Plain Sight

chapter forty-five

Juliette

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How could I have been so blind?

I should've known it wouldn't be that easy to find Tom. I should've known that my father planted those blueprints in that safe, knowing I'd find it. Oh my god.

He wanted to draw us out hours away, so that once we finally got to where Tom once was, and to where the blueprints sent us, Lucian would already be at his next location. The place where he could kill Tom, and the place where I could not get to him in time because it's two fucking hours away.

Oh my god.

This can't be happening.

"We need to go now!" Bill yells as he starts to run out of the room.

Georg starts running after him, but before I can go, zario grabs my wrist.

"Take this." He gives me a gun, which I actually needed because I don't have any bullets left in mine and I don't have time to reload them from the ammo we brought in georgs car.

"Thanks—"

"And this," he takes the phone out of my hand and before I can stop him, he completely breaks it beyond repair. Then he hands me another one from his pocket. "This one can't be tracked."

I nod, and then I run out of here. I ran all the way to Bill's car and jumped inside. He doesn't speak. He pushes the accelerator all the way to the ground, it may have even been possible for him to have pushed it through the car.

"Juliette, I'm sorry but—" he clears his throat. "I'm going to fucking kill your father." His voice is confident, like he truly means his words.

And I'm not mad at him at all.

"I want to help you."

____

I have to close my eyes being in a car going this fast. It feels like I'm on a roller coaster, that feeling you get in your stomach when you drop is what I'm feeling now.

Georg has stayed right behind us the whole time, keeping up with Bill. We would be getting there in probably only an hour from how fast we're going.

We're going to the place where I grew up. The place where I lived my entire life up until this entire deal. The place where I was once a happy, innocent little girl. And the place where Tom is being held.

Lucian is a monster. I don't know how I could've come from someone as evil as him. He's trying to take away the only person who had ever shown me what the concept of love really was. And the worst part is, that Lucian is enjoying this.

I still can't believe I'm doing this right now, but I need to. I thought I would never speak to Tom again, after he used me, and lied to me, all for my father's sake. He used me to get to my father. When I first found out, I thought that he never even loved me and that our entire relationship had been a lie.

But after reading that letter, I was just left so confused about everything. I need to hear the truth from Tom's mouth. I need to hear him actually say it. That's why even after everything, I need him to be alive to hear him explain everything to me. I will do anything to save him before my father kills him.

Because I can't live with the guilt of not trying.

"Can't we just send Vivian to get Tom? I mean, she's already in town where Tom is." I finally say, still clutching onto my seatbelt. This roller-coaster feeling in my stomach will not go away, and I hate it.