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“He's been doing a pretty damn good job so far.” Poppy looked around in the darkness. “Look where we are.”

“We're here because I refused to do the job I was hired for. I was supposed to kill you, but your stepfather is an impatient man. He couldn't wait. He hired someone else. I'm not the only person who does this kind of work.” I grabbed her hands and pulled her close. “But no one is as good as me. Your stepfather doesn't know the shit storm he has coming down on him.”

“I want to believe you, but it's hard to believe anything right now.”

I smiled as I wrapped my arm around her waist. “Poppy, I'm going to make things right.”

“By killing more people?” She tilted her head to her shoulder and arched a brow. “I think you've killed enough people for me.”

“I'm going to do whatever it takes to give you your life back.”

Poppy's eyelids lowered to half-mast as she asked, “What about you? When do you get your life back?”

“I'm a lost soul, Poppy. There is no life to go back to. I can't be saved.”

“I think you're wrong,” she said. Her small hand came up and captured my jaw. “It's never too late to change.”

Chapter Sixteen

Vega

“The sun will be coming up soon,” I said as I held Poppy's hand and guided her up a short ridge.

“How can you tell? It's dark as fuck out here.” Poppy grunted as she stabilized on the loose debris. “I can't even see my feet.”

I climbed beside her and pointed to a wedge-shaped clearing between the trees. “See the red hue?” She squinted to look. “That's the sun coming up over the horizon. Won't be long now.”

Poppy wiped her hands over each other as she exhaled. “This whole thing is fucked up.”

“It doesn't matter what it is. All that matters is we get out of it.”

“So what's your big plan, huh? We have no car. No food or water. We have nothing. How exactly do we get out of it?”

“I'm a resourceful man, Poppy. You haven't seen anything yet.”

“I've seen enough,” she said as her arms flopped to her side. “I take it we're heading towards the horizon.” Poppy walked past me, her shoulder brushing mine in the process.

I followed her. She needed some space to sort through the shit in her head. It was a lot to deal with. To know someone wanted you dead and that that person was supposed to be family was hard enough, but to also know that same person killed your mother was too much for her to decipher right then.

Her entire life, every memory, every conversation, every moment was tainted now. She had to reevaluate everything with a fresh pair of eyes. Were there signs? Should she have seen this coming? She couldn't, and no one would have expected her to. Poppy was just a child when her father killed her mother. And hemanipulated her into adulthood. How could she ever see his true colors when he hid behind a mask?

“Stop,” I said as we approached the clearing. “Just wait a second.”

“What?” she asked. “Why are we—”

“Shh.” I hushed her as I turned my head to listen.

Poppy was quiet as she looked around nervously. Her fingers anxiously pulled at her lips. I could see her so easily in the dim sunlight. Her eyes were wide, the skin puffy underneath with dark circles from lack of sleep and crying. Her hair was frizzled with sticks and leaves poking out. Her clothing and skin were splotched with dirt, and fuck knows what else.

I listened more intently, but the soft cracking of the sticks stopped. “Alright, I think we're good.”

“Did you hear something?”

“I thought I did, but I don't anymore.” I started to walk forward.

“Wait. What if there is someone out there? How do you know it's safe?”

I looked over my shoulder at her and said, “I don't. But we have to keep moving. There's a place not far from here we can go.”