I nodded, even though he couldn’t see. “Okay.” I finally confirmed. “So I guess I’ll see you in a few days.“
“If you come, that’s it. No looking back. No contacting anyone from your previous life. ”
My previous life had already tried to kill me. It’d been locked on the mountain where I’d stumbled into my true freedom, the veil lifted from my eyes just in time before I suffered a fate like my mom.
“I know,” I confessed, “but nothing could kill me as much as being without you did.”
“I mean it, Frey. I know it’s hard for you to say goodbye.His love would have killed you.”
“And yours doesn’t?” I countered.
His raw chuckle filled my ears then. “Maybe.But I can’t wait to find out.”
Warmth filled my senses as I thought of packing up my things and leaving the chalet for the last time. The last year of solitude like a strange fugue state that would soon be a distant memory. From that point on I would think on my time here with a passing sense of déjà vu, lost to the murky mist of my mind before the memory could fully materialize.
Had it ever really happened at all?
Tears of relief filled my eyes. Tav and I could finally get back to normal. “I never thought I’d hear from you again.” I wiped my eyes with my shirt hem. “It feels like you’re a figment of my imagination.”
“Maybe I am, Frey.Maybe everything is.”
Second Epilogue
“Colorado, huh?” I muted the audio feed from the chalet and pivoted to my search screen. I pulled up an airline website and searched for the next available flight to Denver, Colorado. I’d bought a house on the same side of town just to be near Freya in Lancaster, and I’d been locked down there for the last two years as I monitored all of Freya’s conversations, even installing higher definition and much more discreet hidden cameras in the office where she was conducting much of her research into her mother’s past.
I recognized the excitement in Freya’s expression when she’d first heard Tav’s audio message. I’ll admit, after all of this time it surprised me that he reached out, but then again, nothing should surprise me anymore. Since being tapped for special security clearance after basic training I’d surveilled hundreds of targets, both foreign and domestic.
My eyes hovered on the screen that showed Freya as she moved across the bedroom and began to dig through the closet in her mountaintop chalet. She pulled out a backpack, clothes, and her hiking boots, and then sat back on her heels.
She looked tired, worn out from this life already. I’d hoped she’d adapt more quickly to her new reality. Instead she’d struggled with the isolation and retreated into herself and her past. Most of her days were spent rifling through her mother’s things in search of answers, the nights long and lonely as she tossed and turned. That’s why I’d made a point to visit her most weekends. If I didn’t, I was worried I’d lose her totally.
She’d asked me to stay longer, but my obligations to powerful people were a priority. Lucky for her, they wanted her alive.
For now.
The landscaping company was a good cover for a while, but I’d have to elevate my game if I hoped to follow her to Colorado.
Freya was worried about telling me she was leaving, but no matter what she thinks, it won’t be the last time she sees me. Not by a long shot. Not as long as both of our lives depend on it.
Freya’s head bent then, eyes closing as her lips moved in a slow rhythm. She was praying. I couldn't help myself and unmuted the audio feed.
“Please, God, help me find peace. Guide my loved ones to make the right decisions and keep them safe. No matter what happens to me, please keep them safe. And please...give extra strength to Bradley if...if I never see my best friend again.”
She whispered a quick Amen and then wiped at tears in her eyes.
She looked emotionally devastated, overcome with the guilt of leaving without telling me.
My finger hovered over the microphone switch. Every muscle in me wanted to reach out to her, let her know I was still there with her. How could I ever let her go? She’d been the only stabilizing force in my life. How could I tell the woman I loved with all of my heart that I wasn’t who she thought I was? That I’d been living a double life and she was in the thick of it with me, only she didn’t know?
But she does know. Sort of.
If I flipped on the microphone right now and told her everything that had happened, my advanced training and experience tracking humans around the globe, she would forgive and forget. Her bleeding heart could never be mad at me for long. But then I put both of us at risk, and I’d lose everything I’d worked so hard for in the process. For what—love?
And even though I’d blocked it out, there was the minor fact that I’d facilitated her mother’s demise. I’d placed her under surveillance, it was my system that was hacked by an anonymous group and released to the wrong people. I was convinced she was killed to send a message to Tav about the dirty money he’d taken to buy access to his powerful father, but who had orchestrated the hit? I still couldn’t be sure. When I’d been tasked with keeping assets on Freya’s mom, I wasn’t privy to why. I only assumed it was because of the possible political implications if Freya’s mother decided to name names when it came to her sketchy past with the Senator. My sense now is that it goes much deeper.
I pulled my hand away from the microphone switch, choosing instead to cut the audio feed and leave Freya to her peace again. If Tav wanted her to believe she was having fugue states to justify the true darkness of her reality, maybe it was for the better.
Maybe the Senator's son knew best after all.
