My stomach fell. “What?”
“The last leg didn’t make sense. I suspect he was trying to lead us into a trap.”
Anger exploded. “What? He wouldn’t do that.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Sophia.” He walked away, and I stared after him, shocked. What the hell? They’d curated that strategy for weeks, and Theo changed it on a whim? The plan had been flawless.
I couldn’t dwell on it long. The prisoners needed attention.
A count the next morning tallied two hundred and fifty-six freed people.
We celebrated. Hard.
Adam led the charge, and champagne was brought from some stash I hadn’t known existed. Most of the stunned prisoners avoided the ruckus, but those who joined us managed a few smiles.
As for the rest of us, we couldn’t stop smiling. It was our first major victory in a long, long time. We danced and drank and partied in a way we never had. Devon and I giggled drunkenly as Isaac reenacted his part in the rescue. Jayden tried to get me alone. I avoided him.
“May we live to see our glory,” Adam shouted, holding his glass high as he leapt atop a table.
Cheers rallied around him while I snorted. “An honest hope in a world gone mad,” I muttered to Devon.
“We’re going to win this,” he replied, expression resolute. “I’m sure of it.”
I smiled as he took Isaac into his arms, planting a long kiss on his mouth.
We stayed up late into the night and woke hungover to continue the celebration. By the time I left to meet Lucas again, I was exhausted but overjoyed. He’d helped us save so many. He deserved acknowledgement for what he’d done, even if only from me.
I bounded through the cracked front door of the Evanston house, grin in place, bolting the lock behind me. With only two candles lit, the room flickered with shadows. My gaze fell on Lucas.
He leaned on the table behind one couch, weight braced on both hands. Next to his hand sat a lowball glass, a finger of amber liquid inside. He wore the dress uniform of a Blood Colonel, but he’d shed the scarlet-shouldered jacket and tie. His head lifted, and unsmiling, he traced my body from top to bottom. “I see you’ve forgotten your lessons on how to be discreet.”
I glanced at my shorts and crop top. In my haste to see him, I’d left behind my baggy clothes. “I’m sorry.”
He waved away my apology and took his cup in hand, eyeing me over the rim as he stole a sip.
“Where’d you get…whiskey?”
The edge of his mouth twisted, and he gestured to a sideboard I’d never noticed before, all heavy wood and decorative carvings, where an open bottle of liquor sat. “A gift. For services rendered.”
Ice water seeped through my veins. How could I have forgotten the executions? We’d rescued many, but some were left behind. Those people had been executed today.
By Lucas.
“The price of my soul is a fifth of fine whiskey,” he said with an acrid edge to his voice.
I advanced into the room. “Lucas, you saved so many?—”
“I killed thirty-two innocent people today.” He hurled the glass at the wall, where it shattered in an explosion of glittery silver shards, leaving the liquor to drip down the dusty paint. “Why am I doing this? I should be dead by now.”
Despite his warning glance, I closed the distance between us. “You saved more lives than you took.”
He shook his head. “Christ. How are you still so innocent?”
“You make the hard choices no one else wants to.”
His gaze sharpened on me. “This isn’t a choice. This isobedience. This isexactlywhat they want. They’re punishing me for the misdeeds of my family.”
“Wh-what?”
