‘You’re here now,’ I echo, my arms tightening. ‘It’s Valentine’s Day, you know.’
‘Is it?’ she asks drowsily.
‘Yeah.’
She giggles. ‘Well, getting me out of The Heath was the best gift ever.’
Chapter Seven
Daisy
When I wake up, Blake is still next to me with his arm around me. A remote control is in his hand, and he's watching something on the small TV on the wall of the cabin.
It looks like a British comedy show that I'm sure I saw at The Heath more than once.
'I thought you liked the pre-Industrial Revolution stuff,' I say quietly.
His eyes find mine and he gives me a wry smile.
'To be honest, I like it all. I'd like to go back one day. I want to see it, without all the other stuff going on, you know?'
I nod.
'Me too,' I say. 'Considering I spent over a decade there, I didn't get out much. It would definitely be nice to go and actually do some sightseeing.'
'We'll go together,' he says, squeezing my hand. 'Plan it out and do it right. As soon as we can.'
I hug him tightly, wondering when we’d actually be able to do something like that with everything else going on inour lives. Although, with John dead, maybe that lets me off the hook entirely. I can’t be forced to marry anyone, now.’
'Do you think…when we get back…I'll be free?' I ask.
Blake quirks an eyebrow. 'Free?'
'You know what I mean,' I say. 'Do you think I'll be able to leave Sauvage’s hotel and walk around,like outside?Go for a run if I want? Go to class in person?'
'Well…' he frowns and seems at a loss for words.
'I don't want to be a prisoner,' I clarify, 'not, if I don't have to be.'
'No, of course not,' he says. 'We just— Two more people are dead. I mean, don’t get me wrong, those two rich fuckers out of the world is pretty damn awesome in my book, but what if?—'
'Shade said it was an accident,’ I interrupt.
Blake gives me a look that I think might be him saying something like, 'Don't be an idiot, Daisy.'
'There's no fucking way that it was an accident,' he says instead. 'It's too big of a coincidence—two of the most powerful men in Richmond die in some random calamity?Together?C’mon.'
I draw away from him a little and prop my head up on the pillow with my elbow, surveying his face thoughtfully.
Did someone reallymurderthe heads of two of the richest families in Richmond?
'I mean, granted, we don't know anything about what happened, but it seems a little suspicious already. Don't you think? Like the officer who got to your mom’s accident first who fell out of his boat and drowned?'
I give a small nod.
'Your mom and dad, too... The way that you were almost hit by a car, the fire, the bomb, Stevens getting mowed down… It's all connected, Daisy,' he says. 'It has to be. Someone is doing this. The stalker, someone else, I mean, maybe I’m wrong and it’s all separate, maybe itisjust a few weird coincidences, but it doesn’t smell right to me.'
'But why?' I ask. 'It doesn't make any sense, even if, theoretically, everything was linked…From my dad’s death up to John’s, that spans over fifteen years. Whodoesthat?'
