Page 45 of Cup of Lies

I can’t leave her here.

“Are you sure about this?” Eva asks, frowning at me from the driver’s seat. “We can keep going. We don’t have to turn down that road. There are other ways we can get her back.”

Maybe.

But we can’t be certain.

I don’t want to leave it to chance.

“I have to,” I say softly. “I’m sick with worry over her. She’s not my daughter but…”

“It feels like she is,” Eva finishes.

We share a moment of understanding. You can have a deep, motherly connection with someone who isn’t your blood, and it’s still important to you.

“Three days,” Eva says finally. “It’ll all be over then. Stay safe, baby.”

She leans over to give me a hug. I fight back tears.

“One day my life will feel normal,” I choke out. “I look forward to that moment. Do you think Caius will still want me after all I’ve been through?”

“He’d be an idiot not to.”

We both laugh and then the car is moving again. With each second that passes, we grow nearer and nearer to my newest prison.

“I’d rather catch them by surprise,” I utter as I open the door. “Get out of here before they see you.”

I shut the car door and then begin walking toward the building. Tires crunch over loose gravel behind me. Then the engine fades into the distance.

I’m all alone.

Clutching my belly, I bravely make my way toward the back of the building to the same door we always enter through when I’m with Seth. Since I don’t have access and Seth’s car isn’t here, I decide to try my luck with our house.

Not our house.

His house.

My prison.

Though I’m now wearing a new pair of tennis shoes and comfy clothes Eva bought me, my feet still hurt from running barefoot a couple of days ago. I needed the past few nights to recover, flesh out my plan with Eva and Vivienne, and come to terms with the fact I had to go back.

And now I’m here.

I reach my fingers up and slide them beneath my hair to a small, shaved spot at the base of my skull where my scar is. The coolness of the foil taped there offers me a modicum of relief. Vivienne might be crazy, but what she said made sense. If there’s a way to disrupt the signals of the Stem Lock technology, I need to try it. The foil was the safest option while being pregnant.

Let’s hope Seth doesn’t find out what I’ve done.

Compliance is the key to our freedom. I have to make him believe me, no matter what it takes.

The stormy weather has moved on and the summer heat has settled upon us. Sweat forms under my boobs that rest onmy swollen stomach. I could probably use the exercise after having been holed away in that house for the past six months. My aching body, though, wants to be inside already in the air conditioning.

I round the bend and see Seth’s car parked out front. Then, to my utter relief, I see Kaitlyn on the tire swing. Sunshine lies in the grass nearby. They don’t see me.

Woof.

Sunshine notices me first and takes off running for me. I laugh when I’m attacked by sloppy dog kisses. When I look up again, I see Seth with Kaitlyn’s small hand captured in his.

Sell it, girl.

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