Page 55 of Till Death Do Us Part

“I thought that was the last time I would betray my family. But I did it again.” She turned to me, her eyes dark and haunted. “I lied to Glenn. I’m hiding the truth from the Blackbirds. If they find out, they’ll kill me.”

I felt myself crying. “You’re putting yourself in so much danger, but…”

“It would be better if I died than if you died.” She looked back into the water. “What do you do? You help people. You look after your family. You make kids feel safe. What do I do? I point a gun at people and pull the trigger. Maybe I should let Glenn find me. Let Quayle put me out of my misery. End what the Whitecliffs started when they tried to kill my whole family in one go.”

“Don’t,” I said, my voice small but firm, and it pulled Vera out of the trance, turning her to look at me. I took her hands in mine. “Stay with me. You don’t want me to die. I don’t want you to die.”

“Don’t cry for me, Elaine. I’m a monster.”

“You’re a human being.” I squeezed her hands. “And you’re my wife.”

She laughed breathlessly, incredulously, and slowly, her gaze darkened. “Elaine…”

“Yes?”

“You know how much of myself I’ve been holding back around you. You haven’t seen the dark parts of my soul. Do you really think you want to stay around me?”

I swallowed hard, and I nodded. “I trust you, Vera. Whatever happens now… there’s no one I would rather have to keep me safe.”

“So, what? You want to be a part of the family? There is no family now, though. Not for me. I’ve betrayed my second one, too.”

I took her hands in mine again, both slick from the rain, our clothes soaked through now, but I didn’t care about anything other than Vera. “Then we’ll make our own. You and me, and Caitlyn, and Petra, and Jenna…”

She scoffed. “A third family? I’ll betray that one, too, if precedent is anything to go by.”

“No. You won’t.” I put my forehead against hers. “Because this is the only one you chose. Maybe a family that will never let you turn away is no family at all.”

She stared for a long time before she crumpled, casting her gaze down to the stones. “Who knows?” she said. “Time will tell.”

“It’s—”

“Let’s see your sister.”

“My…” My stomach sank. “Is Caitlyn okay?”

“It’s a long story,” she said, standing up. “But physically, she’s fine. I need to tell Petra what I’ve done… and see if this time, she really does try to kill me.”

My heart jumped at the sight of Caitlyn inside the control room, tied to a chair, a gag wrapped around her mouth.

“Caitlyn!” I called, and her eyes widened at the sight of me. Petra jumped to her feet from another chair—it was clearly her shirt and jacket that Caitlyn was bound with, wearing only a sports bra and loose fatigues, and she gave us a wary look, reaching for a gun on the central table.

“Don’t do it, Petra,” Vera said, hand hovering near her own gun.

“You folded,” Petra said. “I knew you would.”

Vera stood on the other end of the table, her gun out at her side, the two of them cast in the light of screens from either side as rain slammed down against the window. “We need to talk about this, Petra.”

“I’ll say we do. You told me you’d be able to complete the mission.”

“What mission?” Vera said, and Petra flinched. She narrowed her eyes.

“Glenn gave us orders.”

“Glenn is planning to turn this city into a stockpile of the most dangerous weapons money can buy, and extort people until the powder keg he’s set up on goes up in flames. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a part of it.”

Petra shook her head. “We’re not the ones who call the shots, Vera.”

“Petra, please,” I said. “Vera’s right. You don’t want to be a part of this, do you? You want to contribute to something you can be happy about. Something you can be proud of.”