Page 172 of The Sins of Noelle

She looks back to our makeshift hut for the night, giving me a smile.

“That’s not too bad,” she chuckles. “I hope there won’t be any rain.”

“I think that would be the ultimate punishment from Mother Nature.”

“Here,” Noelle pulls a piece of meat and hands it to me. “You need to eat so you can keep taking your painkillers.”

“Thank you.”

The meat is hard to chew, but better than nothing.

We eat in silence, and after a while, Noelle is the first to speak.

“I sent another SOS. They should be able to find us, right?”

“I trust Carlos. He will find us,” I grunt.

When she sees I’m not saying anything else, she starts fidgeting with her fingers, her anxiety seemingly mounting.

“What about the drug withdrawal?”

“I’ll be fine for the time being.”

I’d had my last dose pretty recently so that shouldn’t pose any problems. I doubt it will take over a week for Carlos to find us. Only then would I start going into withdrawal.

“I know the original recipe,” she suddenly says.

“What?”

“I think it could help, no? If we recreate the original. I know you’re barely getting by with the cocktail you’re on now.”

“How long have you known?” I demand before I can help myself.

Her eyes flare with fear.

“Since I got my memories back,” she replies in a low voice.

“And you didn’t think that might helpbefore?”

“I did… I was going to find a way to suggest it without revealing how I knew it,” she sighs. “But since the cat is out of the bag, I might as well come clean about that too.”

“About what?” I frown.

She licks her lips, her gaze apprehensive as she draws her knees to her chest, hugging herself tightly as she finally meets my eyes.

“I was the one who created that drug cocktail.”

The words slowly sink in just as shock and outrage overtake me.

“You…what?” I croak.

“I never meant to harm you,” she whispers.

“Somehow I find that hard to believe,” I shoot back in a dry tone. “Fuck… Come on, just tell me. What other shocking information are you hiding? Let’s have it all out.”

“I…” she trails off, looking around as if looking for an escape. Too bad we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere and for the first time, she truly cannot run.

“I lied,” she finally says.

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