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She promised her dad she would call soon and told him to call anytime — Roman had said her location wasn’t a secret — then dialed Brooke.
“Hello?”
She fought tears at the sound of her sister’s voice but her voice cracked anyway. “It’s me.”
“Ruby?” Brooke gasped. “Ruby?!”
“Yeah,” Ruby said, choking on a sob. “It’s me. I’m… I’m okay.”
“My god! We’ve been worried sick. Where are you?” Brooke asked.
“I’m…” She looked out at the city across the water, imagined her sister pinning fabric at the expansive studio of David Yang, the designer she worked for in the Fashion District. “It’s a long story, but I’m in Brooklyn.”
“Give me an address,” Brooke said. “I’ll come get you.”
Ruby drew in a breath and tried to compose herself. “No. You… you can’t.”
“For fuck’s sake, Ruby!” Brooke was losing it and Ruby couldn’t blame her. “What the actual fuck is going on?”
Ruby told her everything: leaving Roasted, being shoved into the van on the street, her long captivity in the grain terminal, her rescue by Roman before she’d been brought back to the loft.
She even told her sister about Roman’s war with his father, about the danger to Brooke and their dad if Ruby came home, but Brooke didn’t care.
“I fucking dare them to come after you, after any of us,” she said. “Come home, Ruby. We’ll deal with it.”
Ruby shook her head. “These are bad men, Brooke. Like… really really bad men. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you or Dad because of me. And I’m safe here. I’m okay.”
She didn’t know if that was true.
Safe? Maybe.
Okay? Not even close. Not until she got Olivia back. Got back their life together.
“Can I come to you?” Brooke asked. “Just to see you?”
Ruby thought about it. Roman hadn’t explicitly said no one could visit her at the loft, but with his warnings ringing in her ears, she wasn’t ready to risk it.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Let me ask him.”
“Let youaskhim?” Brooke’s voice was incredulous. “He’s the reason you’re in this mess, Ruby.”
Ruby sighed. “I know that. But… he’s also the reason I’m alive, the reason I have a place to hide.”
“Ruby… this is crazy. He doesn’t get credit for getting you out of a messhe got you into.”
She knew where her sister was coming from, knew Ruby sounded like some kind of abused domestic partner — she’d had enough experience with making excuses for a bad man to know that — but it wasn’t that simple.
“I know how it sounds,” she said, “but it’s complicated, okay? Like, really fucking complicated. I think I need to be here alone right now, figure out what’s next.” It was time to change the subject. “Tell me about Olivia.”
Brooke exhaled into the phone. “She’s been with Adam. He won’t let us see her.”
“Dad told me,” Ruby said. “Is she… Do you think she’s okay?”
“I know she’s physically okay, because I’ve seen her.”
“I thought Adam wouldn’t let you see her?”
“Adam doesn’tletme do anything,” Brooke said. “I went to the school and waited to see her through the fence during recess.”
