He’s used to running on little sleep, but it’s catching up to him. Time and rest are among the things we cannot get by without.
“Who called you that night? And what did they tell you that was so compelling you had to kill me?” I ask as a tear slips from my eye and rolls down my chin. My expression is stone. It’s a tear from the dead girl deep,deepin the recesses of my mind because she’s still bleeding out in the dark.
Callum looks at me for a moment before pressing his hand gently against my cheek to dry the tear with his coat sleeve.
“It was Grahm. He’d just found out about Arnold Thornton. Did you know he was a sleeper agent in the Dark Forces? Or that he intentionally set us up together in hopes that he could use you as a source of information to get further into my gate?”
My eyes widen, and horror races through my veins. That can’t be right… Uncle Arnold wouldn’t do that to me. But then again, I hardly knew him. Was I just a tool to him?
“After Grahm made the connection, he found videos on Arnold’s computer of us talking. He had your place bugged, Chloe. Which I’m assuming you had no clue about, based on your face right now.” Callum smiles weakly before his frown returns. “I was informed right after Grahm intercepted the videos, and it was decided that to protect our gate in Bane Falls, I would dispose of you.”
I’m speechless.
My uncle used me? After all this time, why would he do that to me? “What did he want that was worth putting me in danger?” I ask, pressing the heel of my palm into my eye to relieve the tears that are trying to build up.
Callum tilts his head. “You found the USB, didn’t you?”
I shake my head.
Callum’s eyes narrow. “Isn’t that interesting? Grahm got a notification that it was accessed this morning. The file was observed a few times actually. Although they can’t crack the locked file that only you apparently know the code for.”
It was? A cold thought moves through my mind and makes the back of my throat feel dry. Is that how Roman knew my real name? But when did he find it? I think back to the night we were at the farm and searching together.
Reality hits me like a bag of bricks. He lied to me and hid it from me. It makes them treating me like a traitor hurt so muchworse. Roman intentionally led me on, thinking we couldn’t find it. He even asked me to do this for him so they could get Callum alone… Frost sets an inch deeper into my heart.
He used me. He lied too.
They are all the same.
“It’s all right, Chloe.” Callum stares down at me like I’m a useful tool in his grand plan. Or maybe he’s happy to see me miserable.
He shows me the underground facility. It looks disturbingly similar to an underground car lot, except it’s void of vehicles and filled with pillars and crates upon crates of goods. We pass a few people working; they barely spare us a glance before nodding at Callum with respect.
This cement tomb is enormous.
“We have tunnels and passages that extend throughout the farmlands. This isthehub of the Northwest,” he states proudly.
Is this why there’s so much empty space out here? All this underground shit that nobody has any clue is here?
Grahm walks around a row of crates with another man at his side. They are examining the condition of them before they notice us.
“Hey, Thornton.” Grahm winks at me. “Did you like the gift I sent with our note?”
I give him the most unamused expression. “The fire? No. I didn’t.”
He laughs and looks at Callum like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Backer Team is en route. You’re clear to head back upstairs for the fireworks, boss.”
“Fireworks?” A rush of adrenaline floods my veins.
Callum presses a heartless kiss to my forehead and flashes me a manic smile. “It’s nothing personal. And if you survive this, you can be mine again, sweet Chloe.”
31
BRIAR
The secondwe step back onto the main floor of the laundromat, Bensen’s shouting, “Move, move, move!”
John’s voice sharply follows. “Get on the ground, keep your hands where I can see them.”
