I Told You To Run But You Didn't (Georgia) novel Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Georgia’s POV

I looked from the steel door back to the man blocking the man who had orchestrated this entire nightmare. The final dam of my composure broke.

Finished

“You have him now,” I said, my voice shaking with a raw broken anger. “You have your leverage. My part in this is over. I’m done.”

He just watched me as I turned and walked away. No arguments. No commands. He simply let me go, as if my departure were an insignificant, predictable event.

As I left, I heard the hiss of the cell door opening and closing behind me. He was already moving on to his next objective.

I threw my things into a bag, my movements clumsy, my vision blurred by tears I refused to let fall. Harvey met me by the front door, a look of sincere sadness on is face.

“I was really enjoying working with you, Ms. Sinclair,” he said quietly.

A tear finally escaped, and I wiped it away angrily. “Me too, Harvey,” I whispered. “But I can’t protect a man who is the reason my family is gone.”

The shock on his face was absolute, but I didn’t stay to explain. I walked out into the cool night, away from the fortress and the monsters within it.

I checked into an anonymous hotel room in the heart of the city. I dropped my bag, slid down the door, and finally let go. I didn’t know what to do next.

Start over? How do you start over when your past is a graveyard and your future is a void? Maybe I would just cry. And then cry some more. Maybe I would cry until there was nothing left of the woman who had been a wife, a soldier, or a sister.

I was curled up on the cold, scratchy carpet at the foot of the bed, my body aching from the sobs I co control. The shrill buzz of my phone on the nightstand was a violent intrusion. An unknown numb ignored it. A minute later, it buzzed again. Estevan.

A fresh wave of anger surged through me. I snatched the phone, my thumb jabbing the screen to answe My voice was a raw, broken whisper. “What?”

His voice wasn’t loud. It was worse. It was a low, controlled snarl, laced with a fury that felt like it could burn through the phone.

“I didn’t kill your parents.”

I was silent, my breath caught in my throat,

“Harvey just told me why you ran,” he continued, his voice tight with contempt. “The story your brother fed you.” A harsh, humorless laugh. “Fuck, Georgia. Let me be perfectly clear, because I don’t have time for this melodrama. I never met your parents. I have a long list of enemies I have put in the ground, and their names are not on it,”

He paused, and the silence was heavy, accusatory,

“And while you were running away based on a lie, your rother walked right out of his cell. The ten-minute

III

1/3

1.45

Sat, M

83%

Chapter 48

Finished

timer you so graciously set for him worked beautifully.” His voice dropped to a deadly, quiet question. “Why did you do it?”

“I don’t understand…” I whispered, my thumb stabbing he ‘end call’ button on my phone.

The phone dropped from my numb fingers, hitting the cheap hotel carpet with a dull thud. I slid down the wall, my head in my hands.

He played me.

That bastard. He looked at me with tears in his eyes, weaponized our shared grief, and he lied. He used my love for him, my desperate hope, as a key to open his own cell!

Damn it.

I snatched my bag from the bed, checked the magazine in my Glock, and holstered it at the small of back. I stormed out of the room, my mind a blank slate of pure, directionless anger.

As I reached the elevator bank, the doors to my right slil open with a soft ding.

my

My hand flew to my weapon, pulling it and aiming it at the figure inside before my brain could even process what I was seeing. A man, dressed in a sharp, all-black suit-the uniform of my new enemies.

But it wasn’t an enemy. It was Lucas.

“L-lucas?!” I whispered, my voice choked with shock, though my aim didn’t waver.

He stepped out of the elevator slowly, his hands held up in a placating gesture, his own face a mask of surprise and fear. “Gia…”

“How did you find me?” I demanded, my voice a low, dangerous growl as I took a half-step back. “Are you spying on me?”

“No! Gia, I just want to talk to you,” he pleaded, his eyes wide.

I finally lowered my gun, a wave of pure, bone-deep exhaustion washing over me. I didn’t have th for this. Not now.

I scoffed, a short, humorless sound. “About what, Lucas What could you possibly have to say to me

He took a cautious step toward me, his eyes wide with a fear I’d never seen from him before. “And why a you holding a gun?”

“None of your business,” I said, holstering the weapon but not turning my back on him. I started to walk

away.

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