Page 32 of Shattered Home

Nodding, they both gave me another grin. “Goodnight, Alessia. Thanks for taking care of us.”

Tears burned at the back of my lids at Stephanie’s sweet words, knowing she had no idea what they meant to me. It had only been two days since we were taken from the others, and I was completely out of sorts. But I was happy that the kids at least didn’t seem to notice how out of my element I was.

Rubbing a hand over both of their heads, I wished them goodnight before climbing out of the tent with Aiden at my heels. The sun hadn’t yet set, oranges and pinks tinting the sky, people still milling about.

Aiden and I sat side by side, taking in those around us, not speaking. Neither of us could decide what to say, even though there were so many unanswered questions. For some reason, my eyes were drawn to the fence at the side of camp, where I had seen a figure last night.

A group milled about the area, but one man in particular stood out to me. He strolled through the crowd with a feline grace, keeping to the shadows and deterring detection. A sly smile adorned his lips, his brows twitching when he spotted something of interest.

I couldn’t say for sure that it was the figure from the night before, but I had an inkling that it was. He blended in with the crowds, drawing zero attention even as he looked to be up to no good. My brain started firing thoughts at me as I watched him move, and an idea sparked.

He wasn’t who I had in mind when I considered finding someone trustworthy to escape with, but there was no doubt in my mind that he could help. And if he had been snooping around last night with the same thought in mind as me, then maybe he already had a plan devised.

“Do you know who that guy is?” I muttered, nudging Aiden with my elbow to grab his attention.

He followed my gaze, scanning the people that milled around, his brows furrowed. “Who are you talking about?”

“The guy a head taller than everyone else, dark hair.” I pointed in his general vicinity and I knew Aiden spotted him when he frowned.

“I’ve seen him around. He keeps to himself, so I assume he doesn’t have family here. Why?”

“I think he could be our ticket out of here.”

Aiden looked at me like I was crazy, but I only smiled. He had been adamant all day that escaping was pointless and would only lead to someone getting hurt. Or worse. But I couldn’t sit back and watch him get tortured. I sure as hell couldn’t withstand torture, if that’s what it came down to. Which meant we needed to escape, and that man was my only chance right now.

***

Aiden finally fell asleep late into the night after he realized no one was coming to collect him for another information session. Making sure to not wake any of the sleeping people in my tent, I crawled out, my eyes going directly to the clock.

It was after two in the morning, much later than the night before when I had wandered around, but I had to hope the man would once again be sneaking around. I didn’t trust speaking to him in the middle of the day, not when there were plenty of prying ears.

Sticking to the shadows as I did the night before, I crept along the fence line, hoping I would spot him. Minutes seemed to pass into hours as I nearly made an entire circle around the camp, still with no sign of him. Once I neared our tent, my shoulders slumped, realizing it was much too late. I should have left earlier, but I knew Aiden would have stopped me. We may have been twins, but he had always played the protective brother role, especially when Alex was by his side.

The memory of Alex had me stopping in my tracks, taking a moment to sit with my grief. I still hadn’t processed that I would never see him or my mom again. But I knew that if I let myself wallow for too long, I would never recover from the drowning waves of despair. Letting a few tears streak down my face, I composed myself, readying to climb back into the tent and try to get some sleep.

When I looked up, I spotted the figure by the fence in the same spot as last night. After seeing him during the day, I knew it was the same man. I still couldn’t see his features, but I could tell by the way he held himself, as if he was about to vanish at any given moment.

With purpose in my steps, I strutted toward the man, happily surprised when he didn’t move. I knew he spotted me; I wasn’t trying to be discreet with my movements. When I was a few feet away, I finally stopped.

The man didn’t say a word and neither did I, both of us taking a moment to size the other up. He had looked tall from far away, but up close I had to tilt my head back to look at his face. I wasn’t short, only several inches beneath six foot, but he easily had six inches on me. His eyes were dark, glinting with interest under the light of the moon. His dark hair blended in easily with the night, his dark shirt and dark jeans doing the same.

After I finished my perusal, I stood still as he gazed from the top of my head to my toes, trying to appear strong. If I wanted this man to help us escape, he needed to think I had the confidence to do so.

“Don’t you know sneaking out of your tent at night is against the rules?” His voice was melodic, a complete contrast to his physical features.

“Then why are you here?” I was proud of myself, remembering somewhere that it was always good to answer a question with a question. Especially since I didn’t know that was a rule, but shit, good thing I had been discreet around the guards. I didn’t need to bring trouble to the twins.

“I enjoy the breeze,” he said, leaning back against the fence, completely nonchalant.

I had to hold back a snort at his words since, surprisingly, there was absolutely zero breeze at the moment. Which was actually rare.

“But a dainty thing like you? It’s dangerous out here.”

My pride prickled at his words, realizing the façade of strength I was desperately trying to put on was no use. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he picked up on my fear, the man seemed too cunning for his own good.

Deciding I didn’t have time to run around with him, even though part of me was enjoying the normalcy of the conversation, I asked him point blank, “Are you trying to escape?”

His brows raised, surprised by my bluntness. A mischievous grin split his lips as he responded, “And why would I tell you if I was?”

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