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“Wh-what happened?” Her voice is hoarse. I wonder how long she has been down here. Since our phone call last night?
“I don’t know,” I admit. “You went missing, so Yasha was trying to find you. Then these masked guys came into Jorden’s house and…” I gesture around. “I woke up down here. Do you remember anything?”
She tugs against her restraints and then sags into the chair with a huff. “I don’t know. I remember talking to you. I guess I fell asleep, but I don’t remember it. Then something was over my head. There were voices, but they were quiet. They grabbed me and…and I… They…” She shakes her head, fighting back tears.
“I’m so sorry.” The apology is dredged up from the deepest part of me. “This is all my fault. I got you both into this and I’m so sorry.”
“Ivan is behind this,” she says matter-of-factly.
I didn’t expect her to forgive me immediately, but her words still surprise me. The shift from panic to theorizing was whiplash quick.
“Well, I mean, we don’t know who is behind this. I haven’t really—” I haven’t thought about it yet. This is why I needed Francia to be clear-headed and not panicked. I may not like her theory, but she’s already trying to think about what is happening here and how to get out of it. If there’s anyone I’d want to be trapped in a prison with, it would be her.
“Of course he’s behind this,” she insists. “I thought it was strange that he let you walk out of his house so easily. Now, I know why. Because he always planned to get you back. No matter what.”
A few hours ago, I may have believed her. But now…
“Ivan isn’t what you think,” I tell her. “He isn’t what I thought, either. He’s different.”
“Come on, Cora. Look around. Who else could organize something like this? You’ve seen how much power he has. Who else could have gotten through the security measures he put in place but himself?”
She’s making good points and my mind is still so muddled from whatever knocked me out that I’m tempted to believe her. Ivan is strong. He’s powerful. He set up security around all of us—around Jorden’s apartment and the building where Francia was staying. It would make sense if he was the one who breached his own barriers. If he made us feel safe, only to yank the rug out from under our feet at the last moment.
I shake my head. “I can’t tell you everything, but I know Ivan didn’t do this.”
“You have to tell me something!” she cries. “Because none of this makes sense. If you know anything, I need to hear it. Otherwise, we might not make it out of here.”
I glance over my shoulder and see that Jorden is still slumped in her chair. Now that my eyes have adjusted, I can see that her chest is rising and falling. Relief pulses through me and I turn back to Francia.
“Katerina isn’t dead,” I say quietly.
Francia frowns. “What does that have to do with this?”
“Ivan is a good guy. That’s what it has to do with this. The last time we talked, I still thought Ivan might have killed Katerina, but I know now that he didn’t.”
Francia is quiet for a second. Then she shakes her head. “How do you know Katerina isn’t dead? Did he tell you that?”
I nod. “He did. And I believe him.”
Francia blows a dark strand of hair off her forehead and sighs. “I guess it doesn’t really matter either way.”
“Why not?”
She tries to gesture around and then lets out a humorless chuckle when she can’t raise her arms. “Because we aren’t getting out of here.”
“Don’t say that. We just have to think and try to—”
“Try to break through steel?” she snaps. “Because you can’t see the door from where you’re sitting, but I can. That door is steel and there’s no lock on this side.”
I turn my head as far as I can, but the only thing I can glimpse in my peripherals is more shadows. I rock back and forth, but all it does is make the metal chair legs scrape against the concrete.
Francia winces. “Stop. Just give it up, Cora. We’re trapped.”
I whirl back to her. “No. No, I won’tgive up.I’m the reason we are all here and I’m not going to sit back and let you all suffer for me.”
Francia and Jorden are going to die down here with me. Ivan is going to get killed trying to save me. Everyone I care about is going to die.
And it will all bemy fault.
