Page 75 of Repluse

I waita few moments after Logan leaves before picking up my phone.

“Did you guys?—”

“He’s un-fucking-real,” Frankie says. “How the fuck does he actually think he’ll get away with what he has planned?”

“Because for years and years, in Yira, he and his family have done exactly what they liked and gotten away with it.”

“Yeah, well, not this time. Listen, Logan’s just pulled off but there’s another bloke out here in a Cruiser he just spoke to. I’m assuming that’s Stefan. Sammie’s on his way in. The plan is, he’s going to tell the staff he’s your brother. He’s going to find another way out without us having to punch on with old mate out here.”

“Great plan,” I tell him with the hint of a smile.

“You taking the piss out of my planning addiction?”

“Absolutely.”

“Fucker, I love you.”

“Love you, too. Listen, Logan had to rush off because of a fire. You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?”

“May…be.” He drags out the word.

“Oops. Hope it’s nothing too serious.”

“Oops, not serious. Just very, very, expensive.”

“Oops,” I add again. “Hit them where it hurts.”

“That’s the plan, beautiful. That’s the fucking plan.”

“I’m starting to love your plans.”

“Knew you would.”

There’s a knock at the door.

“Sam’s here. We’ll call you back once we’ve worked something out. Love you. Bye.”

Amanda opens the door. “Sorry for disturbing you again, Mila. Your brother’s here. He’s never been on the visitors’ list, so I’m just…”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. He messaged to tell me he was on his way. I forgot to come out and tell you.”

“Okay.” She hesitates at the door for a second before turning and asking, “Is everyone in your family gorgeous?”

That brings a genuine smile to my lips. Gesturing with a nod towards my mum, I say, “She blessed us all with good genes.”

“I’d say,” she agrees before leaving.

Sam comes through the door a few seconds later. His eyes move over my face and the length of my body. “What did he do? Did he hurt you?”

“He pulled my hair. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

His eyes slice from me to my mum. “This is…”

“Weird, yeah. Frankie told me his plan. Did you find another way out?”

“Yeah, there’s literally an emergency exit at the end of this hallway. It’ll cause chaos when we open it. It’ll set off alarms, but if we tell Frankie to wait outside, we’ll be gone before your new bestie Stefan works out what the fuck’s going on.”

We stare at each other for a beat. “I really want to kiss you,” Sam finally says. “But…” He nods towards my mum.

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