Renee’s brows shot up high. “Thehospice?”
“For her cousin. For her to sign papers for her cousin, which needs to be done today or else she’ll lose the spot to transfer her there,” Anya explained, unafraid of the intimidating woman.
I loved that she’d stand up for me, but this wasn’t happening. “Anya. Renee. No. I can’t…” I paused and struggled against thenausea. “I’m not going anywhere. I understand my place and that all I’ve done can’t be taken back. I’ve made my bed and I’ll sleep in it and?—”
“What’s all these riddles for?” Renee snapped.
“I’m not trying to escape,” I said. I should be, but my plan was to beg Andre to spare our child’s life. I’d do whatever it took to get him to agree.
“You’re not escaping,” Anya said. “You’re coming with me and you’ll come back here to wait for my brother to get his head out of his ass and make up with you.” She beckoned for me to come.
“He’s not. Anya, he’s going to kill me.”
Renee’s brows shot even comically higher. “Hewhat?”
“I lied to him and I was here to?—”
Renee dismissed me with a wave. “He’s notkillingyou. He’s just mad and needs to figure out how to react. He’s a man, Sofia.” She tapped her temple. “That’s how they all are.” She turned a smirking glare to the two guards.
“I beg to differ, but?—”
Anya sighed and took my hand. “Differ later. You need to move it to sign those papers.”
I was touched that she’d even remembered that I’d scheduled this for today. I had planned toaskAndre for some means to get there and sign the papers, but in light of all that had happened since I made this appointment, I was thrown way off.
“I can’t just—” I didn’t want to make Andremadderby taking off.
“Comeon,” she insisted, tilting her head to the side to get the guards to come with us. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. And you and Andre can talk. If he’s not hungover by then.” She rolled her eyes.
Renee watched us go, the two young guards trailing us.
“Is this…” I turned to face them over my shoulder. “Is this okay?”
They didn’t say anything, seemingly following Anya’s order. They looked young, perhaps new to the force, and I dreaded their being killed for going against orders to keep me here.
What made less sense was how the driver was waiting for us outside. He nodded at Anya, holding the door to the backseat open for us.
In the matter of a minute, I had gone from being a hostage to riding away from the building.
I lagged mentally, confused and barely able to keep up with the changes.
“Anya, this is dangerous.”
“He’ll come around,” she said, frowning as she studied me. “And once he does and things are back to normal, you can’t keep big things like this from me if we’re going to be friends. If you need help,ask. If you’re facing something difficult,tellme.”
Happy tears clung to my lids. “Oh, Anya.” She was the kind of friend and confidante I needed for so long. Esmeralda used to be my ride-or-die like this before she was ill. We were always stuck under our uncle’s rule, but at least we had each other’s back when we could.
Like Anya wanted to with me.
“It’s not that simple.”
She shook her head. “It is. It can be.”
“There is no going back to ‘normal’ after what I’ve done.”
She huffed. “After what you’ve done? You tried and failed to spy for that man.” She arched one brow. “No harm, no foul.”
“No harm, no foul?” I exclaimed, so stunned that a hysterical laugh escaped me. “How can you possibly think that?”
