Page 177 of Under the Lies

It takes at least ten minutes to reach city limits from here. Harlow doesn’t say that. She doesn’t say anything as they take her out of the room.

And as she goes, relief settles into my bones with the knowledge that this is finally over.

But that quickly gets replaced with trepidation.

It’s over.

Noah doesn’t look at me as Harlow leaves the room. Instead he turns to Thea. “And Sam?” he asks, like picking up a conversation from earlier.

“He gave the names of the other people who helped Harlow. They were all the ones involved with the cemetery stunt,” Thea informs him while I shiver at the mere mention of that night. I can’t sleep in complete darkness anymore. My sister stole even that from me.

“They’re on level B2 in holding.”

Level B2? “How many floors are in this place?” I ask. It might be a renovated mansion, but there’s only so much space a house can have.

Noah doesn’t answer, but I’ve been around him enough to know that he’s now lost in his mind. Swimming with ideas.

Thea shrugs. “Enough for everything we need. Remind me to give you a tour sometime.”

I nod, but a weight settles in my gut.

Thea talks like I’m still going to be around, but I can’t help but remember our conversation at the sushi restaurant.

“What am I supposed to do when this is over?”

“Then you get to go back to your apartment with your cat and return to life as usual.”

Well. The time has come. No matter how much I had secretly hoped it wouldn’t.

It’s finally over.

And I have no idea of where that leaves me.

Everything returns to normal. Or as normal as it gets here in Haven Harbor where art thieves control the city and the rich carry on ignorantly bliss. Everything goes back to normal except for me.

My life.

It’s not something I can hit the rewind button on and go back to not knowing. I now walk the streets of this city with my eyes wide open.

A city built on lies, relationships forged by dishonesty.

It’s been three days since Noah banished my sister. Three days of him and his friends cleaning up all the messes she made. Three days since I’ve seen him.

I’m still at his penthouse, but it feels even colder than it did my first night here.

I can’t go back there, I think as I walk across campus, leaving my last class of the day sans bodyguards. Now that my sister’s banished, I convinced Noah to let me ditch them.

I could call Brin and see if she wants to meet for lunch. Except…I don’t want to really be around people right now either.

Without a destination in mind, I let my feet decide the path walking down street after street until I’m in front of a familiar building. My apartment.

The cement steps stare at me in invitation.

I haven’t even been on this side of town since finding the letter. Couldn’t find any reason to. But I still have my key in my purse. It could be the perfect place to be alone for a couple of hours.

To reclaim a security that was stolen from me.

So I walk up the waiting steps, into the warm entryway. It’s a quick trip up the several flights of stairs and before I know it, I’m stepping through the threshold of the apartment I moved into when I was looking for a change.

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