“He didn’t know that though, did he? He thought you were coming with him.”
She nodded.
“Fuck. They put you in solitary.”
“It was worth it. I’d do it again.”
And that was Chess. Where I had no heart, Chess had two of them.
She sighed, her head lowering. “That look on his face… he was climbing to his feet, ready to run to help me. But we had a pact.”
I knew exactly what their pact had been. Instead of never leave a man behind, it was the opposite.
“I was never meant to go with him.”
“Is that why you tried to escape a few years ago? Was he helping you?”
“No. He didn’t know about it.”
“I don’t get it, Chess. Why then? Why did you try and leave Vault?”
She raised her chin, eyes hard. “I’m not like you, Kai. I can’t do what they want me to.”
My sister was stronger than I anticipated, but I understood her. I wouldn’t have years ago, but now… I knew what it was like to care about someone. To willingly sacrifice everything for them. Maybe she could never be broken because she’d already cared. Loved. Her feelings for Tristan refused to be buried. I understood that now.
“Kai, get out of here. They’ll find Mother’s body and the board members will question me. I might be able to find something out. If I do, I have a way to email Tristan.”
“And they could simply kill you.”
“I’m willing to take that chance.”
“No.”
“Kai.”
“No.”
“This isn’t your call,” she said.
“Fine, it isn’t, but I have a feeling he thinks it’s his and he won’t allow you to stay another second here.” I nodded to the corridor. “Either come nicely, or I’ll live up to my reputation and make you. Choose.”
She stood, eyes narrowed. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
I smiled. “Down the road. Waiting. Impatiently. I suspect if we take much longer, he’ll attempt to storm this place himself and you know how that will end.”
That did it.
“We have until mid-morning before they’ll notice I’m gone. I’m allowed to wander the property for a few hours then.”
I nodded. Cutting it close, but it was enough.
“I hope you have a way out of here.”
I grinned. “Front door.”
“And you expect to walk out of here with me?”
“No. You’ll take a slightly different route.” She frowned and had every right to because she wasn’t going to like it. “Kitchen. There’s a fish truck waiting out back. He just made a delivery and is waiting for the extra cargo.”
“You’re sneaking me out in a fish truck?”
I shrugged. “He’s a greedy bastard. And you might want a sweater.” Because she was going to have to hide in a refrigerated container filled with cold raw fish. The fish guy was also the man who removed dead bodies for Mother when needed; except this time, he was removing a live one.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing, Kai. Because you’ve started a war.”
“No, I’m ending the war.”
She scanned the room as if searching for what to take with her. But she didn’t take a single thing except the necklace she still had in her hand. She pushed past me and headed down the corridor.TIRES CRUNCHED THE gravel into the dirt road and my head jerked up. I pushed away from the tree I’d been leaning against for the last two hours and jumped across the ditch to stand on the shoulder of the road.
I’d been calm, steady, determined and confident since I was fifteen and realized Chess wasn’t coming with me. I’d escaped the farm as a boy, but seeing her dragged away and knowing she’d sacrificed herself for me… it made me into a man. Age had no factor. I knew what I had to do and despite my world being blown apart, I’d do anything to get there. And I had.
That day was finally here.
My nerves sparked, nerves that had been dead for years. My heart drummed and my hands at my sides curled into fists as I saw the billow of dust in the distance.
Chess.
The fish truck appeared around the corner then stopped a few hundred feet away from my car. Kai pulled past and parked at an angle in front of it then got out. He spoke a few words to the driver then passed him an envelope, which I knew contained a shitload of money.
Kai disappeared around the back of the truck and everything inside me that had been stirring like wildfire—stilled.
The quiet before the storm.
Chess. My best friend, the girl who decided to save one boy. Who did fuckin’ save me.
Finally it was my turn. I’d waited for this moment. Dreamed about it. Prayed for it. Jesus. None of the money mattered. None of the houses or cars or trips. It was all to get here.
Underneath the truck, I saw her feet as she climbed out of the back. The doors slammed shut and latched, followed by a loud double knock on the back, and the truck rumbled away leaving a trail of dust behind it.