Page 33 of Conquer

It was.

“No,” Ed said. “But he offered me 300K to feed you that bullshit record. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“He didn’t threaten you at all…” I said, my mind still unwilling to accept what was saying.

“No. But he gave me a chance to give my family a better life. I couldn’t say no,” Ed said.

“But you could sell me out?” I spat.

I rocketed from my chair, anger and indignation moving me.

“I’m sorry, Sam. I didn’t think any harm would come from it. You never told me about your extracurriculars,” Ed said.

“Good thing, too. What would you have done if he’d offered you five hundred?”

“You know I would never let anything happen to you, Sam,” he said.

“How do you define ‘anything,’ Ed? You don’t think lying to me, helping a criminal set me up, and making me fall in love with him is hurting me?”

I was so filled with rage that I could barely push the words out, but when I did I thought I would break down.

I had never said that out loud to anyone, and my shame only intensified when I saw Ed’s look of pity.

“Don’t look at me like that!”

“I… Just trying to understand, Sam,” Ed said.

That would never happen, but I didn’t waste my breath telling Ed that.

“So, the person you just called. Are they coming to kill me?”

“Your imagination is getting away from you again,” he said.

“How much did he pay you to call him?”

“No one paid me to call. Figured you would probably need someone to save you from yourself. This might be the way,” Ed said.

“You mean you knew I was coming here?”

He nodded faintly. “Figured it was only a matter of time.”

I really was that stupid, that predictable.

I collapsed against the couch, not looking at the man I had just moments ago thought of as one of my dearest friends.

And as the seconds ticked by, I waited, wondering what my fate would be.

Adrian

I still lingeredin Sam’s house, struggling to think of what to do next, or rather, what she would do next.

Sam didn’t give herself enough credit. She was smarter, far smarter than most people I’d ever met. She had put together pretty much the entire picture of the Syndicate from a couple of documents and a few missing persons.

And she was smart enough so leave her car and phone and her credit cards.

That told me she was on foot, but I didn’t know where she would go.

Her mother was out of town, and I didn’t think Sam would go to her anyway, at least not yet. She’d want to make sure that she was safe before doing that.

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