page70 (1/1)
But she hadn’t gotten pregnant Maybe she couldn’t get pregnant at all—how could she know? Early on Liarandchildren, and the way he’d talked last night told her children were so he envisioned for himself, tooeventually Which meant that even if he didn’t walk ahen he found out the truth, would he still want her if she was barren?
Then other words Liaht came back to her “What do you think love is, Cate? It’s a choice A commitment I haven’t just fallen in love with you I choose to love you”
She wanted to believe him She wanted to believe he’d chosen to love her and alould, no matter what, just as she would always love hio away Because if he could choose to love her, he could also choose differently—he could choose not to love her
“Let’s pack up,” Liam told Cate once they’d put away the clean sheets and towels
“Okay” Cate pulled her small suitcase from beneath the bed where she’d stored it She didn’t havewhat they’d just washed thatHer toothbrush and toothpaste The coans had provided her with at the first safe house
When everything had been packed she stared at the pitiful contents of her suitcase for a minute, the sum total of her possessions at this point It wasn’t all she owned, of course She had a few belongings back in Zakhar, in her suite in the palace And she had sos in her hotel room in DC—which reminded her she needed to ask someone about that
As she stood there she realized she’d spent her entire adult life expecting to move on at a moment’s notice She’d always told herself she couldn’t afford to becoht have to abandon And not just things People, too She’d made no friends in the six years she’d been on the run—for their safety as well as for her own She’d reconnected with Angelina after Alec rescued her, and Queen Juliana had been exceptionally kind and friendly toward her once she’d et in touch with any of her former friends in Zakhar—she couldn’t have lied about where she’d been all these years, but she couldn’t have borne to tell anyone the truth, either, and have them look at her with disdainor even worse, with pity
But she wasn’t the sao Not the sao Lia herself not to hopenot to drea She was dreaer love her if he knew the truth, hope refused to die
She absenthtstand and tucked it beneath her pajamas, then closed the suitcase lid and zipped it up “I’m packed,” she told Liam in a voice that didn’t betray any of what she’d been thinking
“Me too,” he said as he swung his duffel bag over one shoulder “How about a late lunch on the road? I don’t know about you, but I’ stuff out of a can If we leave noe can stop in Kaycee and have a nice lunch, and still be in Casper by two”
“Sounds good”
Cate realized she was going to miss the cabin as she followed Liam out the door And not just the cabin—she wouldthe trails with Liao when she was a girl She would miss the quiet serenity She would miss the isolation Most of all, she would miss the sense of peace and security that had flowed around her this past week You were happy here, she told herself now And not just because of Lia would have been the same without him
“I hope we come back,” she told him as she pulled the door shut behind her
Aleksandrov Vishenko’s Learjet landed at the airport in Buffalo, Wyoers—Vishenko and D’Arcy—had barely spoken to each other for the entire duration of the flight Now D’Arcy unbuckled his seat belt and said, “I’ve arranged an agency car for myself I knew you’d want to rent your own”
Vishenko turned his cold gaze on the otherme to Caterina? What did I pay you for?”
“You paid me for her location And you paid me to make sure her protectors were out of the hich I’ve done So I’ll take you to her, but I won’t stay I’m sure you don’t want a witness to murder”