“You’re going to need an x-ray to see if anything’s been broken or fractured. It might just be that the jaws of the trap nicked the bone, which we won’t be able to do anything about. Do you know when you had your last tetanus shot?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had one.”
“Right, well, you’ll definitely need one now. I’ll get one of the nurses to clean up the wounds and put fresh dressings on them as well. That must have given you one heck of a fright.”
“Yeah, it did.”
Catalina nodded in earnest beside me. “It was awful.”
“I bet,” Doctor Tuck said. “I’ll get you those things ordered up. We are busy, though, so you’re going to need to be patient, I’m afraid.”
We could wait. It wasn’t as though we had anywhere else we needed to be.
Chapter Seventeen
Present Day
IT FELT AS THOUGH WE’D been waiting forever. I knew the hospital was busy, but I’d thought that once we’d seen a doctor, things would have gotten moving. A nurse came in to clean and dress his wounds, but then she vanished again. Angel was still in pain, and I didn’t understand why getting him some pain medication would take over an hour.
Impatient, I got to my feet. “I’ll go and see if I can find out what’s going on.”
Angelo shook his head. “We knew it was going to take a while.”
“Yeah, but not this long. You haven’t even been given any pain medication. Surely, that’s the least they can do.”
I hated seeing him in pain. He was doing his best to hide it—and had been ever since getting caught in the trap—but I noticed every time his expression tightened, his lips pinching, nostrils flaring, eyes narrowing. I wanted to take that pain away from him. I’d experience it for myself, if I could, but of course that was impossible. What wasn’t impossible, however, was someone in this hospital doing their job and giving him the meds he needed.
I was already heading toward the door, ignoring his protest. “I won’t be long,” I threw over my shoulder.
Stepping out into the corridor, I looked around for a nurse or doctor I could grab. I still felt horribly self-conscious. Though I knew I was imagining things, I couldn’t help feeling like people were able to see I was different than them. Every time I spoke, or movement I made, was like waving a flag above my head, telling strangers that I wasn’t a free person like them. I’d been raised as a sold woman, and I wasn’t sure the time would ever arrive where I would feel like everyone else.
Though my instinct was to hide and hope no one noticed me, I needed to get over my shyness for Angelo’s sake. I hadn’t spotted anyone who looked available for me to ask—the few nurses and doctors I’d passed had been in other examination rooms, busy with patients—so I kept going, heading back out to the reception area.
I stopped short, my heart lurching into my throat.
Though I’d never seen police officers in real life, I instantly recognized that this was who was currently standing at the reception desk. My pulse raced, my breath trapped in my lungs. I strained my ears, trying to pick up on what was being said.
“—a man and a woman, early twenties. Reports that they may have come...”
I didn’t wait to hear any more. Panic clutched me in its grip, and I spun away and walked at a brisk march until I thought I was no longer within sight, and then broke into a run.
I skidded along the floor, into the room, my sneakers squeaking across the linoleum. Grabbing the doorframe, I yanked myself into the room.
Angelo looked up in surprise.
“There are cops asking questions at reception,” I gasped. “They want to talk to a man and a woman in their early twenties. It sounds like us.”
“Shit.” He scrubbed his hand across his mouth, thinking. I bounced from foot to foot, wondering why he wasn’t leaping to his feet, as panicked as I was. “There’s a good chance it isn’t us that they’re looking for,” he continued. “I thought we’d covered our tracks pretty well.”
His words didn’t comfort me. “But that means there is a chance they’re after us. What if we get arrested for stealing that car? It’s not like we’re going to be able to escape police custody. Your father and Elliot Torres will find us.”
He got to his feet, leaning heavily on his good leg. “We can’t take the risk. We need to get out of here.”
I wasn’t going to argue. While I wanted him to get treated, we couldn’t risk getting arrested.
I grabbed my bag and put my arm around his waist to give him some support.
“Hang on,” he said, moving away from me again. “I need my backpack, too, and something else in it.” He bent and undid the top of the bag, and then fished out the gun, and placed it on top of all the clothing and other items. “Easy access, just in case we need it.” And then he slung the bag over his other shoulder.
“We can’t go out the front,” I said, not wanting to come face to face with the cops. They’d see there was something not quite right about us the moment they saw us. Even if we weren’t the people they were looking for, I was sure they’d still stop us and ask questions, and then there was a good chance they’d find out we’d lied to the hospital about who we were.
“There must be another way out of the hospital.”
We hurried from the room, moving as quickly as we could with Angelo’s bad leg. His cut jeans flapped around his leg, revealing the bandaged wounds beneath. I had my arm around his waist, my shoulder wedged up under his armpit on the side of his injury. We moved in a strangely lurching run, moving blindly down one corridor and then another, trying to find another way out.
“There, look.” Angelo pointed at a sign for a fire exit. “That should take us outside.”
A sudden shout came from behind us. “Hey! You! Wait!”
Angelo cursed. “Shit.”
We moved faster, hurrying along in the direction of the sign for the exit. From out of nowhere, a doctor rushed out of a room to our left, his head down, focused on a clipboard in his hands. He didn’t see us until it was too late, and we collided. I lost my grip on Angelo, and he flew backward, hitting the floor. He gave a yell of pain and his bag spilled from his shoulder, the contents scattering. Among the clothes, and the first aid kit, and the water bottle, was something black and metal.
From down the corridor, someone yelled. “He’s got a gun!”
A woman screamed.
Angelo twisted to his knees, scrambling all the stuff together and shoving it all back in his bag. We’d caused a scene, and now people were gathering, wondering what we were up to. Only the presence of the gun prevented anyone from accosting us.
I dragged Angelo back to his feet, but he kept the weapon in his hand. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
People caught sight of the gun and backed away, vanishing into rooms and slamming doors. I knew what we looked like. Criminals. If the cops hadn’t been after us, they would be now.
“Come on,” I said.
We got moving again, finally finding the fire exit and pushing our way through the door and out into the parking lot outside. Fresh air hit our faces, but night had fallen while we’d been inside the almost windowless building of the hospital.
Directly in front of us, a man was locking his car.
Angelo didn’t hesitate. He lifted the gun and aimed. “Step away from the car!”
The man turned to look at us, unsure of what was going on. “What?” Then he spotted the gun and he threw his hands up, looking around wildly. “What do you want?”
“Your car. Throw the keys over here.”
The guy bit his lower lip, but his keys were already in his hand, so he threw them underhand. They hit the ground nearby.
“Pick them up,” Angelo told me, and I scuttled forward, snatching the keys up off the ground, while Angelo kept the barrel of the gun trained on the man.
“I’m sorry to do this,” Angelo said, “but it’s an emergency.”
Shouts came from inside the
building, through the open door behind us.
I glanced back, certain I’d see the cops bursting through the doorway at any moment. “We have to go, Angel. Now!”
We threw ourselves inside the vehicle. I didn’t even have the chance to do my seatbelt up before Angel had slammed his good foot down on the accelerator, and then we were away from there.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Angel slammed his hands down on the steering wheel as he drove.
I could hardly believe what had just happened. Everything had flipped in a matter of minutes. I was still shaking, and my heart was pounding. Angelo looked pale, too. He’d never managed to get any pain meds, and the run through the hospital probably hadn’t helped matters. It was a good thing the car was an automatic. He’d have struggled to drive a stick-shift with his leg.
He tore through the streets, leaving the town behind and getting onto the highway.
“We’re not going to be able to stay in this car,” he said. “The cops will be after us, and they’ll have an alert out on the make, model, and registration number.”
I glanced back over my shoulder, checking we weren’t yet being followed. The road was mercifully clear. “We can’t stop yet. We’re still too close to the town. They’ll catch up with us.”
“Yeah, I know, but we’re going to end up with the cops on our tail.”
“We need to get off the main road.”
He pulled off the highway, taking smaller roads through the trees. I knew how this was going to end, and I didn’t like it. It was nighttime now, and we were going to end up on foot again, and with Angelo still injured.
We kept going. I sat up straight in my seat, terrified flashing lights and sirens would follow us at any moment.
“This will have to do,” Angel said, pulling over.
We needed to dump the car, just like we’d done with the previous one. We were in no better position than we’d been in before we’d gone to the hospital. Angelo drove between some trees and then stopped the engine and climbed out. I didn’t want to leave the security of the car, but wherever Angel was going, I would follow, and it wasn’t as though I even knew how to drive.
It was dark, a frightening, thick black that the moon didn’t seem able to break through. Angelo took a flashlight from his bag, but the light barely touched the darkness. It frightened me to be walking through the forest at night. We hadn’t seen the bear trap in the middle of the day, and I hated to think of all the dangers surrounding us that we were unable to see.
He stooped to pick up a branch from the forest floor that must have snapped during a bad storm. He tore off the smaller offshoots and dead leaves, so just the stick was remaining, and then used it as a crutch.
I tried not to view the use of the stick as a rebuke, though it felt that way. Angelo hadn’t made any attempt to put his arm around my shoulders to use me for support either, so I couldn’t take any comfort in his proximity. He’d rather use a stick right now then get close enough to me to use me for support instead.
No, it wasn’t all about me. The crutch was a good idea. I couldn’t support him the whole way. I wasn’t strong enough, and we had no idea how far we’d need to walk.
“Where are we going?” I asked him as we set off into the forest again.
Anger flooded off him in waves. “Right at this moment, I have no fucking idea. Okay? I didn’t exactly plan for this.”
I shrank under his harsh words. “Sorry.”
He let out a hiss of exasperation and knotted his hands in his hair. “We just need to keep moving.”
“But your leg...”
“My leg will be fine. I told you that right from the beginning, but you wouldn’t listen. We just need to keep going until we come across a motel where we can get our heads down and stay low for a while.”
“Have we got enough money left for a motel?” I asked anxiously.
“Yeah, we should have. I’ll check, but we haven’t spent much yet.” Angel rifled through his bag, holding the flashlight in one hand so he could see what he was doing. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“What’s wrong?”
“My wallet. It was in my bag, but it’s not here anymore. It must have fallen out when I dropped everything.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course I’m sure,” he snapped.
I pressed my lips together, trying to hold back tears. “It’s okay. We can do without it.”
“It’s got all the money we have in the world in it, but that’s not the worst thing. It’s also got my driver’s license. The cops will pick it up. They’ll know my real name.”
“We didn’t do anything wrong!” I cried in dismay. This all felt so damned unfair.
“Falsified paperwork. Took an unlicensed weapon into a hospital. Stole a car. Just the way we reacted would have been enough for them to run checks on my name. It’ll flash up in the system.” He tore his hand through his hair. “God damnit. I knew going to the hospital was a mistake. Why the hell didn’t I trust my own instinct?”
Tears trembled in my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Angel.”
This was all my fault. I hated that he was angry with me. It broke my heart, and I’d give anything to go back and change things. But I’d honestly thought that getting his leg checked at the hospital was the right thing to do. It hit me that I shouldn’t trust my own instincts and decisions. I knew nothing of how the world worked, other than what I’d read in books, and even then, I didn’t know what was fact and what was fiction.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” he said, shaking his head. “We just need to keep going.”
Chapter Eighteen
Twelve Years Earlier
ANGEL HAD BEEN AWAY at school for the first time ever.
I hated not having him around the compound to play with. Even though he was almost a teenager now, he was still happy to play games with me. Now I was a bit bigger, we were more equally matched when it came to kicking a soccer ball around, or playing hide and seek. Of course, being bigger and faster, he beat me every time at soccer, but my smaller size meant I was able to wedge myself into places where he couldn’t, so I always got one up on him when we played hide and seek.
These past few weeks had been miserable for me. I missed him with an ache I felt deep in my chest, like someone had carved out my heart while I’d been sleeping. Every day I woke up knowing I wasn’t going to see him, and the whole day felt like a pointless waste. I moped around the women until they grew irritated with me and shooed me away, and I struggled to concentrate in my tutor session, barely hearing what was being asked of me.
I wondered what he was doing out there, in the big, wide world. I was jealous of that world, for it to have Angel in it, when I had to go without. I hated all the boys he must be meeting in his classes and did my best to imagine what life at his school was like for him. It was impossible for me to know for sure, though, so in my head he was sitting in the same room as he’d been tutored in when he’d been younger—the same room I was in now—but instead of only being one boy, and one desk, and one tutor, those things were multiplied numerous times and all under one roof.
Did he like it at the school? Was he so happy there that he didn’t want to come back to the compound? Did he miss this place? Did he miss me?
I was terrified that he didn’t, and he hadn’t thought of me at all.
Finally, the day arrived when he was coming home again. He would do this every six weeks or so, taking a break from school to come back.
I suddenly found myself to be shy. Being shy with Angelo wasn’t something I’d ever thought about before. He’d always just been there, and so had I, so we’d simply gotten on with things. Now, he had something different about him—something that made him different from me—and I wasn’t sure how to approach him. Would he think himself too good to play with me now? Would he be all grown up and think I was just an annoying irritation?
The gates opened, the master’s big car driving through. The master had gone to pick up Angelo hims
elf. He hadn’t even sent Bruno or one of the other men. That meant this was important.
Nerves fluttered inside my stomach, and I hid, suddenly worried about seeing him again. I’d longed for him to be back for the past six weeks, but now he was here, I was afraid.
The car pulled up, and the doors opened. I held my breath in anticipation, expecting him to look different, be different. Like a whole other Angelo would have been brought home.
Angelo got out of the car and looked around with a frown. “Where’s Catalina?” I heard him ask his father.
The master shrugged. “She’ll be around here somewhere.”
His expression dropped, and I wondered if Angelo was disappointed that I was still around. Had he hoped I’d have been sent somewhere else while he was gone?
“Catalina!” he called out. “Are you hiding?”
I twisted my lips and silently slipped out from my hiding spot.
Angelo saw me and smiled. “Hey, there you are! Aren’t you pleased to see me?”
I hung back, not wanting to meet his eye. “I am.”
“Come here, then!”
He held his arms out to me, and I crossed the yard and stepped into them. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight. I kept my own arms at my sides, still unsure, so he pinned them in place. I pressed my nose against his chest, inhaling the boyish, familiar scent of him, and convinced myself to relax.
“Guess what,” he said, lowering his voice and releasing me.
I was still embarrassed, but he’d caught my interest. “What?”
“I brought you back a gift.”
My head snapped up. “You did?”
“Yes, but you have to keep it a secret. I’m not supposed to have it, okay?”
A wide grin split my face. I was very rarely given gifts. Angelo and the women came up with small items on my birthday, and Angelo had been pretending to be Santa for the past few years—something I went along with, since I could see it made him happy, too—but an actual gift from the outside world was definitely something new.
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