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Tyson steps in front of me again, a thin shirt clinging to his muscles. “If you want to leave, we’ll leave.”
I nod and bite my lip, thinking about where to go. My dad will expect us to hide somewhere dirty and dingy. That’s how he trained us from the time we were young. When you have to go into hiding, you change everything about yourself and you stay in low-end motels.
“I have a stash of money back at the compound. When my father raided my room, he didn’t find that hiding spot.”
“Then why didn’t you bring it with us in the first place?” he asks, sounding like it should have been obvious.
“It’s not an easy spot to get to. With how angry my father was, I couldn’t count on having enough time to get into the spot before someone came in.”
Tyson sighs and crosses his arms. “I don’t think that going back there is a good idea. You don’t know what’s going to be waiting for you.”
“Do you have a better idea? If you do, please let me know. But as it stands right now, we have no money and no way to get money. You can’t go to the FBI and there are only so many favors we can call in before someone starts talking to Dad.”
He grunted. “I still don’t like it.”
“And I already told you that you’re going to have to start trusting me. We need that money. It’s more than enough to stay in a nice hotel.”
“Why the hell would we stay in a nice hotel?”
“My father taught us to disappear underground. He won’t think that I would be stupid enough to stay in a nice hotel. He’s an arrogant man. Dad refuses to believe that any of his children would do anything other than what he says.”
Tyson smiles slightly. “He doesn’t know any of you very well, then.”
I shrug and head out of the bedroom. “Get ready to go. We’re heading back to the estate.”
* * *
I tiptoe through my bedroom,trying not to let the tears roll down my cheeks as I see my mom sleeping in my bed. She clutches my pillow to her face and I can see the bags beneath her eyes.
My hand drifts to my stomach as I pause at the foot of the bed. I want to wake her up and tell her that I’m alright, but I don’t. She might tell my father that I was here.
Instead, I creep past her into my closet. I close the door before heading to the rack with my ballgowns. Once the gowns are pushed to the side, I step onto the shelf and run my hands along the wood at the back.
“There it is,” I whisper as my fingers find the small crack between the side of the shelf and the back panel.
At first, the crack looks like a gap in the closet units that doesn’t fit together quite right. However, it is just big enough for me to slip my fingernail inside and press the small trigger.
The panel opens with a click, revealing a small room hidden inside the wall. There is a backpack on the ground, filled with thousands of dollars and dozens of different fake identities and credit cards to match each one.
I sigh as I grab the backpack and pull it on. Tyson isn’t going to like this. Everything about the money and the fake identities is highly illegal.
For a moment, I wonder if it’s worth it to grab the bag. If his boss is already interested in putting me in jail, showing Tyson the backpack isn’t going to help my case.
You’re going to have to trust him,I think, the small sense of irony not missed on me.
I exit the little room with the backpack slung over my shoulder. The panel slides back into place as I step back. I move the dresses to their original position before heading back out into my room.
“You’re here,” Mom says softly, sitting up in the bed. She drops the pillow and my favorite sweater is revealed.
A lump rises in my throat as I look at her with wide eyes. My first instinct is to sprint out of the room and escape the estate. I snuck in using old tunnels that ran beneath the property. Dad would always tell us that the tunnels weren’t safe. He liked to say that they were filled in.
One summer, Matteo and I had gotten curious. We went exploring through the house, searching for the old tunnels.
It is one of the few things my father didn’t find out about.
“How did you get in here?” Mom asks as her gaze roams over my body. “Are you okay? There’s blood on your shirt.”
First stop after we leave here is to buy more clothing.
