Chapter 5 #2
“Oh yeah, sure,” I said, but felt warmth for him leaking in - it never really left.
He was the best part of my time in Chicago.
He really did have a kind heart. Better than mine.
He was the good of us, and though he knew what I did for a living, did something similar for his family, he hated it.
I was unbothered by the act of murder, of ending the lives of those pathetic little shits running from their responsibilities, but it upset him.
We helped each other out whenever it was needed.
We were silent for a moment before he asked, “How is she?”
More solemn, I considered Violet for an outsider.
She was okay. She seemed to be doing well, considering all that had happened.
And I thought about what she’d told me, about how she wanted to kill them all.
That lease, that drive and ambition, was pushing her along.
Giving her a place to fight, a thing to fight when she couldn’t go right to Rafe.
She can’t change what he did to her, that will be deep-rooted in her soul for eternity, but she can change what’s to come, mold the future without Rafe in it. Heal herself.
“She’s… asleep,” I replied, wincing, knowing he wouldn’t accept that.
He’d been there through the darkest moments, helping me hunt her down when she went missing on the cameras.
I suspect he watched me enter that cabin, then minutes later drag her out, beaten and unconscious.
So I gave him more. “Healing up, Christian. Thanks to your help.”
“I only did what was right.”
“How did you get this number?” I asked him, too curious., knowing he would give me some convoluted, hacky answer I wouldn’t understand anyway.
“You weren’t hard to keep track of,” he told me. “You need to do better. I saw the footage in New York, and I tracked you from there. An apartment block, then out of the city. Too easy if you know how.”
Panic heated my gut, and I stood up straighter, tension creeping in. “Are we—”
“You’re safe,” Christian interrupted. “But you were spotted when you drove through TOWN yesterday. Keep out of anything larger than the most rural of areas and you should be fine. But don’t go backwards. As far as I can tell, it’s only me hot on your tail.”
“Why, Chris?” I asked, unable to restrain myself. “Why kee—”
“Don’t, buddy,” Christian said. “We’re friends. That’s enough.”
I sighed, struggling with that. Why would he help unless he had to?
But I trusted the man, if he was hiding something from me, it wasn’t going to hurt us.
“We were thinking of coming to Chicago,” I admitted.
Well, I had been. I had contacts there, like Christian, and I knew the area.
We could hide out and recuperate with all my shit, with the roads I know and the people I could fight.
Home turf, kind of. Not as homely as the UK, but a flight was risky, an airport too much like a train station. Chicago seemed the right call.
Christian sighed. “I’ve kept an eye on your place.
It’s being watched. Everywhere is. I’ve had someone tailing me, too.
I don’t know who they are yet, though. Cops or family.
But… it’s not safe here. Any city. Until I can figure out just how far-reaching this whole thing is, this church, best stay tucked away. ”
“I’m sorry, mate,” I responded, my chest squeezing at the thought of having fucked something up so massively for my friend. He was the only real mate I had, and even now that I’d ruined this for him, his safety, he was still thinking of me.
“No.” He was blunt, and it made me smirk. “No, Theo. We get her out. We get her safe. Then we think of how to clean up the mess.”
“Right.” I nodded, though he couldn’t see me. I think. “Of course.”
“I was just phoning to give you a route to take. There’s a cabin you can stay in, off-grid, owned by my family a million times removed. I can keep an eye on it for you. There’s loads of security. It’s yours, if you want it.”
I paused. “Why are you doing this?” I asked again. “Why such a limb?”
Christian didn’t reply for a while, but I heard him breathing down the phone. I watched the trees, looking for any wildlife to distract me, or a hoard of criminals come to murder and pillage the motel…
“I hate what they’ve done, Theo. Isn’t that enough?” he said at last. I let it go. The extra he wanted to say but failed to find the words for.
“Okay,” I said, unconvinced. “That’s enough.
” I paused. “You are the biggest gem on the planet; you’re fucking star, you know that?
” And I really was so grateful. I wanted to get Violet somewhere good to rejuvenate.
It needed to be more than physical, it was mental, too.
We were going to get each and every one of those bastards, but without that foundation rebuilt beforehand, I was worried she would shatter before she had the chance to get started.
She almost did when that prick went in front of the train.
“I’ll text you the way. No one has this number for now, but learn the directions and smash the thing up, anyway.”
“Sure,” I said, that paranoia creeping back in. My eyes darted around the motel, but there was still nothing even remotely suspicious. Still, I wanted to return to Vi. I wanted to touch her and curl up under those warm sheets with her. Block the door and the world. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
“But—”
“Yeah, big owe.”
“Love you, mate,” I said and hung up, unwilling to hear his response. But the three hearts I got along with the map images made me chuckle. I looked at the map for just a moment, resolving to study it better inside.
I needed Violet.