Page 77 of Hupotasso
She nods.
“And Isabel wasn’t looking like she was going to be the favourite. She had to get to the final two somehow, and eliminating the rivals was the only way,” Yin sighs.
“Hence her trying to kill me.”
“So anyway,” she shrugs, “my relationship with Phil obviously couldn’t go on. He’d lied to me. I told him I couldn’t trust him, but he declared his love and promised there would be no more secrets. He said I should trust him above everyone because he’d joined The Free Men for me and only me. I so desperately wanted to believe him.”
She pauses to sip her tea.
“I had no one else, you know. No one but him had ever shown me love. And being on the run, alone in the world, I needed him. I thought I did, anyhow.”
“Yin,” I groan.
“So, I believed him. But something still didn’t sit right. There was something behind his eyes whenever I mentioned you, something I didn’t trust. So one night, I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to share with me. I guess he was tired of all the lies, or perhaps he truly wanted to repent. I don’t know. He told me what he’d done to you in The Games.”
She stares into space and I wait for her to finish, thinking the break-up must have been long, painful, and full of recriminations and tears.
But this is Yin.
“So,” she shrugs, “I broke his arms and legs and dumped him in a field. I took his phone, texted Isabel his whereabouts, and left for my new safe house.”
I shake my head at her blunt narration.
“Yin, I’m so sorry. You must have been absolutely heartbroken.”
“Mizu ni nagasu. It means let it flow in the water. You have nothing to be sorry for, and I’ve forgiven him. We’re not together, of course, but I forgive him. He’s the only one who ever fought for me. He risked his life to try and save mine, just as you did. There’s something in that.”
“There is,” I murmur. “Thank you for savingme, Yin. For risking your life for me, again.
“Side quest,” she smirks. “I’ve just taken a little detour to pick up my best friend. Besides, I’m still trying to process my life and direction knowing what I know now about my mother. I could use a friend to help chart my course.”
“Wow,” I shake my head, trying to wrap my mind around how it must feel to know your father killed your mother and then sacrificed you to a game knowing you might die too. “I guess your father was even more of a bastard than I thought.”
She snorts.
“He underestimated his daughter. One day I’ll avenge my mother. In the meantime I’ve single-handedly evaded himandall the vampires chasing me.”
I frown.
“But how? How did your rescue plan for me come about? You must have had the help of The Free Men, surely?”
“I did,” she nods. “When I watched your performance on the family tour I knew something was very wrong, but I didn’t know what, or how to get a hold of you. Then Isabel called and passed on your message.”
“Thank God!” I breathe. “I was sure she hadn’t. You know they double-crossed me. They tricked me into killing a vampire and left me holding the body — and didn’t do a thing to rescue me.”
Yin shakes her head.
“I can’t say for sure if they were going to save you or not. I waited a month. When I hadn’t heard word that they’d done anything to free you, I made some calls. Isabel wasn’t answering her phone, neither were her parents. They all disappeared the same night you left Barcelona.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah,” she nods. “So I decided to rescue you. The Free Men already had elaborate long-term plans in motion to recover Isabel, so I managed to dovetail into those plans.”
“Recover?” I frown.
“They believe Falcon had Isabel and her family taken. If they’d been killed the vampires would have displayed their bodies and made a show of it — but there’s been no word. The Free Men want them back, and they have a plan togetthem back.”
It’s my turn to shake my head.
