“What did you think was going to happen? You give Alex your best loving smile and everything goes back to normal? No. You’ll be watched for the rest of your life. By Alex, by a lot of other people.”
“It still beats dying or running my whole life.”
He frowned. “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not,” I snapped.
“Alex told me what happened at the nursing home. Trying to make him look bad in case anything happened to you.”
“That’s not what happened. You think I would have expected to be back there with Alex hanging on to me? I never thought I’d see him again. I wanted to cover my tracks.”
“Either way, that’s another reason for him to keep you alive. No one will want him or the family being suspects. I’m sure the elders will take that into account.” He stood from the bed.
“Elders?”
He ran a hand down his face. “Forget you heard that. You don’t need to know anything more about it.”
“I’m going to live in the dark? I told Alex that I’ll learn to accept your beliefs.”
He snorted. “After everything you’ve done, you think we’ll just roll out all our secrets? Is that your big plan?”
My confidence shattered as my glare faltered. That was exactly my plan, not that I would say it out loud. Niko might not fall for it. But Alex was much easier to talk to.
“No, I just want to know how it works. To help me better understand,” I told him as I tried to keep my face blank.
“Sure, Sage,” he replied sarcastically.
“What do you want to happen to me? It almost sounds like it would be easier for you if I did just disappear.”
“Really? After all I’ve done for you?” he hissed, anger filling his gaze. “I came and warned you. I went behind my family’s back to help you. I even made sure you were nice and safe in that crappy motel. Any word of them finding you, and I was going to warn you again.”
My eyes widened. He had known where I was all this time. I opened my mouth to speak, but he kept talking as he advanced closer.
“That was stupid. Leaving Michigan to go do what? What were you doing in Chicago? You don’t know anyone there. It doesn’t make sense.”
He was only a foot away, standing in front of me. His eyes stayed locked onto mine, as if looking for the answers. I backed up until I hit the wall. I knew how bad his temper could get and didn’t want to make it worse.
“I was just trying to find a better place,” I muttered as I broke eye contact and looked at the floor.
“Right. I can’t do anything else to help you. I have to help my family now. You’re lucky Alex still cares about you.”
“I thought you felt bad. Not bad enough to still make sure I stay alive, though, huh?” I couldn’t help but provoke him. Who was he to try to make me feel grateful for what he’d done? He had no right. He gaped at me, and his hands balled into fists.
“I’ve done everything I could. This is my family we’re talking about.” He took a deep breath as he backed away, as if trying to calm down. He glanced around the room and saw my empty bags.
“Who did it, Niko?” I asked him quietly, needing to know if I was looking at a murderer or just a monster. “Did you kill Lacey, or did Geo?”
His jaw clenched. “Would it make a difference if you knew?”
“Probably not. I still want to stab you in your sleep.”
“Good thing the knives are locked up tight.” Surprise filled his voice. “Might want to watch your attitude around Alex. He won’t fall for your fake love if you talk to him like that.”
“I guess I’ll save it for you then.” I raised my chin, refusing to back down. I wasn’t sure if he realized it yet, but I had something on him. I doubted he wanted the society to know he’d found me months ago. A reminder of that threat could help me—I stared at the rage building on his face—or it could drag me deeper into this hell.
“Where’d you put that phone?”
The sudden change in subject jolted me. I didn’t say anything as I stepped around him and sat on the side of the bed, closer to the door.
“I know you have one. I saw it in there when I took out the pocketknife.”
“Why does it matter?”
“I didn’t tell Alex. But if he finds it, he’s going to look through it. Same with your laptop. Actually, he’s probably going to take your laptop. If you have anything on there you don’t want him to see, you better get rid of it before he gets back. Or it won’t be good for you,” he threatened.
My stomach dropped to my feet. The laptop had all the research on it.
He continued, “I said earlier you don’t have privacy anymore. I wasn’t kidding.”
“Why’d you tell me he was dead? Alex.”
It was his turn to be surprised. For once, he looked flustered and lost his usual confidence.
“I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to see your reaction,” he said slowly. It sounded like a bad lie, but I didn’t say a word. If he didn’t want to tell me, I wasn’t going to be able to get it out of him. He started to walk out of the room but turned back around. “This probably doesn’t have to be said, but you better keep these conversations to yourself. Or I’m done with the helpful tips.”
I nodded and waited for him to leave so I could pull my laptop out. I wouldn’t tell anyone about what he’d done. Not yet, at least. Unless I could spin it in my favor.
“Dinner menu tonight is leftover pizza. It’s in the fridge if you’re hungry,” Niko called from the hall.
Ignoring him, I opened the laptop to delete everything. My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I thought of sending everything to Kiara but chose not to. The less she was involved, the better. I didn’t want her to become a target for knowing too much. I cleared my search history and got rid of anything that came to mind.
I double checked everything, making sure nothing was missed before shutting it off. Alex wasn’t a tech-savvy guy. He wouldn’t dig deep, and I was confident nothing would be found if he did take the laptop. As confident as I could feel anyway. Nothing more could be done about the phone; there was no better hiding place. I just had to hope he wouldn’t find it.