Page 91 of Claiming Liberty
He closes his eyes again. “I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I demand just before my lungs constrict, and I let out several successive coughs.
I need to go. Now.
But I can’t. Not yet.
He shakes his head, his shoulders shifting in a partial shrug. “I didn’t think you would understand… But I knew after that night that it was a mistake.” He looks to his right and coughs. “I would never hurt you like that again. Jasper or Chaffer or whoever told you I ordered Liberty’s death… They lied, Angel.” More coughs, then he rolls his head to face me. “I don’t care if you kill me now, but if I have to die, I want to die with you knowing the truth.”
The truth.
There’s been so goddamn little of it in my life. My reality seems to constantly be changing, my perspective shifting, my own lies causing monstrous amounts of damage.
It’s been hard to sift through what’s true and what isn’t.
But this? Looking into Sawyer’s eyes, I know without a doubt is the truth.
And after all the headache, all the confusion, all the talk of manipulation, I know for certain that I didn’t get everything wrong.
I do know Sawyer.
Who he is and who he was.
What I don’t know is who he will be. That’s up to him.
I take the boat key Peter gave me from my pocket, study it a moment, then toss it at Sawyer’s feet.
Without a goodbye, I turn and walk away, too numb to force my steps to break into a run.
I walk from the manor just as the left corner caves in, the loud crash startling me, sparks singeing the cuffs of my pants. I turn my head that way only for a second before finding Liberty waiting for me on the lawn. She runs up to me, tears pouring from her eyes as she jumps into my arms.
Her lips find mine, kissing me like she’s desperate. Scared. Relieved. Happy. Sad. Every emotion possible wrapped up into one passionate kiss.
When we finally pull apart, we rest our foreheads against each other’s.
“Elsie already went to the ship,” Lib whispers.
“Is she okay?”
Lib’s lip trembles as she lets out a humorless laugh. “Are any of us?”
My mouth stays shut, holding back words I don’t think I should say, a habit I’ve found impossible to break.
But I’m done with lies. A lie is what brought me to Liberty, they’re what saved me from myself,liberatedme, but that’s our past. There won’t be any lies in our future.
There’s no room for anything but the truth.
“I’m okay,” I reply, closing my eyes. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll always be okay.”
I open my eyes when Lib cups my face, a tiny smile on her face. “Let’s go home.” Her smile deepens. “Or into hiding, I guess.”
A chuckle slips past her lips as I set her on her feet. She takes my hand, and we start toward the row of boats, my eyes searching for one we can catch a ride on. A line of men still stand in front of the manor at the ready, but I have a feeling they’ll never see Sawyer again. Not even his corpse.
“We don’t need to go into hiding,” I say, clutching her hand.
She turns her head to look at me, confusion creasing her forehead. “How do you figure that? There’s what, a hundred plus people ready to give a full rundown of some pretty gruesome shit you did. I mean, sorry is good enough for me, but—”
“No one knows my name,” I say, cutting Lib off.