Page 134 of Uprising

“What if I want to be alone?” She whispers.

My shoulders slump. I feel defeated and yet I won’t give up on her. “I won’t let you do this alone. I won’t.”

She looks away, shaking her head but she doesn’t argue. Like she’s too exhausted, too spent to fight anymore.

Rose

Isneak away. I sneak out of his room.

He thinks I’m with Lara, that we’re both sleeping.

Only I can’t sleep. I can’t even shut my eyes.

I creep down the hallway, if that’s what you can call it. My eyes dart around taking in the rooms, taking in the odd lighting, and the people that are already evacuating, already seeking their own emancipation.

I don’t know how long some of them have been living down here and though it’s as well equipped as any house above ground, it still feels claustrophobic. It still feels, wrong.

When I bump into Ben he does a double take.

“Rose?”

I draw myself up, suck in a breath of air through my teeth. We’ve never really spoken all that much. I knew he knew about me and Roman all those years ago. He even caught us once, and made it clear what he thought of it, what he thought of me.

But, as he frowns at me now, I wonder how much has changed. How much better he now understands me.

“Where is he keeping my dad?” I ask.

His eyebrows raise. “If he hasn’t…”

I step closer, into his personal space, though I won’t touch him. I don’t want to touch him.

“You know what this feels like.” I reply. “You know what it is to suffer. To see someone else suffer…”

His face is so hard. Like he doesn’t want to give anything away but I’m not a fool. I know how he feels, I’ve seen how he’s looked at Sofia, how he’s pined over her.

“If you had a chance, if you had an opportunity to make Otto pay...”

“This isn’t about revenge.” He states.

I let out a laugh. “Of course it is.” I reply. “It’s exactly that. That man sold me, sold Sofia too. He used us like bargaining chips to further his power. Don’t tell me you think otherwise.”

“He might know something.” He argues.

“Why do you think I want to talk to him?” I say as sweetly as I can considering my heart is racing at a hundred miles an hour.

“He hasn’t…”

“I’m his daughter.” I cut across him. “I know how to make him talk better than anyone.”

“Roman won’t like it.”

“Roman already said I can kill him.” I reply. I’m sure he said that. He insinuated it anyway back in the cafeteria.

He narrows his eyes. Clearly thinking it over.

“Ben, please, we’ve never been friends, not really, but I need you to help me. I need you to give me this.”

He lets out a low sigh, jerking his head, and mutters for me to follow him.