Page 293 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

“Three men died trying to find a way out of that castle. Jesse, Michael, and Jason all died the first year they were captured. Vitaly had the others beaten within an inch of their lives. A couple of times. It took Vlad arranging a surgery after Vitaly’s death for Erich to be able to walk properly again. Seth still has a limp.”

“Seth? Seth’s here?” She turned around to look up at Aaron and hugged her legs to her chest. Those poor men. “What about Tony and Greg?”

“They’re all here with Alex. Seth followed you home last night—well, partially home. He’s the one who stopped the guy who grabbed you.”

Seth had protected her? Alex had sent him to make sure she got home okay? Even after she yelled and hit Alex, he still made sure she made it home okay? Why? Tears burned her eyes and she squeezed them shut. “H-how did they escape?”

“After Vitaly died and you’d escaped from Devin, Vlad had to go to a Gathering and he took most of his guards with him. He told Alex how to escape. He couldn’t just let him go, though. Devin would have found out. I think he had spies in Vlad’s house.”

Anna stared at her hands. Devin would have done something terrible to Vlad if he’d found out he’d been part of Alex’s escape.

“Peter tried really hard to get you away from Devin. He was gonna to take you to visit Vitaly last September, to try and convince his grandfather that Devin was wrong, but Vitaly died before that could happen. Vlad had been slowly poisoning Vitaly so no one would suspect his death was intentional. Especially Devin.”

“Did you know all this?”

“No. Alex told me last night. I only knew we needed to get you to New York and that everything else would be taken care of. Tommy, Travis, and Justin helped with the planning. And Ian, of course.”

Anna winced at the sound of Ian’s name. He’d died because of her.

“We didn’t know how you’d be able to be away from Devin without getting sick, but Peter assured us he’d take care of it. I guess Alex knew he’d have to come and establish his ‘home’ here, sooner or later, so that you’d be okay. It just happened faster than they’d expected.”

Anna thought back to the Thanksgiving she’d spent with Peter’s family. “That must have been why Nina got so upset at Thanksgiving. She must have known about Alex.”

“Nina?”

“Vlad’s wife. She got really upset when she found out that I’d been married to a German named Alex... and then Vlad wouldn’t let her be around me the rest of the time I was there.” It made sense now. “But why did Alex hide from me when he got here? Why didn’t he just tell me, instead of pretending to be Mr. J?”

Aaron sighed. “You know those Elders who’ve been killed recently?”

“Marcus and Connor? Yeah.”

“That was Alex.”

Anna gasped. In theory, she knew what Alex had done for The Brotherhood. But knowing someone that he’d killed... It became painfully real. “Why?”

“Partially for revenge because of what they did to you, but mostly to kick Devin’s legs out from under him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Alex is taking out Devin’s supporters, one by one. It will screw with Devin’s head and make him more vulnerable. Then Alex can confront Devin.”

“He’s not going to kill Tom, is he? Or Brandon?”

Aaron chuckled. “No. They’re no longer loyal to Devin. They helped with the planning.”

“What does that have to do with him hiding from me?”

“Anna, if Alex came to you, and then told you he had to go out on a job, would you have let him go? Would you have forgiven him for leaving you again?”

Anna stared at the floor as the fear and pain she’d felt before he’d left—and the painful years of being separated from him—swirled around her heart. “No,” she said softly. She would have been furious at him for even thinking of leaving her.

“He wanted to get everything finished so he wouldn’t have to leave you again. As it is, he has to go out next month.”

Terror rose in her heart as she thought about Alex going out on a job. “No!” she whispered, eyes wide with fright. “No, he can’t!”

Aaron put his hand on hers. “See why he stayed hidden?”

“He can’t, Aaron. He can’t. I can’t go through that again.” She jumped up and ran to her room, burying her face in her pillow. No. If she stayed away from him, if she protected her heart against him, then it wouldn’t hurt. She wouldn’t care if he came back from this job.

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