Page 48 of Claiming Liberty
When she looks past me at Angel, I follow her lead. He’s looking around, obviously still a bit out of it, but I can tell the situation is coming into his consciousness.
Elsie pulls away from me and walks toward him, and I turn, holding my breath. He doesn’t recognize me in the dark, even with the flashlight on the ground shining my way, but I’m not surprised. I’m the last person he would be expecting.
His eyes narrow as Elsie approaches, and when she crouches beside him, he looks around at all of us.
“Are you okay?” Elsie asks.
His eyes pin on her, confusion written in his expression. “What the fuck is going on?”
Elsie looks back at me, and I roll my shoulders before walking their way. His eyes widen when he sees it’s me, his lips parting. “Lib?”
He shoves onto his feet but halts at Layan’s voice.
“Stop.”
His head swivels toward her and the gun pointed at his chest for only a moment before his attention moves back to me.
“You can’t be here.” He shakes his head. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, wiping a tear that spills from my eye. “I know everything you risked to let me go. But I found out Elsie was here, and I had to come back.”
“Elsie?” he asks, his shoulders sagging. “What?”
“You know,” I spit, bitterness in my tone. “The girl you were just bringing back to your house.”
His eyes move to Elsie, and he cups a hand over his mouth. “Fuck.”
“You didn’t know?” I ask, praying it’s the truth. Because if he did… If he was about to fuck my niece, knowing she was my niece…
Then I lied. I will have to kill him.
His hand falls from his mouth as he shakes his head. He takes a step toward me but stops when Layan clears her throat. “No. Lib,no. I swear to you, if I had, she wouldn’t still be here.”
“Still be on the island?” Another tear drops from my eyelash. “Or still be in your bed?”
“What?” he asks incredulously. “She’s akid. You think I would…” He flinches like I’ve slapped him.
“He was helping me.”
Our eyes draw to Elsie.
“In the playroom, people…” Elsie shudders. “A lot of people died. Mr. A found me. He was just bringing me with him so I wouldn’t have to be there.”
I turn my head to Angel, my heart filling with so much love, I think I’ll be the one to pass out next. My face contorts as a sob escapes, and I close the distance between us to throw myself into his arms.
“I love you,” I croak. “I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you, too. And I’m sorry,” he whispers, running his hands over my back. “I’m so sorry, Lib. You were right about everything. This place is so fucked up, but I promise, I’m trying to find a way to fix it. Sawyer…” His breath stutters like he’s in pain. “I can’t believe he would take Elsie.”
“He’s a bad person,” Elsie pipes up, urgency in her voice. I pull myself away from Angel as he faces her, catching Layan’s eye. She smiles sympathetically, and I can’t help but notice the gun is no longer aimed at Angel, but at the ground. “I-I didn’t want to tell you before because I wasn’t sure I could trust you, but he lies. Amari told me tonight that I shouldn’t talk to you anymore because Sawyer would get mad if you knew about what goes on at the manor. She said he would kill me if I told you my real name or who my family is.”
Angel looks off and doesn’t respond to that. He probably doesn’t know what to think or say, and I don’t plan to push him any further. He knows. He has all the information about Sawyer, and he has to make up his mind himself, in his own time. I’ve figured that out by now.
“We have a way to stop all of this,” I say, dragging his eyes to me. “Everything that happened tonight was because I told Chaffer that Sawyer lies about how much the residents pay in dues.”
“Liberty,don’t,” Kingsley warns. I ignore him.
“If we start a war between them, we can kill off the bad people without anyone even noticing. They would do most of the work for us. And without them, we can leave. No one would stop us.”