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“I’m leaving the country.”
“No, you’re not.”
“This isn’t a discussion, Rico. It’s a courtesy call because of your hospitality this past week. I am leaving.”
“What—”
“And I have left all of the passports that you saw in the duffel bag, so don’t bother tracking them because I’m using a new one. In fact, you won’t be able to track me at all. After this, you will never see or hear from me again.”
“Stop. Just fucking stop! What the hell is going on, Isabella?”
Cracks spread through my heart at the hurt and confusion in his voice. But I need him to let me go and just move on with his life, so that he can live for the both of us. It’s the only way that I will be able to get through the next two hundred days and my impending execution. As long as I know that he is out there, living a real life at last, I will be able to bear it all.
So I make my voice hard,cruel, as I echo, “What’s going on? You ruined my fucking life, that’s what’s going on. Because I spared your life, I forfeited my own. I will never know one single day of peace for as long as I live. Not one moment. And it’s all your fault.”
“I—”
“Don’t ever try to find me again.”
“Isabella, I…”
Gripping the steering wheel hard, I try to block out the pain in his voice. The agony. The desperation.
My throat is closing up, but I spit my next sentence at him with as much venom as I can muster.
“I wish I had killed you and your grandfather along with your stupid parents and your entire fucking family that night.”
On the other end of the line, Rico sucks in a sharp breath. But I don’t wait for him to reply. I just hang up and then toss the phone out the window.
Something breaks inside my heart. Violently. It sends spears of pain shooting out through my entire body.
Clenching my jaw, I try to physically stop a broken sob from bursting out of me. But I can’t stop the tears that stream down my cheeks.
It’s better that he hates me, because that way, he won’t find out what I really did.
I give myself time to cry until I’m three streets away from the parking lot. Then I swallow and wipe my wet cheeks as I park my car along the road. After dragging in a deep breath to steady myself, I get out of the car and walk the final distance to the parking lot.
When I reach the far end, Derek and Sebastian appear on the other side. The main building of the large textile factory that is no longer in use looms on my left, while the other three sides are boxed in by abandoned annexes that belonged to the factory. All of them are built by red brick, but the façade is now stained with dirt and grime after years of disuse.
I raise my hands, palms out, as I slowly start towards my two former colleagues. Only four cars are parked on this flat stretch of asphalt, and they’re all at the edges of it, so there is nothing blocking Derek and Sebastian’s view of me as I approach them. They keep a gun in their hands anyway.
I walk until I’m only a few steps away from them, and then I come to a halt with my hands still raised.
“You came,” Sebastian says, his gray eyes flicking up and down my body as if searching for weapons.
“You sound surprised,” I reply.
“Why did you make this deal?” Derek cuts in. His brown eyes study my face intently. “Why give yourself up? For him.”
“That’s none of your business,” I reply. “The Master has accepted the deal, so the reason is irrelevant.”
Both of them study my face in silence for a few seconds.
Then Sebastian’s eyes widen. “Don’t tell me you fell for—”
Gunshots tear through the air.
I jerk back, throwing myself sideways. But the shots didn’t come from my former colleagues.
