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"Drake," she said, her voice soft but tense. "I've talked to Gabe."
"Yeah?" I replied, trying to keep the conversation light despite the heavy atmosphere. "I'm guessing he filled you in on the whole deep-cover situation then?"
Saffron nodded, her gaze never leaving mine.
I grimaced, the memory of our last encounter still painfully fresh. "Saffron, I was deep cover, and I didn't have a choice. I never meant to hurt you."
Her eyes narrowed, a hint of anger flashing across her face. "You know, that's the problem, Drake. I can't tell when you're being sincere or when you're just playing a role. The hardest part for me was actually believing that you cared about me." She hesitated as my guilt clawed at my gut that I hadn’t been able to do more for her parents. "I've known for a while that you didn't kill my parents, but I still can't let it go," she continued, her voice shaking. "I’ve held onto so much anger toward you. Hell, it defines me now."
“It was all fucked up. I wish I could have done more. This apology is years too late.”
Saffron's expression softened. “It’s exhausting hating you. And you did save my life once. I just—” She shook her head. “You let me try to kill you.”
“Well, you had a right. I didn’t do enough to protect your parents. And I needed to play the villain so I could still do my job.”
“Well, at some point we all have to step into the light. Or at least take a torch into the darkness with us.”
“Some of our torches have dead batteries.” I said, shrugging.
“In that case, you borrow from a mate.” Her shoulders marginally relaxed. “The woman, she’s still asleep. The doctors say she’s stable though.”
She reached out and touched my arm gently, the contact conveying a reassuring warmth, and I felt myself relax, responding to the comfort of her touch.
"So will you help us?" I asked, still uncertain if she would agree.
Saffron paused for a moment before finally nodding. "Of course. Gabe trusts you. So for now, I won’t shoot you. But I might let Tabatha stab you,” she said with a wink.
“She’s already done that.”
“Ah, yes, she came clean too. I don’t like liars, Drake. Please don’t turn my family into a pair of them.”
For a moment she stared at me, her eyes searching my face for any hint of dishonesty. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for. "You really love her, don't you?" she asked, her voice softer now.
I nodded, unable to tear my gaze away from hers.
"Yes," I said quietly. "I do."
Saffron's expression softened. "That's good," she said softly.
I smiled slightly, despite the knot in my stomach tightening with every passing second. Saffron seemed to understand how complicated things were for me. She saw through all the lies and deception and still managed to look past them to find the truth beneath it all.
"Thank you," I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.
She nodded and gave me one last reassuring smile. As she walked away to join the others, I felt a strange mix of relief and sadness wash over me. Saffron and I would never be what we once were, but perhaps there was hope for some semblance of a friendship, a mutual understanding born from the ashes of our past.
In the end, it was all I could ask for. That and Igno’s head on a platter.
39
Daphne
I tried to blink away my confusion and surveyed the room in which I found myself. I was lying on a small cot, surrounded by four gray walls. It was a sparsely adorned room, with a chair and a single window just big enough to catch a glimpse of the outside world.
I looked down at my body and saw that I had been bandaged up in various places. Whoever had found me and brought me here clearly had some medical experience, and they had done the best they could, given the circumstances.
Though my limbs felt like jelly, I managed to find the energy to bring myself to a seated position. My head spun and my vision blurred, but I felt a little better. I was still groggy, though, and it was all I could do to stay awake.
The room was sterile and cold, with that distinct hospital smell, a mix of disinfectant and despair. I blinked, trying to clear the fuzziness from my vision. I was hooked up to various machines that beeped and whirred, a symphony of noise that really didn't help my pounding headache.
