It’s the scream of tires. A car skidded to a violent halt right outside my door. My heart leaps into my throat. They’re here already. And they didn’t use sirens.
Footsteps thunder down the walkway—heavy, desperate, and fast. I brace myself, clutching the edges of the mattress, preparing for the command to get on the ground.
The door explodes inward, the lock splintering as the frame hits the wall.
I gasp, shielding my eyes from the sudden burst of moonlight, but the figure in the doorway isn't wearing a badge. He’s breathless, his chest heaving, his hair wild from the wind.
“Noah?” I whisper, the word breaking in the air.
He stands there, staring at the letters scattered across the bed, then at the tear tracks on my face. He looks at me with a mixture of agony and fury that makes my breath catch.
“Rue,” he chokes out, taking a step toward me. “What the hell have you done?”
59
NOAH
I stare at the bed,and for a second, I can’t breathe. The yellow stationery is spread out like a fucking shroud, covered in her frantic, looping script. My name is everywhere.
‘Noah didn’t kidnap me. I chose this. I am not a victim.’
My heart fractures in my chest. “What did you do?” I roar again, the sound tearing out of my throat.
She looks up at me, her eyes puffy as she shrugs. “I told the truth.”
I grab her by the shoulders, my fingers digging into the thick fabric of my own hoodie. “Rue, why did you do this?”
“I ended it!” she screams in my face, shoving at my chest. She’s vibrating with a terrifying kind of resolve. “I called them, Noah! They’re coming. I told them everything. I told them you were gone so they’d come for me and leave you alone. I told them I did it. I’ve always been the one who did it—and all I’ve everwanted was to make it up toyou.” Her voice breaks, fresh tears spilling over her cheeks.
My mind flicks back to the little girl who kissed my broken hand and the woman who murdered a man for touching me.
“You stupid, beautiful girl,” I choke out, spinning away from her to rake my hands through my hair. I feel like the walls are physically closing in. The plan was for you to walk away clean. You were supposed to be the survivor. You were supposed to have a life so much better thanthis.” I gesture around the room.
“I don't want a life without you.” She steps into my space, forcing me to look at her. “I’m the one with all the blood on my hands, Noah. You don’t get to decide that I’m innocent just because you want to feel better about yourself. I turned myself in. It’s over.”
Fury burns in my chest. “It’s not over until I say it is, and I’mnotgoing to let you end up where I did, Rue. I won’t let that happen.” My body aches with panic.
In the distance, a low wail begins to bleed through the night air.Sirens.They’re miles off, but in the desert, sound travels further.
They’re coming for the girl I destroyed my life to protect.
“Listen to that,” she whispers, her eyes widening as she looks up at me. “Go, Noah.Please. If they find you here, they’ll probably just kill you. Just go.”
“I’m not leaving you to rot in a cage.” I look at the letters on the bed. Those pages are a fucking death warrant. If the Marshals get their hands on those confessions, there is no defense attorney in the world who can save her.
I look at the cheap, plastic coffee maker on the desk, then at the pile of thin, synthetic towels by the bathroom. And a desperate, pathetic idea takes hold.
“What are you doing?” Rue asks, her voice rising in panic as I grab the matches from the nightstand.
“Finally starting that fire you wanted to start in the desert, and destroying the evidence,” I mutter.
I grab the stack of letters—the truth she tried to give the world—and throw them into the metal trash can. I strike a match. It breaks.
“Fuck,” I shout, causing Rue to jump. I strike another. The flame is small, orange, and hungry. I drop it in. The thin paper curls and blackens, the wordsI chose thisvanishing into ash.
But it’s not enough. There’s too much of her DNA in this room, too much of us. I need a distraction. I need a reason for the perimeter to break, for the chaos to work in our favor.
Fuck it.
