She takes a deep breath and nods. “Thank you.”
I flick the heater up to high, then close the door and turn to Cadee. “The GPS is set. All you gotta do is—” I’m interrupted by a barrage of gun fire coming from the woods. Cadee and I both duck down out of instinct.
“What the hell is happening, Cooper?”
I glance at the woods. Trying to determine if anyone is coming our way when a few more shots ring out into the night. Not that close. I turn back to Cadee. “The GPS has been programmed. Just get in and follow it.”
“What?”
“I don’t have time to explain. I have to go. I’m not arguing with you, Cadee. You’re leaving. Just get in the car, follow the map, and you’ll be fine.”
“What do you mean? You’re coming with us! We’re not leaving you here!”
“Cadee.” I place both my hands on her cheeks. She’s cold too, but not nearly as cold as Isabella was. “You know that’s not how this ends.”
“Bullshit! Bullshit, Christopher Valcourt! I am not leaving here without you!”
I put my hand over her mouth, stopping her words. “Cadee, you have no idea what just happened tonight. In a few hours, this is going to be on the news. High Court is over. People are being shot back there in the woods and everyone else is going to prison. When the public finds out what was really going on here, they will spew hate at us with a venom almost unheard of in modern times. You are leaving. This has been planned from the beginning. And if you try to stay out of some… very misplaced loyalty to me—then you really are the stupidest girl alive. Because I don’t deserve that loyalty. I’m not worth it, Cadee!”
She pulls my hand off her mouth. “Fuck you! You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do!”
I put my hand around her throat. “You have a collar around your neck. Has that not quite sunk in yet?”
Her hands grip mine, trying to pry it loose from her neck. Little noises squeak out of her mouth as she struggles.
I’m not squeezing. I can’t. The collar is in the way. But her attempts are futile. I am much bigger, I am much stronger, and I know a thing or two about intimidation. I grab both her wrists with my free hand and hold them tightly together as I look her in the eyes. “Get in that fucking car, follow the fucking GPS, and never—ever—look back.”
“Or what? What will you do, Cooper? Hmm? Bully me?”
“If you get in that car I will make sure that Sophie, Elexa, Valentina, Selina, Natalie, Maddie, and Mona all go free. And if you don’t get in that car, then you’re going to prison and I will make sure they go to prison with you. Even Isabella.”
“You’re lying. You would never—”
“Try me.” I glare at her. Because the woods behind us are now filled with screams as well as gun shots, and beyond that I can hear the crackle of a massive fire. Sirens in the distance. Two helicopters overhead.
“Why are you doing this? You could just get in the car! Come with us!”
She’s clawing at my suit coat. Desperately trying to make me listen to her. But I’m shaking my head through all of that. “Divide and conquer, Cades. We were never getting out of here together. You had to have known that. Christopher Valcourt is a very dangerous person to have on your friends list.”
“I won’t leave,” she whispers. “Not without you.”
“You will leave. Because inside that car is an envelope. And inside that envelope are all the answers you’ve been looking for about your parents.”
“What?” She looks at the car for a second. Hope and longing in her eyes.
It’s a lie. And she will hate me for that lie, but I don’t care. “Get in the car, Cadee.”
She shakes her head. But I take her hand and lead her around to the driver’s side.
“Cooper, please! Don’t do this! Don’t make us drive out of here alone.”
“You’re not alone! Jesus Christ! You’ve got Isabella. She’s got you. Neither of you need me! Don’t you get it? You’re wearing a fucking collar around your neck, Cadee! You think you won, don’t you? You think you outsmarted them because you’re here. Because you’re not dead. You think it was all free will—that you agreed to some grand plan. You are standing here wearing a virgin-sacrifice version of a school uniform. My brother and sister-in-law left you inside their house and set it on fire. There is a tomb of baby skulls in the Old Alumni Inn back yard. You are not in control. You were never in control. You are being controlled! You lost control of this situation so long ago, you don’t even know when it happened. You were a plan, Cadee. Everything that has happened to you was a plan.”
I stop and hold my breath.
I don’t want to hurt her, but if this is what it takes to make her leave me behind, then that’s what I have to do.
So I say it another way. Just to make sure it really sinks in. “I treated you like shit, Cadee. Total fucking shit. And if you can’t see that, then you’re sick. You’re sick and you need a lot of fucking help.”
I want to kiss her. I want to make this the most romantic moment in the history of fairy tale endings. I want to tell her I’ll be back one day. We’ll have our chance.
But I can’t.
Because I’m no good for her.
I’ve never been good for her.
And she needs to see that.
So I turn my back and for the second time tonight, I walk away.
The woods are filled with smoke and it doesn’t take long before I disappear. I don’t stop and look back, I keep walking. But I hold my breath until I hear the car pull away.
Then I start running towards the fires.
Gunshots ring out again and I stop and hide behind a tree. Because this time they are very close.
So close I can hear voices. Arguing. Men arguing.
I follow them and find the Judge lying on the ground and Ax standing over him with a gun pointed at his chest.
“Ax! What the fuck are you doing? You’re supposed to be with the FBI!”
Ax’s response is low, and calm, and steady. “No, Cooper. I’m supposed to be right fucking here.”
“You won’t do it.” The judge is already seriously injured. So his words come out as a cough. He’s flat on his back just staring up at his… son. And his stomach is leaking blood. “You don’t have the fucking guts to do it. You’re just a mongrel. Just another nobody. Just a piece of shit boy who—”
The gunshot is loud and echoes in my ears for several seconds before I can comprehend what Ax has done.
Right between the fucking eyes. He shot him right between the fucking eyes.
Then I look at Ax. He’s still staring down at the man pretending to be his father. “They’re never gonna care.”
“What?”
Ax looks at me. “They had some kind of suicide pact. That’s what all the shooting is about.”
I look into the depths of the woods all around me. A shot rings out, but it’s far away. There are still voices, but even I can tell they are FBI or some other law enforcement agency.
“I gotta go.” Ax turns away and starts walking deeper into the woods.
“Wait! Where the fuck are you going?”