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“That’s honestly none of your fucking business,” Samara admonished, slapping Phantom’s hand away as he scowled at her. “But as I was saying, you need to send me in your place. If you,anyof you,go, Damien will declare immediate war on the Ravagers and slaughter you on the spot.”
“That’s fucking—”
“Wait, Isaac.” Father raised a hand to me as he slightly cocked his head to the side, studying Samara with his brows raised high. “I want to hear what she has to say.”
He was out of his goddamn mind, but still, out of respect, I bared my teeth behind my lips, as did my brothers.
“Please continue, Samara.”
“I know Damien. And what I mean by that is I know how he thinks. He’s put you in an impossible decision and has made you believe the only way to make amends is to attend this meeting. But what you’re failing to see is by doing that, you’re playing into his hand and giving him exactly what he wants. Even if you went and miraculously found a way to be civil, it wouldn’t matter in the end.Nothingin that note states you’ve earned a free pass inside Outlaw territory.”
I opened my mouth, but whatever I was about to say vanished as I realized that…well, there wasn’t anything Icouldsay. Samurai might’ve actually been onto something here. Even Rhett and Phantom were stunned, speechless as they considered everything she was saying.
“Me?” Samara continued, pointing a finger at her chest. “I’m not an Outlaw nor am I a Ravager, not yet at least. Not only am I the only person who can safely cross over into Damien’s territory, but I am frankly thelastperson he’d expect to show up. We can use that to our advantage.”
“How so?” Father wondered with a weirdly smug look on his face.
“The second trial hasn’t happened yet, but I canmakeDamien believe my attendanceismy second trial.”
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Rhett protested, shaking his head. “No. I don’t want her doing this.”
“Neither do I,” Phantom declared.
“And Isaac?” Father asked, turning to me. “What do you think?”
“I don’t like it either,” I willingly admitted. “But Samara does make some sensible points.”
“You can trust me with this,” Samara promised as she stared deeply between me, Rhett, Phantom, and Father. “For all Damien knows, I’m still on his side. Finn’s in a fucking coma and God only knows whether or not Jace is still alive. And then there’s Ginger. He may have her too. I’m the only shot we have at figuring out Damien’s next move. Please, let me do this. I won’t let you down.”
“Consider it done, Samara.” Father outstretched his hand to her as Phantom and Rhett swore furiously at Father, who purposely ignored them, lips spreading wide in a grin as Samara reached over and placed her hand in his, a confident glint in her eyes.
“We have a deal.”
Jace
7
Another day had come and gone. As I woke up late Tuesday morning, checking my phone to see there was still no word from Finn and Ginger, I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and walked out of my apartment, sighing when I made it to my car and got in. This was bullshit. After spending days and countless hours searching for them, it burned me to say that I truthfully had no idea where they were or where the hell they could be.
They weren’t in the Valley, that much was definite. If they were, I’d have found them by now. At this point, I was beginning to think Samara was right. There was a fat chance Finn and Ginger really did drop everything and had taken off like ghosts in the wind.
It made sense but at the same time, it didn’t. Finn wouldn’t just leave without warning me—or at least that’s what I’d thought. With him MIA, unfortunately that left me to deal with my father. Rationalizing Finn’s absence was a conversation I was not looking forward to having, but I had to come up withsome legitimate explanation that wouldn’t end with me being unlawfully locked up again or worse, with a bullet implanted in my skull.
Fuck, Finn…
What the hell have you done?
It was a useless idea, because now I’d ultimately convinced myself Finn had fled. Just for clarification, I decided to drop by his place again. The last time I was there, I never went inside his apartment. I just stood there like an idiot knocking nonstop until two of his neighbors had stomped out of their abode with icy scowls on their faces, informing me Finn wasn’t home and for me to fuck the hell off. I came prepared this time though. This time there wouldn’t be any knocking.
This time,I was breaking in.
I grabbed the pocketknife out of my center console and slid it in my pocket, getting out and closing the door. Finn’s apartment was on the third floor. As quietly as possible, I went up the steps and studied my surroundings.
The coast was clear.
Whipping out the knife, I dug the tip deep into the side of the door until eventually the lock inched back and popped open with ease. As I stepped inside, I shut the door and looked around, shouting out his name.
“Finn!? Finn, are you here?”
