“We’re still no closer to figuring out what to do about Isaac,” he reminds us.
“What about drawing him out?” I suggest. It was the plan I’d come up with months ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it because it felt too much like a betrayal. I realized it the moment Bane started uttering warnings of the cabin not being safe. He’d known what I was thinking, what I was planning to do, and was trying to warn them. When all three sets of eyes turn to me, I know I can’t take the words back, so I gather the courage to press forward. “We bring him to us.”
“And if we fail to kill him? What then?”
“If we fail, we die, so I guess we won’t have to worry.”
Khalil snatches his beer from the table and sits back as he swigs from it. “Not necessarily. We could be blowing our cover for no reason. We’ll end up on the run again.”
“Then we don’t fail.”
Thorin shakes his head, already shutting down the idea. “It’s too dangerous, Zeke.”
“More dangerous than sneaking into his compound and fighting our way out? That won’t work a second time, and you know it. It’ll be the four of us versus histhousands.”
“Zeke’s plan has merit,” Aurelia says after quietly watching us argue. Khalil and Thorin both glare at her, but she pays their scowls no mind. “But what if we find somewhere far away from here to draw him out? If he gets away, we retreat to our hidey-hole to lick our wounds in peace and then try again later.”
“But not immediately,” Khalil amends while considering her plan. “Just in case we’re tailed.”
“Didn’t Thorin mention Aruba? I could use a vacation.”
The room falls quiet as we all look to Thorin, our unspoken leader. He’s staring at the floor as he contemplates the pros and cons.
“We can’t wish him dead, Thor,” Aurelia says gently to urge him into the decision we all made minutes ago.
Thorin’s head doesn’t move, but his gaze cuts her way while his lips remain firmly shut. Thorin is no coward. He simply has too much to lose, especially now with Aurelia, the girl of our dreams right here within our grasp. We’re safe here, and there’s no reason to believe we won’t be for another ten years and another ten after that. We’re inviting chaos into our lives by choosing vengeance over peace, but a man like Marston George should not be allowed to live.
And neither should my father’s other son.
If it all goes wrong, Thorin will blame himself, Khalil will blame himself, I will blame myself, and Aurelia will blame herself. None of us will be blameless, but at least united, we can all share this too.
“Okay,” he mumbles finally. “We do this.”
My heart thuds against my chest. “The only question left ishowdo we do this?” I ask to distract myself from the nervousness trying to fester into terror. “We need to get back on US soil without Isaac being aware of us. A decade ago, he hadcops and federal agentsunder his thumb; who knows who else he’s brainwashed into his cult since then. Someone with enough pull to have the airlines monitored no doubt.”
“Um…” Aurelia raises her hand. “I can help with that.” When we blink at her, she scoffs. “I’m rich and famous, remember? I guarantee I have more pull than Isaac.”
“Are you forgetting that your uncle is in control of all of your assets?”
“Uh…no? Believe it or not, I have my own connections outside of Uncle Mars. Someone who tried her best to help me once. Before I knew the monster my uncle would turn out to be.”
“And she’s willing to stick her neck out for you again?”
Aurelia nods. “I know she will. I uh…” She begins to fidget in Khalil’s lap, twisting her fingers into a knot until he wrestles them free and kisses her palm to give her courage.
“You what?” he whispers. “It’s okay, Goldilocks. You can trust us.”
“I um…I called her. A few months ago. After the avalanche when the sheriff came for us.”
It’s an effort for Khalil, Thorin, and me not to react.
“Why?” I ask, remembering to keep my tone gentle.
Aurelia makes a gruff sound of frustration. “I don’t know! Because I wanted to prove to the sheriff, and thatfuckingsmugtherapist, and I guess myself, that even if I had a way out, I wouldn’t take it?”
“And if you changed your mind later, the sheriff was supposed to get a message to her, wasn’t he? That’s why he insisted on the daily check-ins.”
Aurelia nods with her gaze on the floor.
