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After a moment, Simone speaks. “I’m a terrible mother. I should’ve d-d-died instead of your dad, Lena. It sh-sh-should’ve been me.”
“You’re making her say this!” Lena yells.
“Ooh, hello, lady.”
“Don’t say a goddamn word to her,” I snap, battering the table. “Not a fucking word!”
Lena cringes away from me. Even Demon steps back. I’m breathing so hard. Spit flies everywhere, rage consuming me. I’d kill him if he were here. “You sound oddly protective, kid. I didn’t take you for a romantic. Maybe I’ll treat her to the Jack special, eh? One hour. Ticktock.”
“You mother—”
He hangs up the phone. I grab something and throw it. Then I break something else. When I regain my senses, I’ve got my fist buried in the wall like a jackass, wasting time. My head is a red haze. When I turn, Lena is crouched in front of Demon, her hands spread protectively across him.
My mother bear and her instincts. I raise my hands, bloody, covered in small splinters. “I’m sorry, Lena.”
She stands, rushes to me, and touches my hands. “We have to go. Right now. We can’t let him—”
“You and Demon are staying in the bunker.”
She shakes her head and pulls away from me. “We have to gonow.”
“No. No fucking way. I’m not risking you.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Lena
I hammer my fists against his back as he carries me across the clearing. He’s thrown me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing, his back impossibly hard against my fists. I try to squirm away from him. He sinks his hands deeper into my hips, but not in the way I like.
“Jamie!” I yell. “I can’t let you leave me here.”
“I’m not risking you,” he says flatly, the same thing he’s said repeatedly in that calm, matter-of-fact tone. He’s doing it again, taking me, holding me against my will.
“That’s not your choice to make.”
Suddenly, he puts me down but keeps his hands on my hips. He’s breathing so hard. He wrecked half the kitchen and completely caved in one of the pillars. He looks ready for more violence. He pulls me close and kisses me like it might be the last time. I gasp, holding on, sinking into it for one heartbeat too long.
“You can’t—”
“You’re staying here. That’s not a question. The only question is, how much time are you going to make me waste?” He leans down and kisses me again. “You’re going to be the mother to my children, Lena. You and I… We’re going to be a family. We’re going to have it all. Together. We’re going to do right by our children. That’s why you have to stay.That’swhy.”
I’m crying. He’s speaking earnestly, but this can’t be the moment it could have been. I wish he’d said this before Mom was missing. Now, I can’t leave her out there. Jack killed two women before. Even old men can be evil. “What if I say I don’t feel the same? What if I don’t want kids with you? Will you let me comethen?”
He looks wounded, but then this cold look comes over him. He’s in business mode. Soldier mode. Killer mode. “No,” he grunts, then picks me up again, marching across the clearing. “I’ll set the bunker to unlock automatically in twenty-four hours. If I’m not back by then, go into the house. Open the false bottom in the jewelry box in the master bedroom.”
“Wait, Jamie—”
“Listen,”he roars, his whole body trembling. “Where is the false bottom?”
“In the jewelry box.”
“Where?”
“The master bedroom.”
“There’s a phone in there. It has a friend’s number. Russel. Explain what happened to me. I would if I had time, but I have to go.”
“Please, just let me come…”
