I can’t think about this now. I have to defend him in the name of what’s right and just.
Maybe we aren’t meant to be together. The thought makes my heart ache in a way I never knew possible.
I want to see him again. I want to look in his eyes and sit on his lap and frame his face in my hands so I can hold his gaze on me forever.
I want to remember what we had. I don’t want to forget. For the first time in my life I felt loved and accepted just as I was. For the first time in my life, I felt cherished.
I shake myself out of my self-pity and face what’s next.
I have to find my sister.
I push myself on and give myself the pep talk no one else is here to give me.
One day this will all be behind you.
This will all be put to rights, and soon.
Sometimes, a girl just needs to remember that the darkest places aren’t here to stay. It’s the reminder I need even as I feel my heart being rent in two.
I turn down another side street and am trying to quell the rapid beating of my pulse so I can solidify a plan when I notice a polished silver Porsche driving toward me.
I know it’s no accident.
Are they following me? I frantically look for a place to hide when I hear the car accelerate.
There’s no easy escape.
I can’t let them take me. If they take me, they win. Thayer goes to jail and Nicolette’s at their mercy.
I have to run.
I take a second to grab my gun and cock it as car doors open and I’m swarmed by armed men.
No.
I swivel to face them, my gun hand shaking.
“Leave me alone!” I yell in French. “Back off or I shoot!”
They stand still and one holds up a cell phone. “We’ve got her in front of us and she’s armed.”
A voice comes over the speakerphone. “Savannah, it’s Lyam, get in the car and I’ll explain everything.”
My heart pounds.
Lyam?
My voice wavers. “How do I know you’re not compromised?”
Lyam curses. “You have to trust me. Now get in the fucking car before someone catches you with that weapon and arrests you, too.”
They know where I am and have somehow tracked me, so I can’t escape. I can’t go to my flat, and I definitely can’t run.
Maybe sometimes the only choice is to take a leap of faith. To trust. Maybe sometimes it means defying all logic and leaping into the unknown with nothing but your parachute strapped to your back. Leaping into the air and pulling the cord, believing that you’ll land on two feet.
I’ll settle for not dying.
I point my gun down and remember where my knife is.
