she whispered.
“In a few days.”
“What will you do then?”
I wouldn’t have to worry about it. “Not sure…”
She kept her head down and continued to eat.
“Thank you for everything.” I needed to express my gratitude, to tell her how much her friendship meant to be before I never saw her again. “You’re a good person, Bethany.”
She lifted her gaze and looked up. “Don’t talk like that. You’ve survived this long…”
I was dressed and ready to go.
I waited for the sound of footsteps, waited for my final meal to be delivered.
His feet climbed onto the porch. They came closer before he opened the door.
I turned to look at him.
He shut the door behind himself then sat across from me. There was no hot cocoa this time. There was just the tray of food. He handed it to me before dropping his hood and revealing his face.
I started to eat even though I wasn’t hungry.
“Take your time. We need to wait thirty minutes.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.” He kept his gloves on with his head bowed, barely looking at me.
I ate the dinner in my lap, sitting close to the man who had bedded me the night before. That fire hadn’t returned, probably because we were both focused on the next part of this plan. “If I don’t get a chance to talk to you again…I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
Like always, there was no acknowledgment of my words.
I shouldn’t have to thank him for what I was entitled to—freedom. But that was the world we lived in.
I finished everything on my plate then set the tray on the nightstand.
Now we just sat together, the minutes trickling by.
“I’m afraid.” I let the words escape my lips, abandoning all pretense because he knew me inside and out at this point. He knew me in a way no one on the outside did, not even my sister.
He lifted his chin and looked at me, his brown eyes trying to read further into my words.
“I’m not afraid of dying. I’m not afraid of pain. I’m afraid of losing this…of losing this chance.”
He regarded me with his signature hard gaze. “Then cross that river.”
I gave a slight nod.
“You have the map?”
I patted my thigh.
He rose to his feet and returned the chair to the wall.
I knew it was time.
He moved to my tub and pulled out a tool from his pocket. Then he started to slam it down onto the faucet, breaking it from the wall until the metal clanked into the bottom of the basin.
“What are you doing?”
He grabbed the faucet then turned back to me. He came closer to me until he grabbed my hand and placed the piece of metal within my grasp.
Still confused, I never took my gaze off his face.
“Dinner is finished so there shouldn’t be any guards around. But someone will find me sooner rather than later.”
“Find you…?” My voice broke because I already suspected where this was going.
“When I open the door, you’re going to have to hit me with that.” He spoke so plainly, like this wasn’t a big deal at all. “Hit me in the head. Knock me out. Then go.”
I lowered my hand to my side. “No…”
He released a deep sigh. “It’s the only way—”
“I’m not going to hit you!”
“If you don’t, they’re going to assume I helped you escape. You need to hit me, and you need to hit me hard enough to make this believable. I’m a strong guy, so it would take a lot to slow me down.”
My eyes watered because I was disgusted by the price of my freedom. “No…”
“You’re protecting me. The way I protected you.”
I shook my head, the water welling up in my eyes until I formed tears. “It’s not the same—”
“It’s exactly the same.”
“If I hit you with this thing, I could kill you.”
“I could have killed you.”
I shook my head, tears dripping down my cheeks. “Please don’t make me do this. Please don’t make me—”
“It’s the only way.”
I quickly wiped my face with my hands, fighting the panic spreading through my body.
“I’m leaving in a few days—so this is your only chance.”
I took a deep breath and forced my tears to stop. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. I can’t hurt you. I just can’t do it…” This man was the only thing separating me from execution. He was the only reason I still breathed.
He stepped closer to me, his hand moving to my arm, giving me a strong squeeze. “You can do this. Do