Chapter 19 · I don't trust you

She stared at his fingers around her wrist. "I don't trust you."

"Good."

"I just don't want you dead yet. I need answers."

"That's all?"

"That's enough."

For a second, neither moved. His thumb rested against the inside of her wrist, right over her pulse. His eyes stayed on her face, searching for a lie. She wanted to pull away. She also wanted him to keep holding on until the shaking stopped.

A metal door slammed above them.

"Search the lower level!" a Crown officer shouted.

Kade released her and drew the pistol.

Evelyn caught his arm. "No killing."

"They'll kill us."

"Then shoot the lights."

"You give orders now?"

"You said I was still here. Earn it."

His stare held hers for one beat.

Then he fired.

The emergency lights burst. Darkness swallowed the cellar stairs. Above them, soldiers cursed and stumbled.

Evelyn pulled Kade through a gap beneath the stairs. It opened into the old storage room, where cracked monitors and dead relay boxes covered the walls.

"This way," she whispered.

"You know the route."

"I grew up here."

"You said you didn't remember the house."

"I said I didn't remember you being in it.