“But I don’t…” I shake my head, trying to rattle my thoughts loose. They’re stuck in a logjam on my tongue, and I can’t get all my questions out at once. “I don’t get it. How can they make you do this? You said this seventy-two hour period is when you can try to kill people if you want. But you don’t have to. Can’t you just hide out? Refuse to play?”
Marcus stands up, striding across the living room. “Yes. We could.” He turns to look at me, his gaze hard. “But a show of weakness like that can be fucking deadly. That’s what Xavier did. For two years in a row. And on the third year, four other players teamed up and went after him. Found where he was hiding and killed him on the spot.”
“There is no refusing to play.” Theo shakes his head.
“There are only three ways out,” Ryland adds quietly. “You either die, hand over your life and allegiance to someone else… or you win.”
Chapter 23
My gaze flicks up to meet Ryland’s as his words settle over me.
I fucking get it now. Why he was so damn desperate to keep me out of their lives. I’ve already come too close to the game once, when I stepped between Marcus and the three bullets meant for his body. And now I’ve been dragged into it again, a pawn on a chessboard I didn’t even know existed.
There are still so many questions I need answers to, but the one that keeps rising to the top of my mind is, what now?
Now I know. Now I see the full picture, and I understand what they’ve been hiding from me all this time. Why their lives are the way they are.
But what do I do with that?
What does it mean?
Where do we go from here?
Jesus. Rich people are so fucked up.
It’s not just the wealthy, I know that. And it’s not just about money. More than that, it’s about power—and the messed up things people will do to get it.
“So, are you going to go after Carson, then?” I ask, digging my fingernails into the fabric of m
y jeans. My pants are scuffed and scraped, marred with streaks of dirt and a smear of blood. “You said it’s worse to just sit it out and wait.”
“No.” Marcus shoves his hands into his pockets, his shoulders going rigid. “Under ordinary circumstances, yeah, that’s true. But right now, the only fucking strategy we have is to keep you safe. This isn’t a game of offense anymore. It’s a game of defense.”
The hard knot in my stomach loosens a little at his words, and at the vehemence in his voice. But I still can’t hold his gaze for long. Somehow, I feel more betrayed by him than by the other two, more hurt by the lies and secrets.
Ryland has been part of this from the start, but at least he tried to stop it. And Theo… I don’t know. I don’t feel like he hid as much from me as Marcus did. Like he lied as profoundly.
“So we’ll stay here?” I switch my focus to Theo and Ryland, trying to pretend I don’t notice the look of pain that flashes across Marcus’s face. “For, what, six more hours? Where are we, anyway?”
“An old rental house on the south side of the city,” Ryland tells me. “I keep it rented under a fake name. We’ve got five of them spread around Halston, in case we need a place to lie low for a while.”
“But we can’t stay here,” Theo adds, and the muscles in my back that were beginning to relax slightly go tense again. “It’s too risky. We try to keep these rental units off the books, but they’re not untraceable. Carson’s strategic, but he’s also a vindictive little bitch. It won’t matter that his original plan went sideways; he’s not gonna go after any of the other players until he takes his shot at us. And he’s running out of time. I’m sure he’s looking for us right now.”
My pulse picks up, and I glance toward the window, where the curtains are drawn. “How long have we been here?”
“Almost seven hours. We need to get out of here soon. The longer we wait, the more time he has to prepare his next move.”
“And maybe to gather more allies.” Marcus curls his lip, looking like he wants to spit on the floor. “He’s already got that fuckwad Dominic in an alliance, doing his dirty work for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to get Gabriel or Asher on his side too. Convince them that taking out all three of us will clear the playing field and give them an advantage next year.”
I don’t have any clue who these people are that he’s talking about, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I know they all want to kill us, and that’s enough.
“All right.” I stand up. We might not actually be heading out right this second, but I can’t sit still anymore. Nerves are burning a hole in my stomach, and it feels like my entire body is vibrating. “Then where do we go?”
“That’s the fucking problem.” Theo stands up too, stepping closer to me. He stops short of actually touching me, but I can feel his body heat across the small space that separates us. Gently, he brushes a tangled lock of hair behind my ear. “Marcus is right that we need to play defense. But we have to figure out a good way to do that. Carson is after us—and he’s already taken you once. Leaving you behind isn’t safe, but keeping you with us is dangerous too.”
“She stays with us.” Marcus’s voice is hard.
I whip my head toward him, anger rising up again that he’s letting his obsession rule his judgement—that he’s willing to drag me toward death just so he won’t ever have to let me go.