The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (36 page)

“Jake is part of Kieran’s army,” Gregory said.

“I heard,” Emma said.

Gregory met my stare as I turned to him. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but the frown and fisted hands meant his thoughts weren’t happy ones. I looked down at my shoes. How had she found out about Jake? Did that mean Aileen was still alive? Wouldn’t it have been risky of Aileen to reach out to Emma? I looked over at Emma, who seemed very anxious. Time for plan B. “Maybe we should leave for the night and come back at another time.” I moved toward the door, but Emma beat me to it, blocking me.

“Please don’t,” she pleaded. “I really want to catch up with you. I’ve missed you so much. It’s been so hard living a peaceful life, knowing my baby sister has been going through hell. I’ve been saving money so I could come and get you. I just don’t have enough yet. And now that you’re here, I don’t have to worry about you anymore. Please, why don’t you both sit back down and finish your meals. Why don’t we talk about something lighter?”

Is this bitch serious?
Gregory and I shared a look.
We’re going to rush her and get out of here
, I said with my eyes. Gregory sat down. I needed to work on communicating with my eyes. I wanted to yell at him to get up. We needed to leave. But I held my tongue and walked back to the couch, glaring at him. He just shrugged and started to eat. He chose to stay here for food.
The bastard.
I dropped down next to him, “accidentally” jabbing him in his stomach. Gregory emitted a groan, and I smiled. Emma sighed in relief and sat down in the chair across from us.

“So, Gregory,” she said. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m from Gildonia,” was all he said. He stuffed another piece of chicken in his mouth. I wanted to laugh at her. I sat smiling smugly at her.
Aren’t we being a little childish?
I didn’t care. Gregory had barely told me anything about his life; there was no way he would tell her. I wanted to go, “Nana nana boo boo.” I. I sipped on the orange soda, letting the bubbly goodness trickle down my throat.

Emma looked at Gregory, waiting for more. When she realized he wasn’t giving her anything else, she turned her attention on me.
Here we go.
“Tell me more about you. I want to know you.”

I bit into the chicken. “I don’t trust you enough to tell you about myself.” I swallowed my food. Was it very ladylike to talk with my mouth full? No. But did I care? No.

Emma
sucked in a breath. She looked like she had just been slapped across the face. Wiping my hands off, I looked over to Gregory, who was also finished eating. “I’m sorry if we have to eat and run, but we should really get going.”

“What? Why?” Emma cried out.

Gregory and I stood up, and I followed him as he moved toward the door. “I don’t trust you, Emma.” I waved between Gregory and myself. “We don’t trust you. We may have the same blood, but to me that doesn’t mean anything. You’ve been dead to me for years, and that will never change. I don’t consider you a sister right now. My sister is dead in the ground. The only person in this room I trust is Gregory. He’s helped save my life over and over again, and he didn’t even know me. He’s done it out of compassion, something you wouldn’t understand.”

Emma stood. “I don’t want you to leave. You haven’t even met my husband. Please, please stay. I’m so sorry. So sorry. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take the constant abuse. I had to save myself. But at least you had Agathy there for you. I was alone. I might have had help getting out of the house, but I was all alone. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I felt safe.” She had started crying, tears streaming down her face. “I hate myself for leaving you behind, I really do. But what else was I supposed to do? I’m here now, trying to help you. Help keep you safe. You’re shrugging it off, and that hurts. It hurts so deeply. I don’t like my baby sister giving me a look of disgust and hate, but I know I deserve it. So please, let me make it up to you. Please?” Her silent tears turned into sobs.

A trickle of guilt started in my stomach, but I focused on the anger and held on. She seemed she wanted to help me and her words felt genuine. Putting my face in my hands, I groaned. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I shouldn’t trust her. My gut screamed at me to run, but I ignored it. Could I forgive her for leaving me behind? As I removed my hands, I looked at Gregory, who gave me a sympathetic smile. I opened my mouth to speak when the front door opened. My eyes locked on the man who entered the house and my heart stopped. My blood ran cold: ice cold. Emma’s face lit up and she smiled, throwing her hands over his neck and kissing him. She let him go quickly and faced us. Her smile faded as she saw my face. I could feel Gregory get close behind me, the tension radiating off of him.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.

“Who is that?” Gregory asked slowly. His voice was like steel. He gripped my arm and pulled me behind him.

Emma looked between her husband and us. “Mia, Gregory, this is my husband, Darren. Darren, this is my sister, Mia, and her friend, Gregory.”

Darren smiled slimily. “Nice to see you two again.”

Emma looked confused. Her eyebrows were drawn as she looked at the three of us. “You’ve met them already?”

“We were in the same compartment on the train. I’m glad to see the two of you here.”

“Why is that?” Gregory gritted out.

“It’s easier if you two are here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, staring up at Darren.

“Sweetheart, remember what we discussed?” Darren asked Emma. She nodded and left the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Do you know,” Darren started, “how hard you two are to track down? You’ve made everyone’s lives difficult.” Darren pulled out a long gun from his coat. He whipped it around as he talked. “But we’re finally at the end.”

Emma came out of the room holding ropes. She avoided my eyes as she went to Darren. “What would you like me to do with these?” Emma asked Darren.

I stared in disbelief at my sister. This had all been a set up. Had Aileen been in on it, too? “Emma, why are you doing this?”

“Search them and remove any weapon you find. Then tie them up,” Darren instructed Emma.

“And what makes you think we would let her come near us?” Gregory asked. I could feel the anger rolling off of him. 

Darren smiled. “You wouldn’t make it out of the house alive if you fought. It’s surrounded. And if you don’t come quietly, I have orders to shoot Mia.”

“Why would you shoot me?” I asked. Wasn’t keeping me alive the point? 

“I can shoot you without killing you,” Darren said simply. 

I looked at Gregory then back to Darren. “I’ll go.”

Gregory groaned. “No, you won’t.”

I ignored him. I didn’t want to get into a fight with him at the moment. “But Gregory gets to go free.” 

“Mia, so help me,” Gregory gritted out.

Darren smiled. “Deal.” He turned his attention back to Emma. “Please tie her hands behind her back.”

Gregory pulled me toward him. “What are you doing?” 

I smiled a sad smile. “I’m jumping in front of you.” I pulled myself out of his grasp and walked toward Emma. Placing my hands behind my back, I felt the twine rope tighten against my hands as Emma tied it. Emma grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door. I wouldn’t look back at Gregory. 

“Why are you doing this?” I asked. Tremors ran up my spine.

“I’m trying to help you,” she said.

“By turning me in?” I ask incredulously.

“Believe it or not,” she said, “this is your best chance at survival.”

I fisted my hands and stayed silent. Sweated beaded on my forehead as I watched two black Jeeps park on the street. Four men got out and approached us. Emma handed me off to one of them.

“So, you’re Mia,” the man said. He smiled, his pearly white teeth shining. He had chocolate-brown skin and perfect straight teeth. He was almost the same height as Gregory. He was beautiful. Too bad he was my enemy.

He leaned in until his lips were next to my ear. “You should know, there are plenty of people who are rooting for you.” He stood back up and smiled.

I raised my brows and prepared to speak when a loud crash came from behind me. The man holding my arm pulled me away in time to see six guys bringing Gregory down. My heart raced as they tackled him to the ground. I strained against the man holding me and screamed for them to stop. But they didn’t. I watched as they beat Gregory until he went unconscious and then loaded him up in one of their Jeeps. I could feel tears tumble down my cheeks. Darren stepped in front of me with a triumphant smile on his face.

“We made a deal,” I choked out. 

“Deals are meant to be broken.” 

I saw red. Instead of trying to get out of the rebel’s hands, I gathered as much spit as I could in my mouth and blew it out at Darren. It landed on the upper part of his nose and left eye. His face turned red as he wiped it away. His fist I didn’t see coming. It hit me so hard across the face pain bloomed like a flower. I blinked and my vision blurred. I blinked and black dots formed. I blinked one more time, and there was darkness. 

The End.

I first want to thank my best friend and sister-in-law for reading this book over and over and over again, and will more than likely read it again. My dad who encourage me to write it, no matter how I felt about it, and who still encourages me to focus on my dreams. To my parents who have encouraged me to keep writing and to focus on what I love, instead of what others love. 

I want to thank Murphy Rae who edited and gave me some pointers that will make the story flow much easier. Also, I want to thank her for the beautiful cover design, that I would have never been able to come up with! I want to thank the rest of her team, Kerry for proofreading and Wendi for formatting. I was clueless when I first finished this book and didn't know what to do next. So, thank you all for helping me take a step further to achieving a dream!

Lastly, I want to thank all the readers who have given this book a chance. I hope you enjoyed it and will be ready to read book 2 when it comes out!