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And even if he could somehow love me despite that, I am still a walking death sentence. The Hands of Peace will never stop hunting me. They will chase me to the ends of the earth, because if they let my betrayal go unpunished, it will open the door for more disobedience from the other members. Which means that anyone close to me will always be in danger as well.
If I were to stay with Rico, the Hands of Peace would just come at him even harder. It would be a death sentence for him.
In the face of all that, how could there ever be a future for us?
The answer is simple.
There can’t.
Because I can never have a normal life. And certainly not with the man I was sent to kill. The incredible man who sees right through my soul and who understands me in a way that no one else does. The one who understands what it’s like to feel lonely even when you’re surrounded by people. The man who took a ruthless lying killer and gave her a taste of what a real life is like. A small taste that I will cherish for as long as I live.
A sob threatens to escape my throat, so I snap my mouth shut and swallow hard.
I can’t believe I almost killed him. I can’t believe that I almost snuffed out the radiant light that is Rico Morelli.
Shooting to my feet, I squeeze my hand into a fist and make a decision.
I have to make sure that he lives.
No matter what, I have to make sure that Rico lives.
The moment I have made the decision, I feel a sense of peace. A sense of absolute clarity. This is how it’s supposed to be. This is how it’s supposed to end. Because I know now, without a doubt, that my love for him is greater than my need for survival.
I walk over to the black duffel bag on the floor. My go-bag. Another burst of pain stabs through my heart as I think about what it means that Rico just gave it back to me, guns and all, and trusted me enough not to use it against him.
Forcing all those emotions aside, I pull out my secure cellphone and turn it on. This one might be a heavily encrypted one with a blocked number that no one knows about, but I still know all oftheirnumbers. After punching in the correct one, I hit dial and bring it to my ear.
Five signals pass before the person on the other end picks up. However, he doesn’t say anything. As expected.
“It’s me,” I say.
Another few seconds of silence. Then Derek’s voice sounds on the other end. “Anna. Well, isn’t this a surprise.”
“I want to make a deal.”
More silence. Then, he replies, “It’s a bit too late for that. Your betrayal has created quite the mess for the Master. No matter what you do, no matter what you try to bargain with, you will suffer through the hundred days of torture and then be executed.”
“I know. That’s not what I meant.”
“Oh?”
“I want to make a deal for Enrico Morelli’s life.”
This time, I can almost hear the stunned surprise pulsing through the phone. Eventually, he answers, “What kind of deal?”
“My life for his.”
“What exactly are you suggesting, Anna? Spell it out.”
“I’m saying that I will give myself up to you and then take his punishment too. I will take his one hundred days of torture on top of mine. And after those two hundred days, I will beg the Master for forgiveness in front of everyone and make sure that they all know how wrong I was to disobey him. And then I will let you execute me without fighting back.” My voice hardens. “And in exchange, you will let Enrico Morelli live. You will take him off the hit list and you will let him go.”
Even more silence from the other end.
Closing my eyes, I blow out a soft breath before opening them again. My heart is pattering in my chest. I need to convince him to take this deal. There is no other alternative. But getting him to agree will require a flawless argument.
“And why would I agree to that?” Derek asks. “Why would I settle for just you when I can get him too?”
“Because you’re running out of time. You don’t have me, and you don’t have him. And every day you waste trying to find us is another day where more unrest spreads through the Hands of Peace. Where more people start to wonder if they really need to obey the Master’s every order without question. Wonder if they too might get away with doing what I did. It has been months already since I made a fool of you all and escaped. How long before a true rebellion starts?”
