18. Sawyer #2
“But most of all, fuck you for believing you have any right to be anything other than a monster. I hate you. I know at least a hundred and fifty other women who hate you. I bet by the time you’re in the ground, even these animals will hate you.
Because you’re filth. You’re nothing. You’re…
” Her hand shakes as she combs it through her hair. “God, you’re pathetic.”
“I’m pathetic.” Breath fogs in a single puff as I laugh. “If I were like you, maybe I would sit around hoping for backup. Maybe I would bitch and moan and wait for some unsuspecting moron to feel sorry for me.”
She stands up straight, eyes widening as her chest expands, as if making the point before I get to the punchline.
“But I don’t have tits like yours.”
Crack.
I hear it before I feel the sting on my cheek, before I even see Liberty’s hand fly. My head turns on impact. My eyes close. But there’s only a flicker of pain before my face numbs to it, cold nipping heated flesh.
You’re as weak as you look.
I want to say it, but I don’t. The tension seems punctured somehow, the wind whipping colder.
When I open my eyes, Liberty is watching me closely—as one does when they’re trying to piece together a reputation with an ill-fitted face. How could Angel have ever loved him? I wonder if she asks herself that question every day. If I poison her thoughts as often as she poisons mine.
I hope so.
But then…
I hope not.
Liberty looks away, head half turned as she recovers. She presses a hand to her throat and coughs before she speaks. “This was pointless.”
She turns toward Aiden and tosses me a look over her shoulder. “I’m going back… Don’t follow me.”
“We’re here.”
Liberty pauses. Eyes skeptical, she faces me.
My cheek is still numb, my limbs heavy, but I manage to point at a hill twenty yards away.
Two young girls play with dolls, their dresses spilling onto a picnic blanket that protects them from the melting snow.
It’s warmer today—above freezing, at least—but the matching coats buttoned to their chins still leave their legs cold.
Ruffled tulle hits just above the ankles.
One dress is green. The other…
“Did Thorne tell you what white means?”
Liberty’s head tilts. Meaning seems to settle instead of click—her jaw gradually releases; her face slowly pales.
A high-pitched doll impersonation carries to where we stand, as if emphasizing the point. Another answers, their voices growing louder in the silence. More girlish.
“Her name is Persephone.” The girl in green spots us staring. When she gives a tentative wave, I wave back. They turn to face the forest, voices no longer audible. “She was at Aurelius’s mansion a few mornings ago… Not for the first time.”
Liberty’s eyes run over the girl’s back.
“She’s…”
“Yes.”
Her shoulders fall as she lets out a breath, brows pulling together. Aiden is slowly approaching, so I get close to Liberty and speak low.
“This isn’t just about you, me, or Aubry.” I stab a thumb to my chest. “They’re using me,” I point at her, “to breed you,” my thumb crooks at the young girl, “so that they can birth that.”
I pause just long enough for that to land. “It isn’t enough to leave. They have to be stopped.”
Liberty shakes her head. “How?”
“I don’t know… I’m not as versed in dismantling organizations as you-know-who, which is why we need him here. He’s on the outside. He can learn the ins and outs of this place from a different vantage point.”
“But how… I mean, aren’t they monitoring you? Why wouldn’t you just contact the police?”
I let my head fall to the side at that last comment, but Liberty looks so concerned, I let it go. She tucks her hair behind her ears and looks anxiously at Aiden.
“Just a second,” I tell him.
“This is a walk, Mr. Hansley.”
I open my mouth to argue but instead start walking again. Liberty matches my pace, her arm brushing against mine.
“I’ve been sending messages to random girls all week who fit your niece’s profile… Our friend knows the language I use. If I send your niece a message, he’ll notice it immediately. All I have to do is disable the VPN then—”
“No.” Her voice is so loud, I look over my shoulder at Aiden who’s trailing behind. I don’t think he’s trying to listen to this conversation, which… No surprise. Luna would want to hear this firsthand.
My fingers nudge the corners of my jacket pocket in search of some sort of mass hiding in the seams. If there’s a bug, it’ll be tiny.
There’d better be a bug.
“You’re not messaging her. Do not even think about doing that.”
Don’t even think about it.
Good God, I hope Luna is as naive as Liberty.
“What should I do then? Shoot our friend an email?”
“I don’t know, just…” Liberty’s head shakes as she searches for something. “Just figure something else out.”
I let several seconds pass while I pretend to think about it—as if it isn’t already done, the seen stamp beneath my message loud and clear.
I steer us so we’re on the path heading back toward the Nurturer’s compound. Luna is smart to put her there, given Liberty’s maternal nature. Not just smart, but intuitive. Calculating.
My heartrate quickens. This wouldn’t be the first time I thought I had the upper hand—and lost.
“Okay,” I say at last. “I’ll figure something out.”
Liberty glances at me before facing forward. Her top teeth chew her lip. “Thank you…”
The walk back is quieter, the anger between us noticeably diminished. She hates me. I dislike her. But we have a common goal now, even if I forced it on her.
As the compound comes into sight, Liberty fidgets.
I’ve been lost in a count, my teeth tapping, but I pause to take her in.
She clears her throat. “The guy you mentioned… Aurelius. He came by this morning to invite me to dinner. He said Aubry and I would be the guests of honor.” The way she says guests of honor reminds me of a child meekly whispering a third Bloody Mary.
“I was going to go just so I could tell them all to fuck themselves in one place, but…”
But that would be stupid. And honestly, on brand.
“What do you think I should do?” she asks.
I don’t hesitate. “You should eat the food and be quiet.”
Liberty’s face twists with uncertainty that I’ve only recently begun to understand. In her mind: complacency equals weakness. Even false complacency.
“Do you want me to try to get an invitation?” I ask when she starts chewing on her lip again.
We stop as we reach the door to the compound. Aiden hovers ten feet behind us.
Liberty takes a deep breath, looks at Aiden, looks at the door, roams the courtyard before finally looking at me.
“If I ask you a question, will you be honest with me?”
I nod. “Of course.”
“Do you have any kind of influence here? I mean are you…” She takes another deep breath. “Are you able to protect me … at all?”
Yes.
The word almost jumps off my tongue, though after last night, I know that isn’t true.
“I wouldn’t have put you here if I couldn’t protect you.” My voice is full of confidence. Of care that sounds so genuine I have to believe it myself. “We’re in this together, Lib…”
When her eyes darken, I know I’ve made a mistake. It isn’t quite anger that returns, but deep-seated contempt. The kind that makes you bitter. The kind that keeps you up at night, speeches forming in your mind you know you’ll never get to give. Only now, she has her chance.
“Let me be perfectly clear,” she says in a low, vicious tone, out of ear shot from Aiden. “Your attempt to get me on board with your reckless, selfish, abominable plan has worked. I want that little girl out of here just like you knew I would. And I’m willing to work with you to make it happen.”
She juts a finger toward my chest.
“But we both know you couldn’t give a shit about her.
Or me. Or anyone else in the world but yourself.
So just…” She shakes her head in disgust. “Save your breath. You’re gonna protect me because if you don’t, you-know-who will hunt you for the rest of your life.
You’re gonna get that girl out because you know we won’t help you if you don’t.
“You’re selfish. You’re cold-blooded. And I see you… I’ve always seen you.”
When Aiden steps forward, Liberty’s spine straightens and she barges into the building so another Keeper can escort her to Thorne. Thorne, who she’s known a day but still somehow has won her obedience. Thorne, who physically kidnapped her.
Fuck him.
Fuck her.
Aiden says nothing to me as we walk back to Aurelius’s mansion. It’s so awkward that I’m convinced he caught at least pieces of that conversation. Or he just knows how to read a room.
When I’m inside, I pull off the jacket and go about searching for a bug. It’s well hidden, tucked inside a loose stitch, so it takes me a half hour to find it.
I hold it up in front of me before tucking it back inside the jacket.
She can listen for a while longer.