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“How are your implant sites feeling? Any discomfort?” I ask, sitting down next to her. “There are painkillers in the top drawer.”
“No, they’re still numb, thanks. I am tired though.”
I chuckle.
“It’s been a long day. You should get some rest.”
“Not yet,” she says, smiling. “I want to be with you. I want to talk. Can you tell me how you got off the island that night? I mean, if it isn’t… painful. Or something.”
“It is a bit, but I don’t mind.”
I give her the full story, from the moment I went into the water. I tell her how Jamison Hardt and Colette helped patch me up, about hiding in Madeleine’s body bag and about being tossed out to sea.
“If Hardt hadn’t given Eyal the signal so they could come and find me, I would have drowned — or died of hypothermia.”
“It sounds like a harrowing experience,” she says. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
I sigh.
“In truth, it’s what I deserved. For what happened to you, and to Madeleine.”
“No,” says Kate. She leans in and looks into my eyes. “Madeleine wouldn’t have wanted you to go through that. She cared for you. That’s why Anton killed her. He told me so.”
Fucking hell.
“Don’t believe for a second you deserved any of that,” Kate finishes.
“Thank you, but it was nothing compared to the last nine months for you. To abide by Anton’s cruel whims and turn your life into such a horror show… Kate, you’re stronger than anyone in the world knows. You’re a force to be reckoned with.”
She lies down, sighing as she spreads her limbs out on the bed.
“I didn’t feel strong. I was just doing what I had to, for survival.”
“So was I, escaping the island,” I say, climbing on top of her. “Strength is doing what you must, when you must — no matter if it’s scary or difficult. And that’s exactly what you did, for the better part of a year.”
“I felt so weak, though.” She blinks away a tear, shutting her eyes. “I felt utterly powerless.”
“Strength and power aren’t the same thing. When Anton sends a few dozen mercenaries after us, he’s using his power — financial power, in this case. When you sat down and lied about being an alcoholic before the entire country, you had no power — but you faced a challenge and succeeded. That’s strength. And now you’ve been doing it nearly every day for months. You’re truly extraordinary, Kate. Undercover cops have earned medals doing less than you. And someday soon, people are going to know the truth.”
She scoffs.
“They won’t believe it. I’ve told so many lies, how could they tell what’s real?”
I kiss her and hold her hand.
“Because Anton’s going to confess to everything before we kill him.”
