Page 72 of Cruel Secrets

I turn off the road and into the lot, parking at the far end where the shadows are darker. “I’ve got this handled, alright?”

“Do you?” she snaps, her tone sharp as she twists in her seat to stare at me. “Because right now I don’t think you do. The sun is setting, and you know Noah is going to be on our trail—if that isn’t him pulling into the lot now—and you still think the best decision is pulling over?”

“Gia—”

“No!” She vibrates with anger as she recoils away from me. “You told me that you were going to keep us safe, and I don’t see how this is keeping us safe!”

I sigh and rake a hand through my hair, glancing in the mirror to make sure Bianca is still settled in her seat. “Skyla is the one pulling into the lot right now. Noah isn’t behind us. It’s fine, okay?”

Gia gapes at me. “You could have said that instead of giving me a heart attack. What happened to trusting each other?”

She throws the door open, getting out and slamming it behind her, but the weight of her anger still lingers behind her.

Maybe I should’ve told her what was happening as soon as I knew, but I don’t have time to tell her my every plan and keep us alive at the same time.

Though I hate to admit it, she does have a point.

What happened to trust?

If she really did trust me to keep her safe, she wouldn’t be questioning me like this.

She didn’t deny the fact that she saw me as a monster a few days ago, though.

That’s the bitter pill I have to swallow. I know what I am, and it would be stupid to think that she would see me as anything else.

Bianca might see me differently, though. She might learn to trust me as she gets older. Hell, she may be the one person in the world who won’t look at me and see a killer.

I take a deep breath, preparing for Skyla to gang up on me with Gia.

As I step out of the car, the pair of them turn and both give me a dirty look, though neither says anything.

Skyla stalks over to me, stopping in front of me before pulling me into a tight hug. “I was worried that I was going to be too late.”

“Too late?” I ask, hugging her back before letting her go. “If you were the only one following us, then we should have some good time ahead of Noah. The sun is only starting to set now.”

Gia tucks the gun into her waistband before stepping closer to us, perching on the hood of the car. “He came after us before then, didn’t he?”

Skyla nods. “I was already in the area. I’ve been staying up here a bit and Sean wanted me to look into a couple business ventures he has out this way. Aiden called me and told me what was happening. I got to the house as Matt was leaving.”

“Did Matt make it out?” I ask, keeping one eye on the girls and one eye on the road. “He was supposed to lead anyone that might have come along in the opposite direction. Back toward the city.”

“He got out, but the Rinaldos were on him right away.” Skyla stuffs her hands in her pockets, shifting her weight from one side to the other. “Sean was driving another car. Took out both the people after Matt as they appeared, but Aiden thinks there are going to be more coming after you soon. He’s on his way up here now and he should be able to draw a few more away from you.”

Gia looks at me with shining eyes before she looks up at the neon lights. “We have to get to Ontario, but if we get caught up at the border, he’s going to be on us and he’s not going to think twice about killing anyone who gets in his way.”

I swallow hard, stooping down to check on Bianca. “Nothing is going to happen to us. We’re going to keep going to the border.”

Skyla clears her throat, shifting closer to Gia and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “We’re going to get you out of here. Our mole is currently feeding information to your brother.”

“Where does Noah think I am?” Gia asks, her voice breaking.

“He thinks you’re in the car with Matt,” I say, voice tight as I look over her. “He’s going to keep chasing Matt down until he either kills him or realizes that you’re not with him, and then we’re going to have another problem on our hands.”

Skyla holds Gia tighter. “Everything is going to be fine. We have this under control, but we do think the two of you are being tracked. Jade and Summer were running a couple tracking programs at home, and they were able to pick up on the car at the safe house.”

“Phone?” I pull mine out of my pocket and open the back of it, pulling out the sim card and the battery. I crush the sim card beneath the toe of my boot into the cement before tossing the battery into the bushes.

The shell of the phone goes sailing into one of the garbage cans.

---