Chapter 34
CHAPTER 34
I stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the airport tarmac, watching planes take off, land, and roll to their gates. One of them is mine, ready to take me far away when all I want to do is run back to Marcus.
I look down at the two wrinkled boarding passes Chaz handed me when I agreed to do this. He told me he would have my flight records wiped along with his so Nick couldn’t track us down. The plan is for him to text Nick and tell him where I’ll meet him with the diamonds but get me on a plane to Taiwan with them instead. Chaz will also be on a plane to somewhere no one will ever find him.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I stare at the dark screen. I turned it off when I left the hospital, but…
I press the power button, and the screen comes to life. I choke on my own air as stacks of missed texts and calls from Marcus appear on my screen, one by one. My fingers flex. I shouldn’t read them. I should delete them so I stay strong, but I’m not and don’t want to be.
Marcus: Where are you?
Marcus: Nurse says I can go home.
Marcus: Mei? I’m sorry about what I said earlier. Let’s figure out where we’re going. Come back to my room.
Marcus: Your phone shows you’re home??? I really hope it’s wrong because it’s not safe there.
Marcus: MEI??????
Marcus: Where are you? Call me.
Marcus: Did you really leave? All your stuff’s gone. Don’t do this. We can talk about this.
Marcus: What do you mean by fixing? How are you going to fix anything by leaving? That fixes nothing and busts everything into thousands of pieces.
Marcus: Where are you? I’ll come to you, just answer your phone and we can talk about it.
Marcus: Please don’t do this.
I squeeze my eyes shut, clenching my phone in my fist. I don’t want to do this. I should call him. Just once, to explain. He knows I’d never leave him, but if I call and tell him my plan, he’ll try to stop me. He’ll call his dad or the police, and Nick will go free again. That, and if the cops get involved, my time apart from Marcus could be much longer than the five days I’m giving it now.
I stare at his picture on my phone: a close-up of him lying on his side of the bed at The Palazzo, his blue eyes talking to me. If his eyes could see mine now, they’d tell him everything I can’t.
But until this is all worked out, I have to go to Taiwan alone, and Marcus can’t know.