Chapter 54
FIFTY-FOUR
Gigi
My eyes flutter open to blinding white light. I shift, sitting up, the pain in my side intensifying to a deep, thudding ache that I manage to breathe though.
The monitor to my right beeps rhythmically, but there’s something beyond that. Muffled voices outside the door, rising. Two men shouting just beyond the wall.
I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, steadying myself. The IV tugs at my arm, and I unhook the cannula from round my wrist splint, pulling myself to a stand.
The shouting escalates.
“She’s been through enough.”
“I just need to talk to her—”
“You don’t get to talk to her, you egotistical prick.”
I reach the hallway just in time, a slight limp in my step. Harry slams Hudson against the wall, a forearm across his throat. His veins bulge with the restraint to hold him still.
“Harry!” My voice cracks as I shout it.
Hudson’s struggling, but Harry’s stronger. He doesn’t look at me, his knuckles digging into Hudson’s collarbone, grinding him further into the wall. Hudson coughs, his face flushing.
“Harry,” I demand. “Let him go.”
He finally glances back. His green eyes are wild, tousled hair in disarray, his breath trembling with rage.
“Are you going to ignore what he did?” he growls – not to me, but out loud. “Do you know how many times he let it happen and said nothing?”
“I know.”
“He let you stay there.”
“I know.”
He looks at me again, his jaw ticking as he tries to ease his fury while needing to find someone to blame. His torment is gut-wrenching, and it kills me.
Harry’s hand finally drops from Hudson’s throat. He stumbles back, coughing. The hallway is dead silent. A nurse down the hall is frozen with a clipboard in her hands.
“Leave,” Harry demands.
She nods quickly, rushing off down the hall.
I walk to Harry slowly, my fingers brushing his arm. He’s shaking.
“You can’t undo what happened.”
His eyes meet mine, fuelled with pain and something darker. “I have to try.”
He exhales like he’s been holding his breath for days.
Fuck.
I want to return to the moment I was only seventeen and he was nothing more than a shadow outside my living room. I want to clutch his hand and run away with him. I want this not to be our reality.
I love him so strongly it hurts.
Tears lining my eyes, I take his hand and squeeze softly. He pulls me steadily into his arms, planting a kiss in my hair that I know is to control the rage rattling his limbs. As I peer up, Hudson finally looks at me.
“Gigi,” he says hoarsely, “I … I should have done something.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “It’s not your fault.”
He forces a swallow to ease the lump in his throat, shuffling on his feet. “There’s something I have to tell you,” he says.
I pull my head back, stepping from Harry’s embrace. He stiffens beside me in the silence, his thumb caressing the back of my hand.
Hudson looks between us. “I know where the girls are being held.”
Ten minutes later, we’re crammed into my hospital room, the door sealed shut. I sit on the bed, with Harry perched at my side, his long legs reaching the floor. Poppy paces at the foot of the bed, and Hudson leans forward on the plastic chair close to her.
“I had to be absolutely sure,” he says. “I didn’t want to risk hope.”
“How?” Harry asks.
“When Gigi set the Circle headquarters on fire, Richard lost contact with anyone who mattered in his world. They didn’t think he was trustworthy given that his empire was targeted.
The blaze hit the east wing – cellars, cleaning closets, nothing of any value.
It sparked an idea in him as he rebuilt everything.
He’s been keeping the girls underground for safekeeping, waiting for the time to sell them at auction.
The wedding …” He grimaces, avoiding Harry’s death glare.
“It gave Richard the opportunity to speak with people in power again. They’re due to be sold any day to more people than just Hugo and his men. ”
I feel the colour drain from my face. I saw a woman months ago in the hallway. She looked spooked when she saw me, out of place. I knew she was different, but I wasn’t thinking properly at the time. The signs were right there.
This is my fault.
I drop my head into my hands, whispering, “Fuck.”
“No,” Poppy cuts in, her chin jutted towards me. “Keep your head up. You are not to blame.”
“That’s not all.”
What else? What else could possibly be worse than this? Haven’t we dealt with enough?
Harry’s eyes meet mine for a second. I’ve got you, his gaze seems to say. To Hudson, he growls, “Get on with it.”
Hudson runs a hand through his hair, the tension clear in every line of his body. “Richard has eyes on the hospital.”
That pulls the breath from my lungs.
“He’s sent two men to ask questions downstairs.”
Poppy is already at the window, her eyes narrowing in on the car park. I can’t see what she’s looking at, but judging by the echoed, “Shit,” Hudson’s telling the truth.
“I have a way out … but you’re not going to like it.”
“No.” Harry turns on him immediately. “If you’re about to say what I think you are, then I’m telling you right now, it’s not happening.”
“You know I’m right.”
I turn my face between them both. “What is it?”
Harry’s gaze flicks towards me. “He wants to take you with him.”
I blink hard, feeling my heart stumble.
“Richard knows Harry won’t leave your side now he’s killed Jamie.
The second we leave this hospital, he’s coming for you.
I say we take two cars and separate. Richard won’t suspect you’re with me.
” He turns his gaze to Poppy, who’s still staring out the window.
“You go with Harry. You’ve both fought through worse – you’ll make it out. ”
Poppy says nothing, but I see the truth behind her silence. It might be the only way we can get out of this.
“I truly think you can escape him this time,” he rushes out. “We can get the girls out too if we just work out a plan.”
“A plan?” Harry counters. “Why should we trust you? Why should Gigi trust you?”
Hudson bows his head. “Because nobody hates me more than I hate myself.”
Harry turns his head away, tension lining his jaw, but I see through the cool, indifferent mask. He knows the feeling. “And what if they catch onto us – what then?” he asks slowly. “You going to save her, Hudson Anderson? I promise you … no one will be better for her in that car than me.”
“I’m not denying that. I don’t have the skills to murder like you do, but you haven’t seen the things I’ve seen her go through. You haven’t seen the way Jamie—” He cuts himself short and sighs. “Let me set this right and give you both the best chance.”
None of us question what it means if we don’t make it out, yet it lingers in the air, unspoken. Between me and Harry, at least one of us would be free if the plan failed. We’re still a walking target while the Circle reigns.
“Let me think about it.”
Anger lines Hudson’s words. “We don’t have the time—”
“Then make time!” The words tear from Harry’s chest. “I’m not giving you a decision now, and that’s final.”
Hudson turns to me in a final plea. I feel the weight of Poppy’s stare from across the room.
One more sacrifice. One more, and this could all be over.
Harry and I could get out of this. We could flee, run for the coast, and get lost in some country abroad with new names and identities.
Nothing else would matter, as long as we have each other.
“Give us a minute,” I say quietly.
Harry watches the door close as they leave the room. He says nothing, but I see the tension in his rigid shoulders.
“What if he’s right?”
“And what if he’s not?” The muscle in his jaw tenses. “What if he takes you back?”
“He won’t.”
Harry’s words come out brittle, as if even a breath will shatter what’s left of him. “I’ve only just got you back.”
I shift on the bed, bringing myself behind him. My eyes move over the back of his neck, the circular scar at the nape that slips underneath the collar of his T-shirt. A reminder of the life that will always be chasing us.
I sit on my knees, resting my chin softly on his shoulder, my lips grazing the white patch of skin.
He lifts his head just slightly. “I don’t think I can say goodbye to you again.”
My fingers touch his jaw, turning him towards me fully. I meet his gaze as my thumbs cup his cheeks, running over the tender skin underneath his dark eyes. “Then don’t.”
I press my lips against his mouth, kissing him softly. A breath of warmth spills into my stomach, my heart plummeting to the depths of my chest.
I will fight for him, whatever it takes.
“I’m not losing you again.”
“You won’t,” I whisper. “We’ll survive this. We always survive.”
I blink awake, adjusting to the darkness. Poppy is slumped on the sofa opposite, her head resting in her palm, breathing soft. Hudson’s jumper hangs loose on her knees.
I lie still for a moment, my eyes flicking towards the crack of light beneath the door. Hudson and Harry are standing just outside, speaking quietly. Harry stands nearest, his shadow stretching into the room.
“You sure you can get her through the checkpoints?”
Hudson answers him even lower. “I’ve got it covered. A doctor will be waiting for you down south to check Gigi’s recovery before you travel onwards.”
The quiet stretches taut.
“If anything happens to her …”
Harry’s letting me go. And even though it’s the smart move and the one I asked him to make, it feels like tearing open a wound that barely started to heal.
“But just give me one last day with her.”
Hudson says nothing, but I imagine he nods.
I keep my breathing even, feigning sleep, as the door creaks open. I feel Harry’s eyes through the crack in the entryway, his stare lingering as if he’s remembering.
Then, finally, he breathes, “Take her.”