She stops moving.
The weight of the air is heavy, and I feel it on my chest. I need to save her so badly. I need to do something useful to make up for the pain I caused Kai.
And then I see the spark of hope I need—her tiny head nods. Just once, but I know it was real.
I approach her slowly, and she doesn’t retreat.
“I’m going to lift you now. Close your eyes. And open them when I say you are safe,” I coddle.
She closes her eyes, and I lift her tiny body into my arms. That was the easy part. Now I have to find a way out of here where she will be safe.
I carry her to the door, and poke my head out. Felix spots me.
“One of the maids left her keys in the car around back. The Fiat. Get her to the car. She’ll be able to drive out of here without being stopped,” Felix says.
I glance down at the limp body in my arms, barely hanging on and all she has to do right now is keep breathing.
“And what if she can’t drive herself?” I ask.
He runs his hand through his hair. “Jesus. I’ll drive her. But if I do, I can’t come back.”
Fuck, I need Felix here. I need a friend—but that’s selfish of me.
“Let’s go,” I say, hoping I can figure out a way to get her out of here while keeping Felix here.
We already disconnected the security system, so there are no cameras on us. But there are still guards.
Felix leads us to the car without any issue. We don’t meet any guards. And the woman in my arms keeps her eyes closed, shutting herself down to prevent any pain that could come her way.
I place her in the back of the small Fiat hatchback, lying her in the floor so she can’t be seen through the windows.
“You are going to have to drive her,” I say.
But then the door locks beep.
We both crouch down behind the car.
Footsteps approach but they are soft and light on gravel.
“Have a great holiday,” a woman shouts.
“I will! See you next week,” the woman approaching the car says.
“Can we trust her not to turn the girl in once she discovers she’s in the back seat of her car?” I ask Felix.
He nods. “If for no other reason than she would fear Milo would think she was one that helped her. I would guess she won’t come back to work next week; she’ll be too afraid.”
I hate that I’m ending the maid’s income here and that she will need to find a new job, but she shouldn’t be working for a man like Milo. Nothing is stopping him from doing the same thing to her as he was planning to do to the girl in her backseat.
So we slink back into the bushes as the maid drives away with her stowaway. We watch silently as she makes it through the gate, and then we both re-enter the house.
Felix takes me back to my cell, hoping Milo will think the girl got away on her own.
I don’t have the same hope that Felix has. I want Milo to find out. It will give me another excuse to fight him.
Within the hour, I hear the familiar sound of Milo stomping down the stairs. I look up from the book I had been flipping through to try and distract me while I waited.
He gets to the bars and stares at me with all of his furry.