Page 80 of Edge of Control

Had he passed that evil on to me? Could that explain why my story was unfolding this way?

I straightened my shoulders, sucked in another breath. The grate nearby choked out a cloud of steam as the floor took on a subtle rumble, the train passing by underneath me.

I had to get back home. I wasn’t sure how much time I had left as a free man, but I was sure I knew how to use it.

My father would pay for what he’d done. One way or another, he’d pay.

The subway station was nearby. I ran down the steps, practically leaping over the turnstile but pressing my card against it instead.

I didn’t want to add another reason to why I should be jailed.

I shouldered my way to a seat. A pair of young men eyed me up and down as they stood with their backs against the door. Could they be undercover policemen? Was the news already out?

Paranoia began to settle inside me. I tried to push it away, but it was impossible. It was as if all eyes were on me. Jace wasn’t the only one who knew of my sins. Everyone in this crammed train knew what I’d done.They could see right through my act. The little old lady holding her grocery bags, the businessman reading the newspaper, the couple nestled together on their seats—all of them knew what I’d do. Each and every single one of them.

I shut my eyes and tried to picture myself somewhere far away. All I could imagine was me lying out on a beach with Jace lying next to me, both of us naked, dotted with sweat and sand, ready to run into the waves together, where we’d hold each other and kiss and feel our bodies fitting together like two perfect puzzle pieces. The final two pieces that completed the whole. That’s all I could think of.

My eyes snapped open. The train screeched to a stop. I could walk the rest of the way. I stood and went to the farther exit, away from the two men who were now staring at their phones. I hurried out of the train and through the flow of foot traffic.

Maybe there was a way I could fix this? That was likely the delusion talking, but Jacehadlet me go. Maybe he saw something in me that went beyond the choices I had made. That kind of hope was thread-thin, but it was there, and I clung to it like a life raft tossed to me in the middle of a stormy sea. Thunder and lightning clapped in my skull. I was close to drowning. But still, Jace had thrown me a chance at making it out alive.

I couldn’t focus on that, not yet. I had to get back home and plan my next steps. I didn’t have much time.

I reached my building and hurried to the elevator bay. Getting stuck in Jace’s elevator caused me a moment of pause, but I didn’t want to race up twenty flights of stairs,even though I felt like I had the energy to climb forty flights and not even be winded.

The elevator dinged open. I went inside, right behind a young woman intently focused on the Kindle in her hands. She barely looked in my direction.

The elevator opened on my floor. The woman looked up and wished me a good day, which I offered right back. My voice sounded shaky. She cocked her head, eyebrow arched, but the door closed before she could say anything else. Could she have known something was up? Was there a Wanted poster of my face being blasted all across social media? Could it have been pushed to her Kindle somehow?

A ridiculous thought, but this was all such a ridiculous turn of events. I hurried down my hall and reached my door.

I froze. The door was cracked open.

I was sure I had closed and locked it before leaving.

Someone was inside.

They’d come for me.

The game was over. I wouldn’t have a chance to make things even with my father or somehow fix things with Jace.

I dropped my head. There’d be no running from this. No matter how much of a lead Jace gave me. It was time to give myself up.

I pushed open the door and walked into my apartment for what I was sure would be the last time.

Chapter 30

Jace Holloway

This was wrong.

I’d been wrong.

Letting Theo go was wrong.

I sat in the property manager’s office, feeling as if the floor was seconds away from splitting open and I’d plunge down to the core of the Earth. She spoke, but I couldn’t quite understand what she was saying. As if she had shifted to another language that was completely foreign to me. My thoughts couldn’t focus. The entire room spun.

How could this have happened? And what would happen next?

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