cavern of space between us. Despite who he’s become, I couldn’t live with the thought of being the cause of his death.
My eyes burn behind the closed lids. I have enough guilt to contend with. I can’t withstand anymore.
“He’s going to be okay,” Luca whispers. “This will all be over soon.”
I hope so. I don’t know how much more of this adrenaline high I can take. The arrhythmia won’t stop. The tremble in my hands is incessant. And the pessimistic thoughts continue to multiply.
“Picture the end result.” His gravel-rich voice brushes my ear. “Focus on what it’s going to be like once we’re out of here. If not, your thoughts can become your biggest enemy.”
I comply, squeezing my eyes tighter until I see the smiling faces of my sisters as I help lead them to safety. I can’t wait to tell them they’re free. Or to fully drown in the sensation myself.
I’ll apologize to Chloe and make sure she knows I’m sorry for remaining silent while Luther made her a guinea pig to the sedative trial. And I’ll beg her forgiveness for whatever the guards took liberties to do to her limp body after Tobias and I were escorted from the mansion.
I keep picturing those moments as footsteps sound a few feet away, followed by a car door opening and closing.
“Come on.” Rough fingers provide a feather of friction against my arm, the touch lasting the slightest second before withdrawing. “We need to get moving.”
I blink him into focus, his comforting concern bearing down on me. There’s something in those hazel eyes that undo me. They unravel my focus. Create havoc. I’m sure he knows, too, because he’s the first to look away and start toward the remaining car.
“You’re in the back,” he offers over his shoulder as he makes his way to the driver’s side and climbs in behind the wheel.
Hunter already rides shotgun.
I’m left on my own. Out in the open. With no cage or threatening figure by my side. It’s a strange sensation. Welcoming and suffocating at the same time. I can breathe freely, the air seeming to carry twice as much oxygen.
Hunter lowers his window, his narrowed focus silently telling me to hurry up.
I’m not ready. Not yet. Just one more moment. One more breath before commonsense has to take over and I need to pretend I’m still a prisoner.
“I’m not an athlete,” he mutters, “so run if you like. I’m not going to chase you. But if you want to help your friends I’m fucking ready to bust some skulls.”
“I’m not running.” I stalk to the car and slide in behind him. “I want those busted skulls more than you do.”
“Then let’s do this.” Luca starts the ignition and drives lazily through the narrow streets, taking wrong turns and doubling back more than once on his way to Luther’s house.
I lean forward as my panic ratchets up a notch. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“It’s all in the plan.” He takes another wrong turn. “We’re still buying Decker time to get set up, and I want to make sure we don’t have a tail.”
“Oh.” I settle back into my seat, slightly appeased.
The confidence in Luther’s men had always been something I despised. And somehow, the trait on a good guy has the opposite effect.
No, not a good guy. Just a different type of bad. I can’t forget that.
“I’m headed in the right direction now, though, right?” He flicks me a glance in the rear-view. “Straight down this road, then take the next two lefts?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
The closer we get, the more my pulse builds. My nausea increases at the thought of my sisters already being dead. Slaughtered. I’ve seen too much death already. Vacant eyes and lifeless bodies. Sisters who came and went from this world, the scars of their suffering the only thing left behind.
“You okay?” Luca asks. “What’s wrong?”
My throat tightens, the bile climbing from my stomach. I can’t escape the darkest depths of my memories. I’m battered with snapshots. Pummeled with remembered sounds. I know what those guards are capable of and if they’ve found out Luther was murdered—
“Penny?” Luca reaches into the back seat to jostle my leg. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I fight the panic and swallow down the sickening taste building at the back of my throat. “I’m fine.”
“Fine.” Hunter scoffs. “Fuck I hate when women say that.”
“It’s not too late to back out.” Luca returns both hands to the steering wheel, his scrutiny heavy from the rear-view mirror. “All