“We don’t do anything… yet.We wait for him to call us back,” he says calmly.
“That doesn’t solve our problem.”I’m spiralling, overrun with thoughts of Willa being hunted down by my father’s men, discovered in the maternity ward, and then Fenrir being held accountable for a decisionImade.
“No, but it buys us some time.”
I slump onto the bed, averting my eyes from Fenrir and the mess I’ve thrown him into.
“We could tell Markus that, before the storm, Marta went into labour, so I sent her to the hospital.I’m sure he would understand.”
Fenrir glares at me, and I know, even as I said the words, that Markuswouldunderstand, because Markus is a man, a human being with emotions and feelings and empathy.
But my father is not.My father would only see the disobedience, the insubordination, the defiance, and the deception.
“What the fuck have I done?”I place my head in my hands.
Thick arms envelop me.
“Hey, stop this.You did the right thing.Willa was there when Marta gave birth.She was there with her wife and got to watch her baby being born.”
“Yeah, and I’ve put a goddamn price on her head and yours.When my father finds out what I did, it won’t just be me who pays.”
His grip tightens.“I won’t let anything happen to you, Hayami.”
I pull back, staring into his eyes.
“I mean it.I’ll protect you until my very last breath.”
Silence drenches the room until the wind whips at the windows and rushes down the chimney, reminding us of the storm that’s raging outside.
FIFTY-THREE
FENRIR
PRESENT
There’sa second when all I see is her.Her long, dark hair, her pale, shimmering skin, and those large, brilliant eyes that are afraid, full of fear and sorrow and anger.She’s twenty years old and has never known anything else.She doesn’t deserve this life.She deserves so much better.
Snapping into action, I pick up Willa’s phone.Hayami’s eyes track me.
“What are you doing?”she asks as I slide out the SIM card.
“Taking the SIM card out,” I tell her.“We’ll do the same with all our phones.With a bit of luck, Markus might think the lines have gone down with the storm.”
“Does that even happen these days, what with Wi-Fi and stuff?”Hayami picks up her phone and takes her SIM card out, and I do the same with mine.
“I have no idea, but it’s worth a shot and will buy us some time.”
“To do what?”Hayami swallows.
I stop messing with my phone and look at her steadily.
“Leave.”
“You said we can’t, not in this weather.”
“Not on foot, but you heard what Markus said,” I explain, knowing this isn’t what she’s going to want to hear.“They’ll clear the road as soon as the snow stops, which, according to the weather report, will be in the next couple of hours.I’m not sure how long it’ll take them, but I guess they’ll try and get as much of it done before nightfall as possible.That gives us a fair few hours for me to get some rest, pack up, get the snow off the Jeep, and drive down to the main road before the sun goes down.”I stop, waiting for Hayami to catch up.
“And then what?”
