I exhale, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I didn’t fuckingkidnapyou,”But yeah, I’m going to now,I don’t say. “You need to understand—if you stay here, they’ll hurt you. They’ll kill you.”
“Why?” she demands, her voice rising. “Why am I even here? Why did you drag me into this? What the hell is going on, Ezra?”
Her using my name feels like a punch to the gut, but I shove the feeling aside. I can’t explain everything—not yet.
“It’s complicated,” I say, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet.
She yanks it away. “Make it simple.”
There’s no time for this. My patience snaps. “Because I’m part of the Assembly, Kruz. Is that enough of an explanation for you?”
Her eyes widen, and for a moment, she looks like she might argue. But then she shakes her head, muttering under her breath, “Of course you fucking are.”
Her reaction stings more than I thought it would every time I imagined her finding out. “Look, I’ll explain later. Right now, we have to go.”
I don’t give her a chance to argue. I grab her by the wrist, not roughly but firmly enough to let her know I’m not giving her a choice.
We slip through the halls in silence. My men are either asleep or too confident in their security to expect an unannounced change in plans from me.
Idiots, every fucking one of them.
As we approach the exit, Kruz tugs on my hand. “What’s your plan here, Ezra?”
I glance back at her. “My plan is to keep you alive. That’s all you need to know right now.”
Maybe, just maybe, this is how it was always meant to happen.
I’d been waiting for spring break to make my move, biding my time, setting everything up just right. But now? Now, I don’t have to wait. She’s here. On her way to hopefully being out of their reach. And with that, everything shifts—everything moves forward sooner.
Better this way.
Quicker.
Potentially cleaner.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.
But if I fail, she’ll pay the price.
We both will.
As we step into the night, she shivers against the cold. I pull her closer, shielding her from the worst of it. She doesn’t resist.
"Where are we going?"Her voice is softer now, a thread of resignation woven through the words.
"Somewhere safe,"I murmur, though the lie tastes bitter on my tongue.
Because the truth is, there is no safe place. Not from what’s coming. Not from the chaos that’s about to tear through everything I’ve built.
And when the dust settles, I’ll be the one left standing in the wreckage, forced to face the consequences of throwing every careful plan I had straight to hell.
4
I FEEL LIKE SOMEONE SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER
KRUZ
The boat rocksbeneath my feet, the cold wind cutting through the layers I’ve somehow managed to keep wrapped around me. The waves slam against the sides, each jolt sending another wave of nausea rolling through me. Everything spins—inside my head, around me—until I can’t tell which way is up.
