by Nora Flite
On my way to the sunroom, I spot Annie crossing ahead in the hall. She's alone, and that prompts me to speak. “Dominic is back.”
Her purple pumps lock in place on the carpet. She's at the tip of the T that the floors create. I can't get to sunroom without passing her. “You say it like you knew before I did.”
I'm used to her barbed manners. Plus, I'm extra cocky with my freedom so near. “You didn't miss him at all, did you?”
There's a mystery injected in her smile. “Did you?”
Yes, I think. I come close to spilling it. “I need to go meet my dad, excuse me.” I get halfway around her. The dark sleeve of her sheath dress blocks me.
“You've been here a long time,” she whispers. Her molten amber eyes remind me of how Dominic's look now. “But you're still terrible at lying to me.”
Panic bolts into my throat. It creates beads of sweat. “What?”
“When you say excuse me, you should sound like you mean it.” She backs away, releasing me from her glare. The way she strolls off, I might as well not exist. That's how little she's thinking about me.
Holy fuck, I think, wiping at my neck. I'm all hot and nervous. For a second I was sure she knew my plans. But if she did, she wouldn't leave me alone. No one is that confident, not even Annie.
Summoning my strength, I half-run to the sunroom. The guard nods at me, his shirt stitched with the name Theo. I recognize him because I've committed everyone who enters this estate to memory.
Dad isn't here yet. That's normal. Since his original visit years ago, I'm always early. It's easy for me because I live here. He has to drive all the way from some apartment complex where he lives with my family. They were moved there right after I left our cabin.
It had made me depressed at the time, thinking about our empty cabin. But that's all going to change after today. Setting myself on the wicker couch, I slump comfortably. I'm too happy to be anxious. This sunny room, with its fresh flowers, has brought me many blessings. It's a wonderful room.
I survey it, and I think, Goodbye.
THE SUN HAS MOVED BEHIND the clouds. Dad has never arrived later than dinnertime, and it's rapidly approaching.
Theo's walkie-talkie beeps sharply. He lifts it to his broad mouth. “Yeah?”
“Code orange,” a robotic voice buzzes.
Theo blinks. He clicks the device again. “What's that?”
I lean forward, listening in as my paranoia grows.
“Code orange, code—he's fucking run again, dick head!”
I inhale so violently it burns my nostrils. Again. That word removes all questions on whom code orange is about. Theo peeks at me, then he starts running down the hall. “On my way!” he hisses into the walkie-talkie.
I'm left there in the sunroom with nothing but my growing despair. Dad said he was coming for me. But he didn't. Maybe he tried, I think quickly. Did someone figure everything out, so he had to leave without me? That has to be it.
It makes sense. Too bad it doesn't heal my damaged heart.
Dad ran again.
He got free.
And I didn't.
There's a hard ball in my guts. It expands, causing great waves of nausea. I cross my arms around my middle, gritting my teeth. What if he took everyone else but me? I think of my mom, of Dean who's no longer a baby, and when my hair swings around and tickles my knee... I think of Kara.
What would she do? I close my eyes, certain she wouldn't sit here feeling sad for herself. Kara always shined like a star that burned those around her. I can burn, too, I think, looking at the hallway.
In the time that I've lived here, I've never tried to escape. Not once. I was sure that the magical time called “soon” was waiting in the wings. But I was wrong. No one is going to save me. It's time to do it myself.
On the balls of my sneakers, I inch out of the sunroom. There's no one in the hallway. Holding my breath, I creep closer to the front doors. Hot pressure throbs through my skull the closer I get to the exit.
Voices float my way; I pick out pieces:
“...all the cameras acting strange.”
“Heard it was a fire, or something, but...”
“Wait, who was supposed to be escorting him?”
I stick enough of my face around the corner to see the front room. There are more guards gathered there than I've ever seen in one place. I count them, my heart racing. That's every single guard on the estate. They're here, trying to figure out where my dad is. And they're angry, their faces crimson as they shout blame at each other. Someone is in big trouble—this is a huge fuck up.
If they're all here, no one is watching the grounds. Backing up, I scurry quietly towards the kitchens. There are voices here, too, but less of them. I can see most of the wide room from where I flatten myself in the hall. Two woman are whispering by a stove, huddling.
“Laiken?”
Startled by Emma, I spin. She's got her arms full of tablecloths.
“If you're not busy,” she says, moving closer, “Help me with these.”
I think my eyes might fall from my head. She pauses, considering me with her eyebrows scrunched. She can tell something is wrong. Her hands adjust on the clothes like she's about to drop them and snatch at me.
I bolt.
“Laiken!” she screams. Ignoring her, I sprint through the kitchen. The two maids gape as I blast by them. It takes me three seconds to reach the French doors and yank them open, but it feels like eternity.
Then I'm outside.
October has turned the evening crisp. I'm glad for it; my whole body is scalding. It grows hotter as I run over the grass, guided by the lights along the property. I don't have much of a plan, just a drive to do something.
Remember, the guards are distracted inside! No one is watching the gates! I slip on the greenery under my sneakers. It's brighter where the long driveway is. Through the painted glass front doors I hear the men's voices rising.
There are no stars above, but when I pass Dominic's blue car, I swear it sparkles. Then the headlights blast me, leaving me blind. I throw my arms up and wince. “Laiken!” It's Dominic—he was in the front seat, ready to drive somewhere.
I freeze like a deer. It's brief, but I know it costs me. Dominic is out of the car already. In the evening his eyes are black pools. No light reaches them. He's fucking fast, long limbs powered by raw muscle. I can't escape.
Then I think about Kara...
And I try anyway.
“Laiken, stop!” His voice is commanding. It grapples with some primal part of me that wants to do as he says. It's confusing, because I never listen to anyone. My cells think Dominic is different. I scream at my body that it's wrong, to listen to me, and keep running.
He tries to snatch my arm as I cut over the driveway towards the gates. Amazingly, he misses. Spurred on by hope I dig for every ounce of energy I have. I'm the fastest person on this estate.
Or I was until Dominic came back.
Thick fingers catch my long braid just as I reach the curved gates at the end of the driveway. “Ah!” I cry, ignoring the pain, gripping the metal poles as I work to shake him off. Dominic holds my hair tight. My promise to my sister to never cut my hair becomes a liability.
Kara.
Red blooms in my vision. “Let me go!” I scream, thrashing in spite of the pain. He releases me, but the joy is brief—both palms clamp down on my shoulders. He spins me in a single motion; it's easy for him.
“Hold still,” he growls.
“No!” My forearms twinge from how fiercely I pull away. He doesn't relent. When he shoves my spine against the fence, the cool metal helps clear my head. He looms over me like a bad dream. Everything in his expression is blurred by shadow. “Dominic, let go of me,” I beg. “It's my only chance to escape. Please.”
In the distance I hear shouts. More guards are coming.
“Please,” I say again.
He's quiet, barely breathing. Our bodies are pushed together. The fence is hard, but somehow, he'
s harder. Is he thinking it over? My joy grows anew; it's fragile but it's there. Dominic knows me. Once upon a time, he even saved me.
I know he'll help me. He has to.
I'm vibrating with adrenaline. On edge, I easily hear how he pulls in a ragged breath. It forces me to realize how his chest is touching mine. I've never had a man so close to me, especially not someone like him.
His eyes narrow. His grip goes slack, teasing me with a hint of freedom. He snatches my wrists and chokes the circulation away. “Why would you think I'd help you escape?”
The despair I experienced before returns. I scowl, standing on tiptoe and bringing our faces closer. “Because you're my friend!”
His attention darts to my lips. I don't know if he thinks I'm going to spit on him or kiss him, and I don't know which I'd rather do. “Whatever you think you know about me? You're wrong.” The guards reach us, flashlights making spotlights on the grass. They blind me, but not before I stare into his eyes one more time. They're pure ice.
Whatever happened to the sweet boy from my past is a mystery. But Dominic is right.
I don't know him.
I wonder if I ever did.
- Chapter 11 -
Dominic
When I get to my father's study there are multiple guards outside of the room. He's inside, sitting at his desk, but when he sees me he jumps up, throwing his arms at the men in uniform. “Go!” he shouts, “Get out of here. Annie, close the door.”
I didn't see my mother in the corner when I walked in. She slams the door, leaving us three alone. His study smells like stale dust and uncomfortable memories. I hate this room. I hate everything about it
“You,” he says, pointing at me. “Sit. Talk.”
I don't sit, but I move over to the circular chair like I'm going to. “I don't know what happened,” I say. “When I left the complex he was still inside.”
My mother barks a laugh. “I don't know why I'm shocked that you managed to mess everything up just by coming home.”
I'm used to her insults, my wounds are covered by layers of scar tissue. I keep my eyes fixed on my father. “If you want to yell at someone, yell at your idiotic security team. Not just the ones at the complex—the ones here were loitering in the front of the house, not paying attention to where or what was going on around them. Laiken got all the way to the gates before I caught her.”
“You should've let her go,” he says. “She could have led us right to her dad.”
I frown mildly. “You think she knows where he is.”
“Of course she does!” my mother shouts. She strides around the room, her legs cutting like shears. “Letting Joseph have so much privacy was a mistake. We rewarded him, and this is how he thanks us, by siphoning our accounts?” Her hair is tied back in the same bun it always is. It makes her forehead gleam like an egg. “Feeding his plan to Laiken would have been simple. They met, what, twice a month?”
My father clutches at his skull, his face glowing an awful red color. “If she knows anything, we need to find out.”
A wriggling, sickening hunk of unease sticks in my throat. If my parents think Laiken has any information, they won't show any mercy to get it from her. Why do you care? I ask myself. Let them do what they need to. You should be thinking the same way.
Success at all costs.
And yet... “Her escape seemed desperate,” I say slowly. “Not well planned. I don't think she knows anything.”
“Your instincts have already failed us,” Annie says. Her heels click over the floor, reminding me of the chattering of bugs at night. She passes by me on her way to the exit; a woman on a mission. “Laiken can help us find Joseph. That's a fact.”
A worthless, dangerous, painful spike of protectiveness that I want nothing to do with spreads through my whole body. I clench my fists, trying to end this desire to intervene. My mother is right. Interviewing Laiken is the logical next step.
“Who will you get to interrogate her?” I blurt the question.
Annie grabs the doorknob, not gracing me with a glance. “I'll do it myself. If she knows even a lick of info, I'll slice it from her body.”
Ice travels the length of my spine at the word slice. I'm worried she plans to literally cut Laiken into pieces.
“Dominic?” Silas asks.
I'm crushing the tops of my thighs with my own hands. Forcing my tendons to relax, I fold my palms together. Thinking about that girl with her easy smile and quick tongue being assaulted by whatever horrors my mother can come up with makes my stomach turn. Part of me wants to block it out. If I focus on our goals, what my family needs and wants, I can forget about her.
I dare to look at my mother's face.
There's a gleam in her pupils, a hint of eagerness. This isn't about getting information, not entirely. She's ready to hurt Laiken, not out of obligation, but because she lusts for it.
“No,” I say. My mouth is parched, my words gritty. “I'll do it.”
Annie lets go of the door, flustered by my offer. “What, you?”
My father's pointed glare shuts her up. I suspect he's trying to prove to her that it wasn't a mistake to let me back into their fold. “Fine. She's all yours,” he says seriously. “Drain her of everything she knows.”
Two emotions tug me apart—relief and regret. I start for the door, dreading what I've agreed to do. As I come level with my mother by the exit, she speaks to me. Her voice is crisp as a frozen pond. “Don't go easy on her. If you do, I'll know. It's important you don't disappoint us.”
When I arrived today, I had every intention of never disappointing my parents again.
I was sure I could do it.
Now I'm not.
- Chapter 12 -
Laiken
I'm taken to my bedroom by the guards. The lock on the door 'clicks' on the outside; the first time I've heard that sound. I'm reeling with the events. Pacing the room, I squeeze my arms into a pretzel. How could this happen? It's a catchall sentence for everything: my dad's escape without me, and Dominic's reveal as my enemy.
Remembering his scalding glare makes me shiver. I slide my hands up my arms, touching my shoulders where his hard fingers were. I can't believe how wrong I was to assume he'd help.
When we were young, I hadn't asked him to be part of any escape plan. He hadn't offered, either. Back then I'd been sure my release was just weeks away. Hell, I'd thought I'd be gone before Dominic's first holiday break from school.
He hadn't even come home. He's here now, though. But he's nothing like I expected him to be. Something has changed him, I tell myself. That's the only explanation. My memories about him aren't wrong—they can't be. He was kind. He was my friend. He's something else entirely now.
I traverse the room from one side to the next. I pivot, fingers drumming on my forearms. If I can't hold still, I'll stay busy. Opening my bathroom door I head to the sink. My skin is tight all over, like I'm an overheated grape. I could split apart any second. Running cold water I splash my face. My braid flips over my shoulder, the end getting soaked in the basin. I leave it.
Why did he come back? The question catches me by surprise. Not because I didn't wonder earlier when I saw him by his car, but because it shouldn't be at the forefront of my mind now. I should focus on my situation; what I'll do now that Dad is gone.
The bedroom door slaps open. It hits the wall stopper, bouncing back, and Dominic catches it. I lock up by the sink with the water still running. We can see each other through the doorframe. “Did you know?” he growls, his massive form advancing, blocking me in the bathroom.
I arch my head high, my braid falling back behind my shoulder. It rains water down my legs. “Know what?” I match his angry tone.
“That your father was going to escape tonight?”
Don't react, I tell myself. I continue glaring up at him. I wonder if I can win this contest. I don't know what's at stake if I lose, but it can't be good. “No, I didn't.”
Dominic leans closer. Our noses are an
inch apart. He's quiet, hoping I'll breakdown under his intensity. He's done this before, I realize. It comes natural for him. He's an inked beast, ready to dominate anyone who challenges him. I'm almost done counting his eyelashes before he turns away. “If you didn't know, then why did you try to break out at the same time?”
I consider not responding. Give him something; he might go easier on you. “I overheard the code orange stuff.”
“And that, what, motivated you?”
“It was...” I flex my hands, too tired to fight my actual bitterness. “I saw a chance and took it. Can you blame me?” My chuckle is humorless. “I waited here all this time like a good little prisoner, and in the end, he runs off without me.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“Not even a little bit.”
He stares at me then wipes his whole face with a palm. Something is bothering him. “They're not going to believe you're clueless.”
He means his parents. A painful lump moves down my throat. “Why does that matter?”
His head hangs lower. He reminds me of a bull about to charge. “Think about it. You and him met twice a month. What are the chances he kept you in the dark?”
A little fingertip of terror traces up my neck. “I seriously don't know anything.”
“That's hard to believe, Laiken.”
I'm breathing too fast—my lungs ache. I remember the day I sat with Silas, his scratchy fingers squeezing my chin. He'd told me I had nothing to fear, because hurting me was pointless. I was only leverage for my dad if I was safe.
My safety net is gone.
“Dominic, why did they send you up here?” I ask warily.
“I'm responsible for getting the truth out of you,” he whispers. Flexing his hands, he surveys the bathroom. It's small, and his presence makes it a tomb. When he shuts us in, the sound of the door is a clap of thunder in my veins.
Fuck. Fuck, what's he planning to do?
“Sit there.” He points at the toilet.