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“What’s going on?” Vivian bounced into the kitchen, coming straight for me. She kissed my forehead.
“I was just telling Daniel I need to get away.”
“Let’s do it. Where did you have in mind?”
My gut churned. “I mean alone.”
Her face fell. I couldn’t even look at Daniel.
“If that’s what you need,” Vivian said carefully.
No protest? No insistence I couldn’t go by myself? Was I in the right house?
“How long will you be gone?” Daniel asked tightly.
Long enough to kill that monster. “I don’t know.”
“I wish you’d let us go with you, but I understand. Stone should be able to travel soon,” Daniel said.
“He has to stay and finish the movie,” I said stubbornly.
“You haven’t told him you’re going,” Vivian concluded.
“I just decided.”
“You are coming back, aren’t you?” Her face pinched as if the thought of me going for good pained her.
I’d never lied to her, though now I was hedging the truth. “I hope so.”
She glanced at Daniel, whose jaw worked. His barstool scraped on the tile when he stood. “I’ll be upstairs.”
“I’m not doing this to upset him,” I said evenly when he’d disappeared.
Vivian patted my arm. “I know. But he’s only just gotten you back. He doesn’t function properly without you.”
“If anyone else heard you say that, they’d think it was weird.”
“I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks. He loves you. We love you. Don’t forget that.”
I swallowed hard and braced myself for what I had to do. “I’d better check on Stone.”
* * *
“Muriella. Where are you?”
Stone was settled in my bed, pillows propped behind him, his bare chest a sheet of muscle that gave way to an eight pack of abdominals. Then I saw the white bandage on his side that was covering the wound he had because of me.
“I’m right here,” I said before disappearing into the closet to change into my pajamas.
When I emerged, I turned down the lights, preparing for bedtime. He watched me, eyes narrowed.
“You are nothere.” He waited until I climbed in beside him to speak. “You haven’t been since the other night.”
He was right. I was inside my head, plotting retribution. I’d hesitated and made a mistake; that needed to be rectified. The time had come to finish this. “It’s just been a lot to take in,” I said casually, sliding down until my head hit the pillow. I pulled the duvet up to my chin and refused to look at him. He deserved better than a murderer, but the sooner I killed my father, the sooner this would end, one way or another. I had to push him away now, or I’d never make it to Nicaragua to free us all.
“After what you went through, there should be anger or fear or something, but it’s like you’ve shut down. Every second that passes, you put more distance between us. I can feel you leaving me.” Stone tapped his chest, and I still couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eye. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that happen.” I absently toyed with the soft cotton of the duvet. “Look at me, Muriella.”
Slowly, I lifted my gaze to his. Guilt swamped me. “What do you want from me? Should I cry? Scream? Maybe shoot something else? Tell me how I’m supposed to react.”
