Page 102 of Betray Me
Max’s arms come around me as the full weight of our situation crashes down. We’re trapped on an island with the person who’s been orchestrating our destruction for decades, surrounded by security systems she controls, cut off from any outside help. The federal investigators think we’re safe. Our friends and family believe we’re completing our education. No one is looking for us because no one knows we need to be found.
“The enhanced security,” Erik breathes, understanding dawning in his gray eyes. “The cameras, the motion sensors, the isolated location—”
“It’s not to keep threats out,” Luna finishes grimly. “It’s to keep us in.”
The practice room suddenly feels smaller; the soundproofed walls that were supposed to provide privacy now feel like the bars of an elaborately disguised cage. Every breath tastes stale, recycled, like we’re slowly suffocating on ourdesperation.
“What do we do?” I ask, hating how small my voice sounds. “She has us exactly where she wants us. Even if we could get off the island, where would we go? Who would we trust?”
“Each other,” Max says firmly, his hand tightening on my waist. “We trust each other, and we find a way to expose her.”
“How?” Luna demands. “She controls every communication system on this island. She has staff loyal to her, security systems monitoring our every move. We’re students in her domain, and she’s been planning this longer than we’ve been alive.”
The hopelessness of our situation settles over me like a shroud, but underneath the despair, something else begins to burn. Not the desperate fury of a trapped animal, but the cold anger of someone who’s finally seen the full scope of their betrayal.
“Then we become what she made us,” I say, my voice growing steadier with each word. “We use everything she taught us against her.”
I look around at the three people who’ve become my anchor in a world built on quicksand. We’re not the broken children our families tried to create. We’re not the compliant victims Selena expects to manipulate.
We’re survivors who’ve learned to fight back.
“We stay,” I continue, feeling certainty crystallize in my chest. “We pretend we still trust her, that we still believe in her protection. We smile and attend classes and play the perfect students while we gather evidence and find her weaknesses.”
“Belle,” Max says softly, “that’s incredibly dangerous. If she suspects we know—”
“Then we make sure she doesn’t suspect.” I think about my grandmother’s letter, about decades of careful planning and accumulated resources. About the intelligence networks and safe houses and allies I’ve never contacted. “We become the spies our parents trained us to be, but this time, we’re spying for ourselves.”
“And when we have enough evidence?” Luna asks quietly.
“Then we burn her world to the ground,” I say with the kind of calm certainty that comes from finally understanding your purpose. “But we do it right. We do it completely. We make sure there’s no network left to reform, no shadows left to hide in.”
As we begin planning our rebellion in the soundproofed darkness of that practice room, I feel something I haven’t experienced since childhood: the absolute certainty that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly what I was meant to do.
Selena Harpsons created me to be her perfect weapon. Now she’s about to discover what happens when that weapon finally chooses its own target.
We’ll return to our rooms tonight, sleep peacefully in beds she’s provided, eat meals from kitchen she controls. We’ll smile when she checks on our welfare, express gratitude forher protection, discuss our academic progress with appropriate enthusiasm.
And every moment of that performance will be calculated, deliberate, designed to convince The Architect that her four most dangerous enemies are exactly where she wants them—grateful, compliant, and completely under her control.
She thinks she holds all the cards.
She has no idea that Belle Gallagher is about to teach her the most important lesson of her long, manipulative life: the difference between creating a monster and controlling one.