Cursing, he starts to pace, and he rakes his fingers through his oily, blond hair. “I can’t do it today. I’m not ready.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“But I—”
I click my fingers, demanding his attention. “Shower, eat a big lunch, set an alarm, and sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be good to go.”
Oliver blows air out of his cheeks, resting against my doorframe. “We’re actually doing this, huh?”
Nervousness coils in my belly. “Yeah. I guess we are.”
“They’re going to slaughter us.”
Gee. Thanks for your vote of confidence. “You weren’t born an Unfortunate. The rest of us have nothing to lose. They’re going to slaughter us all anyway. Might as well go down fighting.”
He purses his lips with a clenched jaw. Nodding passively, he sulks away, slamming the door behind him. I don’t know what it means. Who knows whether he’ll show up or not? Exhaling, I sit against the edge of my desk and cross my feet at my ankles. For the first time, I’m wearing long pants. They’re weird…and uncomfortable around my hips, but they cover my legs and I like it.
I glance down at my hands as I smooth them along the black fabric against my thighs. My wedding ring looks so beautiful on my otherwise bland hand. I’ve been so busy I’ve barely had time to sit down and appreciate the fact that I’m married to Kaden Sario. God. It would be nice to spend a day doing something normal together. I’m not opposed to picnics and sight-seeing. I’ve rarely spent time in the town and I haven’t seen any of the farms, factories, or animals. Funnily enough, I miss the days when I was his Unfortunate. Despite the drama, life seemed so simple and I hope, in my lifetime, it can be both equal and simple again.
∞ Kade ∞
The clocks ticked away the remaining hour as the sun began to set. There was a fierce nausea in his stomach, threatening to rip it apart. He’d have thrown up if he had anything in there to dispel. Kade launched himself out of bed just after Oliver left. It wasn’t fair that Anna had to deal with everything on her own. The time for grieving a lost friend had come and gone. Now he had to make both Anna and Portia proud or die trying.
Kade kissed Anna on the mouth before hitting the shower. She sat back in her seat, watching him as he zipped around the room packing things into a large, black bag. He didn’t say much to her the past few hours because he was focused on making sure he packed as much as he could carry.
He bent low and scooped up a brand new pair of runners. He didn’t know if they were her size, but they were better than nothing.
“Sneakers will be better for you to run in, yeah?”
She didn’t answer. Kade lifted his stare to Anna, who eyed the rifles on the bed. They were cleaned and loaded, raring to go. She looked like she was going to puke.
“Nine?”
Snapping her stare to him, she frowned. Kade couldn’t even remember the last time he called her Nine. She told him not to, but to be honest, he missed it. He missed her, her weaknesses, her minor worries and insecurities, but he missed saying her name the most.
“Anna…” he clarified, nervously clenching the lip of the shoe. “Do you want me to pack you a pair of sneakers?”
She glanced down at her bare feet. How far did she have to run? Thankfully, she nodded, keeping her eyes on her toes.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered and he dropped her shoes to the floor. “These people are following me to certain death—even Oliver knows that and he started this stupid thing.”
“Fuck Oliver,” Kade stated, tossing the clean black shirt he had resting on his shoulder on the couch. “He’s scared.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
He shook his head as he crossed the room and circled her desk to stand in front of her. She glanced down at her hands and refused to look at him. For three weeks he’d ignored her, wallowing in his own self-pity. He couldn’t help it. He tried not to, but losing Portia was like losing a limb. It was as though he couldn’t function. Since he was younger, she’d been there every morning making breakfast while his parents were gone. He hadn’t realised how attached he’d grown to her face. Losing her was like losing an older sister, or a mother. He was certain he could give her the freedom she deserved…
But he couldn’t…and now he never could.
“Is it too late to back out?” Anna asked, lifting her welling stare to his. “Is it too late to take you up on your offer? I can be your wife and we can live in your house. We can go to the city together, stay there as long as we need to—”
Kade took her hand in his and pulled her to her feet. Shifting, he dropped into the seat and pulled her into his lap. He tipped her head back, resting it where his neck sloped into his shoulder. Her hands trembled in his as she curled up on his lap.
“We’re going to go to war,” he muttered, stroking his thumb over the back of her hand. “We’re going to fix everything that is broken and then we’re going to live out the rest of our lives happy. Truly happy.”
“And if we die?”
Kade scoffed. “Since when were you afraid of death?”
“I wasn’t…until today.”
“You have every right to be nervous. Today we’re going to make history. Together.” Releasing her hand, he swiped his index finger along her jaw, tilting her chin up. “I can’t think of a better person to go down in history with.”
Anna’s pink lips twitched at the corners and she bit her plump lower lip. It wasn’t often that he was able to suppress her anxiety, but he tried wherever he could. She was a brave girl, that was obvious, but she was young. Irrational and uncertain. Unlike him, her choices were never set in stone. She made spur of the moment decisions and regretted them later. It wasn’t her nature that forced her to make regrettable mistakes, it was her age. He often forgot that.
Anna pressed the palm of her hand against his bare chest and stretched her neck for a kiss. He gave her one.
And another…
And another…
…until the chair no longer sufficed and the surface of the desk became a more suitable place to continue their display of affection.
It wasn’t easy loving a woman who wanted to change the world, but Kade loved her enough to aid her cause and not get in the way. When she was happy, she would build her new world around him. A world where their love would thrive. Until then, being patient was all he could do.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Anna
I grab my rifle and hold it in my hands. It feels heavier today…I can’t believe the time is almost upon us and I definitely can’t shake the feeling that something is amiss. It’s heavy in my stomach, a large ball of dread with nowhere to go. We’re going to run to the Unfortunate camp? Why are people going along with that? It’s madness. I’m fucking crazy!
“Twelve minutes,” Kade says, slinging the black bag over his shoulder. “How do those sneakers feel?”
They’re suffocating me. I glance down at the shoes and take a deep breath as I pull my ponytail through the hair tie one last time.
“They’re tight…but they’ll do.”
His face darkens as he lifts his rifle off the bed. “Get out of your own head, Anna. You’re only going to freak yourself out.”
Moving over to the window, I slip my thumb into my mouth and chew my nail. How is he so confident? How is he so content with this when I had to go above and beyond to convince him to do it in the first place? I should be comforting him.
I swallow my nervousness. “I’m fine.”
Twelve minutes and I run for the hills. That’s all I have to do.
Run.
Run.
Run.
And figure the rest out later.
“Kaden…” I utter, leaning closer to the glass as a ball of blackness in the distance catches my attention.
He doesn’t hear me so I take the time to look a little closer, squinting my eyes for a better view. It isn’t until they get closer, two hundred metres away, that
I realise who and what it is.
The ball of dread in my stomach explodes, poisoning my blood and sending bile up my throat. I slap my hand over my mouth as heat prickles up my spine and singes my hairline.
Vince…
Vince with eight moderators in tow, each of them holding their rifles, are heading straight for the Milano residence. Where I am. Where we are. Where most of the Secret Ribbon is.
“Kaden,” I hiss, turning around as blood drains from my body.
He’s not paying attention. Instead, he’s toying with his handgun, cleaning the lion head on the handle with his black tee.
“Kaden!”
“Hm?” He lifts his stare and pauses when he sees me.
I force myself to lower my hand. “…something is happening.”
Cautiously, he carries his heavy body over to me and peers through the lace. Kade’s body goes rigid beside me. He hides the panic on his face well, but I can feel it in his muscles.
“What’s he doing?” I ask. “Do you think he knows?”
He shakes his head, but I don’t know who he thinks he’s convincing because it’s certainly not me. We watch, unable to tear our eyes away, as Vince and his goons walk right up to the front step. Vince jokes over his shoulder with them, smoothing his hands down the front of his black hoodie. With a loud laugh, he turns his attention back to the house. Wicked excitement dances over his features as his lips pull wide. I gulp.
“Yoo-hoo!” Vince cups his hands around his mouth. “Anybody home?”
“I think he knows.” I press my hand against my chest, feeling my heart as it slams into my ribs.
“Only one way to find out.” Pushing away from the window, Kade takes my wrist in his hand and slaps the handle of his handgun into my palm. “Use this close range.”
“Close range? What are you—”
“I have seven minutes to keep them busy until all of ours have guns in their hands.”
He turns toward the bed and grabs a rifle. Swinging back to me, he slings the rifle over my shoulder, its thick strap parting my breasts.
“You’re not going out there in front of them.”
Kade grips my shoulders, levelling his face with mine, and his dark eyes soften. “Please. I need you to do exactly what I say.”
“I still don’t know how to shoot,” I point out. “I’ve never squeezed the trigger, remember?”
He touches my face. “There’s a large group of them. Point and squeeze the trigger. You’re bound to hit someone.”
“I want to speak to somebody!” Vince’s booming voice demands from the ground floor. “Someone in charge of this…operation.”
I jolt forward, toward Kade, but he keeps me at arm’s length.
“He knows!” I hiss. “Shit, Kade. He knows!”
“Relax, all right? I’ll sort it out.” Releasing me, he drops the bag to the floor and jogs from the room.
I follow closely behind him, moving as best as I can with the ridiculous gun that I have strapped to me. As Kade marches through the manor, Unfortunates and Fortunates alike pop out, carrying their weapons. Some are scared, others determined, and a few scatter back into rooms and lock the doors. At the bottom of the staircase, John Milano slides up next to us, dressed down in a pair of slacks and a sweater, a rifle ready in his hands.
“Where are your kids?” Kade asks him.
“They’re having a picnic a few hundred metres out from the Unfortunate camp.”
“Good.” Kade rakes his fingers through his hair. “If shit goes sideways, I need you to blast as many of these assholes as you can. If we want to get out of here alive, we’re going to need space.”
“Where’s your gun?”
“I can’t walk out there with a gun. They already suspect something is going on and a gun will only confirm it. We have three minutes before guns start going off at the Unfortunate camp. If we can catch them off guard, it’ll give us a fighting chance at getting past them.” Pausing before the doors, Kade turns around. “Pick a place to hide and stay there until you hear the guns. Once they go off, run and shoot anyone pointing a gun at you. We are now at war, people. If you want to live, you have to fight for your life.”
I glance over my shoulder and gape at the hundred or so people lined along the railing on the second floor. Where’d they come from? I wasn’t expecting so many people, but to have so many just from the one house is incredible. Half of them don’t have guns and that worries me.
“Get behind the door,” Kade orders, nudging me to the left of the huge double doors.
I scurry into place. So do the people on the second balcony, and so does John, and we hold our breath as Kade grips the handles in his large hands and tugs the doors open. They creak. I can’t control the thump of my heart in my throat or the tremble in my fingers as I hold the gun, my index finger resting on the trigger. With a nervous flick, I lick my lips and strain my ears to hear the conversation.
“Vince,” Kade greets, stepping out onto the stone porch. “What do you want?”
The tap of his shoes against the floor disappears and Vince’s voice is nothing but a murmur. Shit. I tilt my head back, resting it against the wall.
When do we run for it?
∞ Kade ∞
He wasn’t going to lie. He was nervous. It seeped from his palms and tightened his chest. It took everything he had to walk across the porch and down the steps with a false sense of informality. At the bottom of the four steps, Vince waited patiently, threading his fingers together in front of him. Kade stepped off the porch and onto a step, loathing Vince’s smug smile.
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Vince asked, tipping his head to the side.
His black eyes danced with delight.
Kade simpered, slipping his hands into the pockets of his black slacks. “You look ridiculous wearing a hoodie with jeans.”
Tossing his head back, Vince laughed wholeheartedly, glancing over his shoulder as a few moderators snickered. “Did you just crack a joke? Now I know something is amiss.”
“Maybe you just caught me on a good day.” He forced himself to smirk.
His nerves waged a war inside of him as the seconds ticked down. Soon the guns would go off. When that happened, he wouldn’t know if Anna made it until he got to the Unfortunate camp.
Vince’s humour leaked from his body the longer their exchange dragged on. Kade could see it. All Vince wanted was to ruin a few lives, maybe kill a few people. He wanted to catch them in the act and bask in the recognition of it.
“Or maybe you’re lying through your fucking teeth.”
Kade’s stomach sunk into his shoes as Vince stood to the side and a moderator tossed a familiar face to the dirty ground at the base of the stairs. Fuck. Oliver glanced up at Kade, his mouth swollen, his right eye punched shut. Didn’t Anna tell him to go to bed? Where’d he go? To Vince.
Kade frowned at Vince. “What am I supposed to make of that? I didn’t hit him.”
“I know you didn’t. I did.” Vince reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a small handgun. “I found him carrying a rifle through the streets asking people what time it is. After a little convincing, he told me quite a story.”
What. An. Idiot. And this whole time he was worried about me ruining the rebellion!
“He’s drunk,” Kade pointed out, digging his fingers into his thigh from inside his pocket.
“And drunk men tell the truth.”
Groaning, Oliver pulled his drunk, tired body onto his knees. Blood dripped from his nose and stained his white shirt. He didn’t bother lifting his head. He knew what he did and he accepted it. There was nothing Kade could do without jeopardising the rest of them.
He breathed through his nose. “They also exaggerate it.”
Vince cocked an eyebrow. “So, you’re not plotting a rebellion?”
“Me? No.” Guns sounded off in the distance. Time’s up. “But she is.”
Right on time, the doors to Milano manor were thrown ope
n and bullets whirled past. The moderators with Vince were caught off guard. Some were shot and dropped dead immediately, others dove for cover. Swearing, Vince dropped low and scurried behind the stone carving of a wolf to his left. Fortunates and Unfortunates alike zipped past him and disappeared into the town, heading for the Unfortunate camp.
“Get up!” As Kade started forward, he grabbed a cowering Oliver by his collar. “You dumb fucker!”
He shoved Oliver forward, glancing regularly over his shoulder as more people poured from the house. None of them were Anna. He had no idea where she was. Kade ran, dragging Oliver behind him. Bullets whirled past, taking down men and women left and right.
He had to focus on getting to the Unfortunate camp, but all he could think about was here. What if she was still in the house? What if she was shot? What if Vince had her? There was so much going on in his head he could barely put one foot in front of the other.
But he had to because there was the chance that his wife was waiting at the other end for him and he had to make it there for her.
∞ Anna ∞
I lost Kaden.
As I rushed out of the house I must have blown past him without seeing. Or maybe he’s ahead of me. A bullet zips past my ear and I squeal as a man in front of me crashes to the ground. Clenching my jaw, I launch myself over his lifeless body, and stumble, dropping to my hands and knees. Adrenaline explodes through my veins, forcing me back to my feet. The muscles in my legs burn as I exit the town and power onto the field. Coming from the town is the easy part. The gate was open and there’s a downhill slope ahead of me. It’s the climb to the Unfortunate camp that I’m worried about. I’m not a runner. Unfortunates aren’t allowed to run so my muscles are completely unprepared for this.
In the distance, our moderators are handing out rifles to those that have reached the halfway point and don’t have guns. It’s our only line of defence if their moderators follow us up the hill.
I can’t believe it happened like this. I can’t believe Oliver would risk everything we’ve worked towards. Vince wasn’t supposed to be at the house. He wasn’t supposed to find Oliver or bring a small army to the door. God knows how many people have been killed already—people that shouldn’t have been. We can’t win this war with only a handful of people. Every one counts.