The Fall(48)

“How.” He swallowed, clearing his throat before he could continue. “How did you find me?”



“You left in such a hurry, you left your computer logged on.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as I watched some focus returning to his eyes. “So I got one of your nice hacker buddies to trace your cell.”

I didn’t bother telling him that I’d also searched his computer for the files he’d stolen from me while I waited for the trace. Or looked to download any other information that could help me. “I found the old car around the back with the keys still in the ignition. Then it was just a matter of driving to the location they texted me.”

Of course, it was a little more involved than that. There had been a lot of curse words, and I’m positive the guy who had helped me get him into the car would talk to anyone who handed over anything higher than a twenty. So how safe we were at the present time I wasn’t exactly sure. But I’d save the more detailed version for when he was looking less like a corpse.

“Why?” His brow scrunched in confusion.

It had been the only time I had seen him not look sure, the wall around him cracking a little and letting me in.

“What do you mean why? Because you were going to die.”

His hand squeezed mine, his strength a fraction of what it had been. “You should have saved yourself and let me die.”

“I couldn’t do that.” I moved in closer, not wanting to stop holding him.

Both his eyes opened, connecting with mine.

“I would have left you.”

“I don’t believe that.” I lied, not knowing if he would have or not. “You’re an * sometimes, and incredibly rude, but you wouldn’t have left me.”

His eyelids slowly opened and closed before he refocused on me, his mouth parting like he was going to speak but then he stopped.

For the first time since he’d shown up on my doorstep, it was like he didn’t know what his response would have been. He coughed, his voice still hoarse. “I am an * and clearly a hard one to kill.”

“Agreed.” I nodded, not sure how many others would have survived what he just had.

His lips curled into a smile as his eyes closed again. “Tired.”

He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but I was confident it would be better for him to try to sleep off the rest of the drug, and hopefully I could get some sleep too.

I didn’t ask his permission, sliding onto the other side of the bed and laying beside him.

The lamp on the nightstand stayed on, darkness was just something I didn’t think either of us could cope with tonight as I pulled the comforter up. I didn’t bother changing, staying in my clothes but kicking off my shoes as I settled under the blanket.

My eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling, unable to close. Not that it stopped the flashbacks of the last few days rolling around my brain on a loop. That slideshow was happening whether I wanted it to or not.

This was so not what I envisioned my life to be. Running from everyone, laying beside someone who a week ago I would have been desperate to arrest. There had always been a line. Black. White. Good. Bad. And now those lines were blurred, never to be the same again.

Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could hear his breathing. It was more labored than it probably should be, but steady. And the whole thing made me feel weird. Not in that it felt uncomfortable, but it actually was the opposite. A calm washed over me with each one of those breaths he took, and while it made no sense that it felt good to lay beside him, at that moment there was nowhere else I wanted to be. It wasn’t just about keeping myself safe either. It was about him.

Keeping him safe.

And that was something I just didn’t understand.

“I can hear you thinking from here, Sofia.” Michael’s voice was like gravel, the words catching in his throat.

“I don’t know who the bad guys are anymore,” I whispered back, hating how vulnerable my voice sounded. But I didn’t try and hide it, not having the energy to process all of it and pretend I was okay.

“Maybe it’s time to stop trying to find them and take care of yourself.”

It was words I’d heard from him before but without the usual venom, like there might be some sincerity behind them.

“Aren’t you tired of being a part of all of this?” I turned to face him, needing to see him. “Just for a second be real with me, okay? No one will ever know.”

“This is who I am, this is as real as I can be.” His eyes fixed on me, his gaze sending a shiver down my spine.

That look.

That vacant look of resignation chilled me like my blood was made of ice. Exactly the same look he’d had in those photos when he was a boy, too young to have given up.

“Who is Rose?” It had come out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop it, the words louder than I’d intended them to be.

“My mother.” The two words hissed out of his mouth slowly, his eyes closing.

I’d had my suspicions about the word on the back of the holy picture I’d found. Deep down I knew it had been a name. A name I had asked him about and he’d refused to answer.

“Did you find her?” I held my breath, knowing it probably wouldn’t have been a happy reunion.

“She’s dead.” He shook his head, meeting my gaze. “When I was born. I’ve literally been killing people since the day I entered this world.”