I tugged my mom’s scarf back up over her face, even though I was pretty sure it wouldn’t make a difference at this point. As quickly as possible, I ushered her back into Jay’s car and helped her get strapped in.
“We’ll talk about it later, Mom,” I said, kicking myself for letting her wander out on her own.
We’d explained the importance of staying anonymous to her before we left, and she’d seemed to understand. She’d been doingso welllately… but still. It was stupid of us to let her out of our sight like that.
From the way Jay’s knuckles were cracking on the steering wheel as he tore out of town, he agreed.
FUCK!
Fuck, fuck,fuck!
We were officially screwed, all over something as stupid as aCandy Cane Kiss Latte.
I was such a fucking idiot.
All it had taken was for Milo’s eyes to light up with excitement that could have rivaled a small child’s, and I’d completely lost my head.
What had I been thinking letting Mira go off on her own? I knew she wasn’t one hundred percent yet…Why had I done that!?
Because you wanted to be alone in that store with Milo.
I’d wanted to watch his face light up over and over again as he explored, and I hadn’t wanted him to be interrupted or have to worry about his mother accidentally breaking something the whole time.
She’s just gone to getcoffee.
How was I supposed to know she was going to manage to single-handedly blow the cover I’d been hoping to leverage fordecadesin fucking seconds?
I wanted to kill someone.
I’d almost killed that fucking kid before Milo stopped me.
The gunfire that Milo had managed to significantly dim over our many sessions came roaring to the front of my mind as I nearly drifted the Rover back into its parking spot in front of the cabin.
“Maybe he won’t find us…” Milo murmured quietly. He sent me a pleading look through his glasses, as if just saying the words would make them true.
“Of course they’re going to find us, Milo. There’s no way Luke hasn’t been scanning the shit out of the internet since I broke you out of there. He’s probably already on his way.”
“B-but, the pictures will just lead them into the town! Maybe he won’t find the cabin?” Milo asked hopefully, and I gave him a flat look, gesturing toward the massive,expensivecabin that loomed before us.
It was a custom build and outshone any of the other mountain-side homes the locals had built sporadically on the outskirts of town. It wouldn’t take much to find it now that Luke knew where to look, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this is where the son of a deceased billionaire tech giant would be hiding out.
Milo chewed on his lip as he stared at the luxury cabin before glancing back at my stone-cold expression. His shoulders slumped as he deflated.
“Yeah. Okay.” He sighed.
“Get her in the lab,” I grit out. “There’s a panic room in the back, code is 4675. Put her in there for now. I need to start locking us down.”
Milo nodded wordlessly and rushed to do what I’d said. Poor Mira was crying now, and I couldn’t help but feel a little shitty for scaring her so badly.
But, me almost murdering a teenager would be the least of our worries if I didn’t figure out how to fix this.
We had two options.
We could run again, though the chances of finding another place to hide out that was this comfortable were slim. We’d be looking at much more rural accommodations, considering I couldn’t buy another place like this with just cash.
The thought of keeping Milo’s mother in some sort of a shack without proper heating through the winter was enough to make me feel sick to my stomach… Which left me with the much less desirable option.
We had to fight.
