I sigh, tilting my head back against the wall. Might as well just say it.
"Her husband has been stealing money from me." I shrug.
She freezes. Blinking. Processing.
It’s not that out of the ordinary for the Assembly, but I suppose for someone like her, someonenormal…
Well. It probably sounds insane.
"What?"
I glance at her, jaw tight. "All that matters now is that it wasn’t supposed to be you. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Her mouth parts slightly, like she wants to say something but doesn’t quite know where to start. "So... what? You meant to kidnap another woman just because their husband is a piece of shit?"
I nod, slowly. "Yes."
She doesn’t move, doesn’t even blink. "Why make her pay for his sins?"
"We wouldn’t have hurt her."
Irritation flickers across her face. "Yeah. Just like you didn’t hurt me."
My jaw tightens. "Thatwas never supposed to happen, and the man who thought it was a good idea to be as rough with you as he was paid for that little misstep."
Silence stretches between us, thick and charged, before she finally exhales, shaking her head. "Jesus Christ."
She presses a hand to her forehead, like she’s trying to piece together the logic of it all, trying to make sense of how she got tangled up in this.
"So, let me get this straight. You were planning to kidnap some man’s wife, but instead, I got taken by mistake?"
I nod once. "That’s the gist of it."
Her laugh is disbelieving, barely there. "Unbelievable."
She looks away, toward the window, and for the first time since this conversation started, I can see it. The realization that none of this was about her, not really, that she’s caught in the crossfire of something she never asked to be a part of.
But then, after a beat, she speaks again. "And now what?"
I don’t have an answer for that, at least not one I can give her.
And judging by the way her shoulders tense, she knows it too.
“I guess we’ll just play it by ear,” I lie.
She glares at me. “We both know you’re full if shit, and I think if you want me to stop planning ways to bash your head in with the nearest blunt object, you’ll give me something more than that.”
That fire. That defiance. Even now, it makes something in me tighten.
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “I have a plan.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Her voice drips with sarcasm. “Why couldn’t you just let me go? Why bring me here?”
I meet her gaze, serious now. “Because if I had let you go, you’d be dead.”
She flinches. Just barely, but I see it. The reality is setting in.
Her next words are quieter. “Are we safe here?”
