Page 34 of Split You Open

“We don’t know where Ledger is now, he turned off anything that could be tracked, but I wouldn’t put it past him to be close behind you,” Wes says, his voice grim. “If you can get him back here… Well, we can eliminate the threat he poses to you.”

Eliminate the threat he poses to you…

I don’t know what that means to Wesley, but I know what “eliminate” means in the world I grew up in. Is Wes capable of looking his friend in the face as he kills him? I don’t know.

Am I capable of doing it?

The fury billowing through me gives me the confidence to say yes.

Even as my heart withers at the idea.

“If that’s not possible, do what you have to do to survive,” Santi adds, speaking quickly. “You two have to make it back here in one piece and alive.”

“Kind of hard to make it back alive in two pieces, Santi,” Rhett replies, his teasing dry.

There’s a short pause before Santi says, “I miss you guys.”

He says it so quietly that I almost miss the pain in his voice. My soul echoes that same heartache. I miss him too. I miss him and Wes more than anything. I turn to face Rhett and the phone. The expression on Rhett’s face nearly has me falling to pieces. He looks like he’s in absolute agony as he stares at the device in his hand.

“We miss you, too,” I tell Santi when Rhett says nothing.

“So, are you coming back?” Wes asks. “Please say yes.”

My heart trembles under the crushing weight put upon it. I’m being called home. I have a home to go to. I have people there who miss and care about me.

It’s everything I’ve ever wanted.

Rhett looks up at me, and I stare back at him. The pained expression has lessened but it’s reflected loudly in his gaze. He would stick this out with me. Rhett would run with me until the end of time. I get that now. He would allow time and miles to separate him and Santiago just to make sure I was safe, and I’m sure he wouldn’t complain about it.

But I don’t want that for him.

I don’t want that for myself.

This damn tracker… Ledger claimed that it was for my protection. Another lie. Every word, every gesture, all of it was a lie.

My heart starts to seize and for a second, I can’t breathe.

Up until recently, Ledger was my everything. I thought I meant something to him.

The fact that he could do this to me is staggering. The betrayal off the charts. It would be so easy to curl up and cry. Give up and let him kill me. The pain from his betrayal is so great I probably wouldn’t even notice.

But I’m realizing now that it’s not just my life he’s ruined.

Not just my life that he put at risk.

Rhett. Santiago. Wesley. They didn’t ask for any of this. It’s one thing to hurt me, but them? That’s absolutely unacceptable. The rage in me turns molten, hotter than I’ve ever felt before, and it burns through the heartache and takes center stage.

I won’t let Ledger get away with what he’s done to all of us.

Holding Rhett’s gaze, I answer Wes, “Yes, we’re coming home.”

We say our good-byes, promising to contact them soon and then Rhett hangs up. He’s barely ended the call when I begin to shimmy off my pants.

“Looking to get round two in before we head off?” Rhett asks with a smirk.

Ignoring him, I reach down for the knife in my boot and pull it free from its sheath. I lift it up, ready to get the tracker out but Rhett leaps to his feet and lunges forward.

“STOP!” he yelps. “What the fuck, Blair?!”