that together earlier, but I suppose I had hoped that Cara was just an innocent bystander in all of this. I stare at her, dumbfounded. “And do they know you’re the very reason for my location being compromised?” I question, certain if they thought for one second that she would betray their trust, she’d never have been placed here to watch over me.
“NO,” she panics, racing forward and gripping my shoulders. “No, please. You can’t tell them. If Zade ever found out. If Sawyer—fuck. No. Please, I swear, I’ll do anything. He’ll kill me. Zade will kill me.”
I laugh, unable to believe this woman as I shove her off me, watching as she stumbles back a few steps. “Oh, I get it. So it’s my life over yours.”
