UNWANTED

CHAPTER 30 - R1. 14 - LIZAVETA

It was a daze. One moment I was screaming at the screens, and in the next, my hand was pounding against Uncle Hassan's door.

The train was off into the night, flying across the tracks, only held down by the magnets that made sure it wouldn't run off the rails. We were minutes from Andhra Pradesh, minutes from the tunnels.

I couldn't see the sky. I couldn't see the trees or the houses. All I could see was the impending darkness, coming at me from all sides.

When he opened the door, the sleep from his eyes left the instant they laid sights on me. I must have been as disheveled as I felt. "What do you need?"

"How much cash do you have?"

He opened the door. "Should I ask?"

"No." I said. If he knew it was Ly, he would have told me or killed him.

He would never forgive me for what I was about to do.

Uncle Hassan's training lurched into his mind, the blood of warriors and spies passed down by generations of kings taking over, as he pushed the mattress off his bed with strength, he didn't look like he had. He, so thoughtlessly, was ready to help me.

The whole bed frame was cash. He was sleeping nightly on a rainbow of a billion denari. "What currency?"

"You're just as ready to run as I am, aren't you?" I snorted, trying to keep the emotions out of my voice, my face.

"You can't run."

I know. I thought. But he can.

I grabbed fistfuls of newly minted money from every country in every cardinal direction and piled them into the duffel bag I grabbed from my closet. Zabdi was waiting for me there, speechless. Our next move was supposed to be a crossroads, but he was taking his time. He should have left like Theo.

As my hand grew sore of stuffing the bills in the bag, I saw a glimmer of blue pass across my vision. The ring. Just as I'd predicted, soon, I would ruin Tino. I cursed myself, flipping the ring over, just in case I got caught, at least no one would know it was from him. He would be safe.

I would have to break his heart; take that sun and eclipse it. He would leave if he knew what was good for him.

All the thirty would, if we got caught.

"What do I need to know?" Uncle Hassan asked over my shoulder, guarding his plausible deniability.

I turned to him and looked him in the eye. I poured every bit of sincerity I had into my words. Knowing I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he thought I killed his father. "No matter what happens, know that I didn't lie to you. I am innocent."

His eyes were so much like my father's, I almost broke.

"Who's guilty?" His brows furrowed at the confusion he felt. How could a man love and hate someone that much at the same time? I hoped he loved me more.

I turned my back to him, asking for forgiveness in my head, possessing too much of cowardice and pride to beg on my knees. "You'll know."

And when I closed his door, I knew he already did.

×+×

I sat on my bed, my breathing fast, as I let the adrenaline seep into my veins. This was good. I was focused. But my hands were shaking uncontrollably, clutching my very last silver piece, the necklace.

When my fingers figured to leave it alone, I swore I felt every atom in the air, jittering at my presence.

Shaking my head against the nerves, the quick vibrations left.