Laiken

We drive for several minutes through the long dark roads that extend away from the estate. Kara's eyes stick to everything our headlights illuminate. She's singularly focused on our escape.

Watching her clutch the steering wheel, taking us around the turns expertly, I think about what she said as we got in the car. Bernard taught her how to drive. How close were they? I haven't thought about it before, but if she lived with him all that time, could they have been friends? Maybe something even more?

“Kara,” I say.

She guns it as we hit a stretch of straight road. “We're not going back,” she spits.

I wasn't going to ask us to, but when she says it, I realize that it was in my subconscious. I hate that we're leaving Dominic behind, I hate that he didn't come with us. How can he keep me safe if he's somewhere else?

The GPS tells us to take one more turn. At the end of it is a small house the color of rust. Kara jams on the brakes until they squeal, then puts the Jaguar in park. “This man,” she says, turning to face me in the car. “Wyatt. Will he actually help us?”

“He will,” I answer confidently. “He told me once how much he wanted to, and how awful it made him feel that he didn't know how.”

We both watch a light flick on over the porch. My sister pockets the keys then steps out in the night air. I get my feet on the gravel just as the front door of the house bursts open. Wyatt is wearing a long sleeved pajama shirt and a pair of plaid pants. He doesn't have any shoes on, and it's such a strange sight that I smile. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asks, squinting at me.

“Dominic sent us,” I say, rushing towards him. “Annie threatened Kara! I didn't know what else to do but get out of there!” My foot touches the porch; he opens his arms wide, and without a second thought I throw myself into his embrace. He pats my back, holding me as I start to shake. All my courage has worn away and all I'm left with is the terrible hole in my heart where Dominic once was.

How could he let me leave without him?

“You must be Kara,” Wyatt says over my head. I pull away, stepping back to watch him stare at my sister. The resemblance between us is obvious. I think he would've known it was her even if I hadn't said so.

Kara comes closer, casting furtive looks over her shoulder.

“Are you being followed?” Wyatt asks.

“We don't know,” my sister says.

He runs his hands over his head, sighing. “Come inside and tell me all the details.”

The lights are on in his downstairs living room, I wonder if he turned them on when he heard our car approaching, or if he just sleeps with the lights on. The walls are covered in photos of Wyatt and a young boy. I'm sure it's him and his son, Pat.

I inspect the rugs; they're a warm, hot cocoa brown, his furniture mismatched and worn on the corners. It smells like maple and my stomach rumbles. I didn't realize I was hungry.

Wyatt motions for us to sit down on the couch. “Get comfortable,” he says. I'll fetch you both something to eat, then you can explain all the details about what happened.”

Kara and I sat on the couch, wordlessly pressing our shoulders together, my head resting on hers. Thinking back over how quickly things went out of control, a fresh shudder rocks my muscles. “She really was going to do something terrible to you,” I whisper.

“I believe you.”

“She wanted to hurt me,” I continue, closing my eyes. Because causing others pain is all she has left. “Kara, Annie was in love with Dad.”

She tightens up next to me. “What? She told you that?”

“She was rambling all over the place. I think when she heard about the message I found at the cabin, she got depressed, realizing that dad was never going to—”

“Wait,” Kara stops me. “What message?”

Of course, she doesn't know about the bridge. How could she? I didn't tell her, his parents wouldn't tell her. That means I have to.

Sitting up, I face her, looping my fingers through hers. She looks me in the eye expectantly. “I went back to our cabin with Dominic yesterday. I was looking for clues that Dad might have left for us, things that only we would find to show us where he'd gone. I thought there had to be something.” I laugh sarcastically. “I was right, there was something. He carved a message into the underside of the bridge we all worked on together.”

“What did it say?” she asks under her breath.

“He told me to stop looking for him.” I lower my eyes, shrugging and shaking my head. “Kara, he's gone. I don't think he ever planned to help us. He took a bunch of money from the Bradleys, and then he slipped away with Mom and Dean. That was it. That is it,” I add firmly.

My sister is quiet. We sit there, saying nothing as the clock on the wall clicks louder and louder. It's the only sound until something clutters in the kitchen. Wyatt walks into the room holding a small tray. “Here,” he says, putting it on the table in front of us. “It's quick and sloppy, but it should do.”

On the tray is a plate of lumpy oatmeal cookies studded with what seems to be bits of cranberry. There are also two steaming mugs, and when I pick one up, Wyatt points and says, “Green tea. It'll warm you up.”

“Thank you,” I say, taking a long sip. It sticks to my tongue, creating a coating of sweet and bitter. Kara lifts a cookie, sniffing it. I go one step further and take a bite. The flavor explodes in my mouth - bright fruit and decadent maple.

As we eat and drink, I bring Wyatt up to speed. I tell him about Annie, watching as his face crumples from the disturbing news. He turns solemn after hearing about Dominic fighting off the guards so he could give us his car and flee.

“So he told you to come here,” he mumbles. “But what happens next?”

“Can't you get in touch with him?” I ask.

Wyatt lifts a small cell phone. I've never seen him with one before. “Not sure how. He probably has my number in some employee file somewhere. But I don't have a clue what Dominic's number is.”

“I do,” Kara says.

My eyes widen. She gives me a quick glance, then an unapologetic shrug. Taking the phone from Wyatt, she taps into it with both of her thumbs, then hands it back. Wyatt squints, then starts to type something out. “I'll text him a message. Ask him what he wants me to do now that you guys are here.”

The phone makes little swish noise as the message is sent. I scoot to the edge of the couch, anxiously waiting for Dominic to respond. Wyatt sees me looking and gives me a mild frown. “Don't obsess, eat drink and catch your breath.”

Lifting my mug in both hands, I cradle it to me and inhale the steam. It doesn't relax me, but it's nice to have something warm in my stomach—something other than this wriggling fear. I don't know what Dominic is going to say; everything that I hope feels foolish. He told me goodbye, he said it was time for me to go home. Nothing in his final words was anything ambiguous.

But I'm still praying that he'll change his mind and say that he's going to come with me.

I can't picture a world without him.

The phone beeps and all of us jump. Tea spills in my lap but it doesn't burn. I'm too excited, too focused on watching Wyatt read the message on his screen. His eyes dart side to side, and then he must be finished reading, because he blows air out of his nose. “Jesus.”

“What is it?” I ask desperately.

Wyatt eyeballs me then my sister. “Dominic struck a deal.”

A deal. I've learned to hate deals. They’ve never been good to me.

“He says you two aren't prisoners anymore. His parents will leave you alone. According to him, you're free.”

“Free,” Kara whispers.

The word free doesn't mean the same thing to me as it does to my sister. Leaping to my feet I reach for the phone. “I need to talk to him, please.”

“Laiken, isn't this what you wanted?” Wyatt asks.

I keep my face expressionless, my palm extended towards him. “I just want to talk to him. What's the harm in that?”

My sister gives a bitter chuckle. To her credit she doesn't speak, but she doesn't have to to get her point across.

I implore Wyatt with my eyes. Finally he hands me his phone. “Go ahead,” he says. “It's not up to me to stop you.”

Both of them are openly watching me. Everything I do in front of them is under a magnifying glass. I carry the phone out the front door, wanting some privacy. It's cold but I don't care. Tapping the little green symbol on the phone, I call Dominic.

Each time the phone rings it vibrates through my bones, stealing a little bit of my energy when he doesn't answer. One ring. Two. Three. I'm up to four and expecting him to ignore the call.

There's a loud click. His voice is gritty and low. “What is it? Didn't you get my message?”

“Dominic,” I wheeze.

There's a long pause. “Laiken? Why are you calling me?” He thought I was Wyatt.

Squeezing the phone harder. I start pacing in front of the house. “Dominic, please, I don't want to leave without you.”

“You have to. I told you, this is the only way I can keep you safe.”

“I don't understand what that means!” I shout.

Is he walking anxiously like me? Or is he sitting with his knees spread, the way he sat on his bed the night we held each other. “My father doesn't want something to happen between Annie and you two. He recognizes that she's dangerous right now in her state of mind. And he agrees with me that there's no reason to keep you both here, anyway, since Joseph has made his position clear. But I can't be sure that my mother won't try to go after you unless I'm at her side, watching and paying attention. As long as I'm here with her, I'll know for sure that you're safe. Don't you get it? We could never be happy, Laiken. Not like this.”

“No,” I sob, and I give up fighting my tears. Standing on the side of the road with the cold wind tugging at my hair, the wetness on my cheeks burns like frostbite. The tears dry from the air before they can stick. “Please, no. I love you, we can be safe together.”

“We can't,” he says firmly. Unrelentingly. There is no room for argument here. Dominic has never been someone who buckles.

I choke on my tears, dropping to the ground and crying into the phone. Maybe if he hears my sadness, how much I truly love him, he'll do something. I don't know, I can't think straight. I'm too broken apart, my body a piece of glass that's been shattered into a million pieces.

“Do you remember what you told me before?” he asks gently. “You said you wanted to go home. That home is waiting for you, Laiken. You and your sister are free now. If the last thing I can do is give you this, then it's enough for me.”

My tongue is tied as I think of every single way to get him to reconsider.

The line goes dead. There's nothing but painful silence.