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I let us sit in the warmth of our conversation. Committing that moment to memory. The smell of the sea. The feeling of her skin against mine. The look of her hair splayed out messily around her face.
Because of her, I would finally see the end of this.
* * *
“Three men, just outside the dining hall.” Quinn’s voice came in a low whisper from the communicator set up between us. “You’re clear.”
I took a deep breath as I turned the corner of the dimly lit house the Crowe’s called their home base. It was large enough to keep the entirety of his main men as well as their wives and a few small children.
Many of the men were meeting for dinner, the women were banished until they needed them for their entertainment later.
This plan had taken months to figure out and weeks in just waiting for the right time. A time when all the men were preoccupied while the women were all in one place, the kids away from the house.
“Jonson has the children,” Quinn said. “We are all set to proceed.”
A weight lifted from my shoulders.
Three children, one barely a year old. They would no doubt become the casualties if we were not careful.
I knew the place like the back of my hand. After years of violently weaving through the same place, it was easy to find the “preparation room” they gave to the wives.
I listened to their murmured voices from the outside, my heartbeat thrumming in my ear.
“Going in,” I whispered to Quinn.
When I heard one I recognized, I quickly pushed into the room.
Small gaps met my ears when I slipped in.
I turned to the group, pulling my face mask down so they could identify me, but paused when I realized that I only recognizedtwoof the women I had been with all those years ago.
Amy and Lauren. Both were standing huddled together as if I had just interrupted their plan. The other four were sitting on the couches at the back of the room, staring at me with wide eyes.
“It’s Tiffany,” I whispered. Amy was the first to break out of her stupor and step forward.
“No,” she breathed. “I thought he killed you!”
Lauren pushed past her, running at me with her arms wide. When our bodies collided, guilt exploded in me.
These girls had to suffer through the consequences of me leaving. Not only that but even after all the years I was gone, theystillremembered me.
They remembered while I had the privilege to forget.
“You have to get out of here,” Amy said, pulling Lauren from me. “You were lucky to get away last time. This time you won—”
“You’re coming with me,” I said quickly and looked back to the women huddled at the back of the room. “Allof you. I have friends helping. Securing the children. All that’s needed is for you to follow me.”
Fear, plain as day, flashed across Lauren’s face.
“No,” she whispered, horror feeling her tone. “You don’t know what they would do to us if they found out. To my baby.”
My heart ached for her. I had been there. I had been paralyzed by my own fear and unable to move on until it was literally life or death.
“I have everything ready for you,” I said. “I will protectallof them. You don’t need to fear them.”
“Hurry it up,” Quinn ordered through the communicator.
I looked around the room, spotting the back window that was opened slightly.
