“Yes.”
I smile and head back to turn the shower on, closing the door behind me. My heartbeat pounds loudly like it’s vying for my attention, and my stomach churns from nerves.
One extra pill. Not even that, maybe half, and I’ll buy myself enough time to get up, slip out and be back. I’ll have to be early. Torino is due at six a.m., but he’ll think I'm still with Benjamin as long as he stays asleep. Getting back in will be more difficult, but this is it, the only shot I have.
I turn the spray off and towel down then open the door to make sure Benjamin can see me. He likes to… appreciate my body whenever he can. So, I smooth cream onto my skin and face before pulling the medicine cabinet door open.
My hands shake as I break the foil seal and crumble the first pill into the tumbler on the side. The breath hitches in my lungs as I break another and tip some of the powder in.
Benjamin doesn’t have a direct line of sight to my position at the sink, but I’m still gambling with my life. I cover the powder in an inch of water and then strut out, still naked, to deliver his sleeping tonic.
He takes it, his eyes riveted to my breasts, downs the liquid and hands me back the glass. “I want you naked tonight,” he says, tossing back the covers so I can slide in.
It’s going to be a long night.
Two hours later, Benjamin’s regular deep breaths sound like a metronome in the room. I pull out the burner phone from its hiding place, ready to get the information to them. If they don’t take this intel, I don’t know what else I’ll be able to do. I text the only number stored.
Meet this morning. 5 a.m. Information on Cane. The Obelisk. Central Park.
It’s two in the morning. The likelihood of a reply is slim. Hell, I might have set this all up, and Andreas might not get the message in time.
The numbers on the clock tick past, getting closer and closer to what feels like my execution date. Once I do this, once I move against Cane, then my life is marked because despite my intentions being firmly aimed at Cane, Benjamin will feel the betrayal, too.
When the numbers finally read 4:30 a.m. I creep from the bed and pull on some running clothes as well as a large hoodie hiding in the closet. The apartment is eerily quiet. I’ve spent hours upon hours alone in this building, but the weight of the silence now is shocking given Benjamin's still sleeping form.
The door opens, and I glance to where Torino would normally be. All clear.
The lobby is the last possible concern, but I know they have a skeleton staff overnight until Torino comes in at six.
I use the electronic fob to exit and then set into my usual route to Central Park. My cover will be that I needed an early run and that Torino didn’t answer his phone. I dial his name and hang up before it goes through, but it will be enough to show on my phone history.
The night is still black as pitch, but the path I take is ingrained in my feet. The cold air chills me to the bone and my puffs of white cloud dissolve as I breathe them out. I make it to the Obelisk, but there’s nobody out—no one is stupid to be in Central Park this early.
“I see you came, then.” A voice emerges from the shadows, but I can’t see who it is.
“Yes.” I try to force steel into my voice, but I’m not sure I’m that convincing.
“And what do you have for me?” The figure remains hidden, but I recognise the slight accent as Andreas. I hope.
“How about you come out where I can see you instead of hiding in the shadows.”
Silence echoes in the night, nothing but the low hum of Manhattan around us. It sets my nerves on edge, making me question everything.
“You look panicked, Hope.” I am, but he’s not getting that from me. I swing round to the sound of his voice, peering into the gloom and annoyed that he’s using my name.
“Cut the crap, Andreas. Do you want the information or not?” I snap. I just need this done, and then I need to get back before I’m missed.
“Easy, now. First, tell me why you’re doing this.” I glare into the night, unsure what the hell that has to do with anything.
“That's none of your business.”
“Trust,” he says, emerging from the shadow cast by a nearby tree. He steps closer to me, a deadly smile on his lips, “is something you'll have to humor me with.” Fine. Fucking people and their games.
“Because I want Cane to rot in hell. I want them to feel what it’s like to have nothing and be treated like nothing.” With those words spitting out of me I feel all of the anguish, all the venom that my mother fed me crack open to the raw part of me I’ve kept buried inside. The part that wishes I was enough for my mother, that she didn’t need anything other than me.
“Feisty. And you’ve come to me because?”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I thought we were through with games.”
