Page 81 of Betrayed By Sin

Bria glances at me out of the corner of her eye, her fingers tightening around the wheel. She sees the name. Sees the hesitation on my face. “If we keep giving in, we’ll stay on this carousel.” She plucks the phone from my grip and rolls down the window.

“Bria.”

“Say goodbye, Magnolia.” She grins, wicked and bright against the blur of gray highway.

The wind whips into the car, loud and merciless. My heart thrums against my ribs.

I suck in a sharp breath, watching as she dangles the phone over the open road.

Then, without letting myself think, without letting myself hesitate, I grab it and throw it myself.

The phone vanishes into the roadside, swallowed by leaves, by distance, by the roaring sound of my own heartbeat.

A part of me goes with it.

Bria lets out a low whistle. “Damn. You didn’t even hesitate.”

I sink back into the seat, my chest aching. “What’s the point?”

She nods, then grins as she pulls a tiny black flip phone from her bag. “Here. Welcome to the off-grid lifestyle.”

I take it, staring down at the cheap plastic. “You came prepared,” I murmur.

Bria shrugs. “You forget who you’re running away with?”

I huff out a laugh. “No. And that’s what worries me.”

“Smart girl.”

For a while, we just drive.

The roads blur into open stretches of nothing, the scenery shifting from concrete to farmland to tree-shadowed highways that all look the same. The further we go, the more I feel theweight easing off my shoulders, like I can finally exist without waiting for the next blow to land.

But the thing about weight is, even when it’s gone, you still feel the ghost of it.

That bullet was left for me, only me, so I don’t worry for Sin or Cameron’s safety. They’re only a danger to each other right now.

Bria cranks the music up, flipping through stations until she finds something tolerable. “How far south are we going?”

I pull a folded piece of paper from my bag, my thumb smoothing the crease. “Margo Finley.”

Bria snorts. “And who the hell is that?”

“She’s… my cousin. Apparently. I found her name in my orphanage records.”

Bria raises a brow. “And you think she’s just going to welcome us with open arms?”

“I don’t even know if she knows I exist. I insert it on the fancy display, “We’re going to be in the car for a while.”

She hums, tapping her fingers against the wheel. “So let me get this straight. We’re driving toward some random cousin’s house, banking on the fact that she’s real and not a serial killer?”

I sigh. “That’s the plan.”

Bria grins. “Best plan we’ve ever had.”

We stop at a gas station somewhere in the middle of nowhere, the neon lights buzzing overhead, flickering like they might give out any second.

Bria groans as she stretches. “God, I swear my ass is permanently numb.”