The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (18 page)

He lifted a shoulder. “What life is there for us outside these fences? We will always have trouble acclimating; we can never blend in. Not really. We can’t even have children with the rest of the population. Most believe this is as good as it gets.”

Eric took another step forward, and I got a good look at that glint in his eyes. I blinked and glanced away. I was seeing all his horrific memories playing out in his gaze, and they reminded me of my own experiences.

“I see it in your eyes too,” he said, moving forward until he’d eliminated nearly all the space between us.

I bent back against the counter. Normally, I only let Caden get this close to me.

Eric saw my discomfort, but he leaned in anyway, his breath tickling my ear. “Are you and Caden thinking of running?”

I stiffened at his question.

“Eric, what are you doing?” Caden’s voice had a steely edge to it, and when I glanced over Eric’s shoulder at him, his entire body was tense.

“You are, aren’t you?” Eric said, watching me.

“Eric.”
Caden stepped forward.

Eric’s disturbing eyes stayed locked with mine as he backed away. “I was just swapping war stories with your pair,” he said, finally tearing his gaze from me.

I pushed away from the counter now that some distance separated us. Serena wandered in behind Caden. She must’ve caught the tail end of Eric’s words because she shared a look with Caden.

“Babe, we should probably get going,” Serena said. The smile she flashed him was genuine; she took him despite his lingering issues. And those were many.

The smile he returned banished away the darkness in his eyes. Almost absently she touched her stomach. I honed in on the action and the way her gaze traveled from him to her belly.

“You’re pregnant.” Ah. Verbal vomit.

Her eyes widened when she realized she’d let down her guard. “Yeah, I am. We just found out.”

Eric went to her side, wrapping an arm around her protectively. He looked at me. “We want to join you.”

Serena glanced sharply at him, then turned her attention to us.

Now his fierce behavior only moments ago made a little more sense. Whereas I might not run if I was putting someone else in danger, he must feel it was the only option left.

Still, I wouldn’t make any snap decisions, especially not with another teleporter. For all I knew, he wanted to out me. “There’s nothing to join,” I said.

His lip curved up to one side; he could hear the lie in my voice. “Discuss it with your pair,” he said. “And find us when you’re ready to talk.”

Eric and Serena weren’t the last people to visit us. About an hour after they left, there was another knock on the door. I poked my head out of the bathroom, where I’d been unpacking.

“I got it!” Caden shouted from the bedroom.
Our
bedroom. That was still such a weird concept.

I followed him down the stairs, so I saw his reaction the moment he opened the door. The stillness that took over his body when he first caught sight of our visitor, then his hearty laughter. A beat later he’d scooped the woman into a bear hug. “Ter-ri,” he drawled, “what are you doing here?”

I stepped off the last stair and approached from behind as the two pulled apart.

“Caden, it’s so good to—” Her words cut off as she caught sight of me.

I jolted with surprise. I recognized the woman. She’d been there the day Dane found me. She stood in my parents’ house.

More importantly, though, I recognized her features. The dark eyes and hair, the face shape, even the subtle arch to her eyebrows. Familial traits that she’d passed down to her child. To Desiree Payne.

“—see you,” she finished. Her face hardened as she took me in. Guess my reputation preceded me.

“Ember Pierce”—she nodded—“nice to meet you again.”

“Is it?” I asked, stepping forward.

She smiled like I was an idiot. “It’s a turn of phrase, and it’s meant to be polite.”

“It’s disingenuous,” I said.

“And you’ve never been disingenuous, I presume?”

She had me there.

Turning her attention back to Caden, she spoke to him alone. “Welcome to the Montana Family Facility. I’m in charge of the Project’s satellite community here.”

Caden whistled. “Good for you,” he congratulated her. “I forgot about your promotion.” His words reminded me that he’d grown up with these people, that he had personal relationships with them.

“Thank you, Caden,” she said, a motherly note to her words. A beat went by and then she clasped her hands together. “Well, I suppose I should give you a rundown of the place.

“In many ways the Montana Family Facility works the same as your last one. We have our schedules and routines. Here, however, there’s also much more autonomy. You’ll be getting direction mainly from other teleporters—principally Marissa, whom you’ll meet tonight at the bonfire.

“Our objective here is not to control you”—she flicked a pointed glance my way—“but to enable you.”

Oh, that was precious. “While that sounds nice and all,” I said, “the fact remains that there’s a fence keeping us in.” I actually had no idea whether there was, but Dane would be a fool to send me to a place without one.

Terri pinched her lips together, the only sign she’d heard me. Her eyes didn’t waver from Caden. “Marissa will get you your schedules and set you both up here. I’ll be in and out of the facility, so if you need me for any reason, keep that in mind.”

She gave a smile. “Welcome to our facility.”

Steam billowed around me. For all this facility’s faults, at least they didn’t skimp on water pressure. It was the little things. I hummed my mother’s lullaby as I lifted my face toward the showerhead.

“What song is that?”

I yelped, nearly falling on my ass. Caden’s masculine voice rumbled in the small space.

“Aw shit,” Caden said. “Sorry, angel. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I caught my breath; that was the second time today someone had snuck up on me. “How did you even do that?”

Silence. “I’ve gotten even better at extraction since you left,” he finally said. I heard the soft thud of clothes hitting the ground. “So, the song?”

I paused. “‘Rose Red.’ My mother used to sing it to me when I was little.”

“I’ve had that tune stuck in my head for months.”

I waited for him to ask me to sing it. I could hear it on the tip of his tongue. But he didn’t.

The shower door opened, and Caden stepped inside with me. There was entirely too little space for the both of us.

“Caden . . .” I backed up, trying to make room for that shoulder span of his.

“We need to talk,” he said, his face grave. The fact that his eyes hadn’t even dipped below my face said more than his words did.

I bit back what I was about to say and nodded.

“What happened yesterday?” he asked.

“Yesterday?” I repeated. I’d assumed we’d discuss all that had happened today. Instead he wanted to talk about the mission.

I knew this would come up at some point, but I’d put it off because really, how was I supposed to answer a question I had no explanation for?

I opened my mouth, closed it, then shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“You were sent on another mission.”

I grimaced. It hadn’t ended badly, but that wasn’t the point.

“Angel, what I interrupted? Half of those men are on the Project’s red list.”

I must’ve looked confused, because he clarified. “They’re potential hits.”

Naturally.

“What have you gotten yourself entangled in?” he said, his voice low. My eyes, which had dipped to Caden’s chest, rose to meet his. In them I saw compassion, fear.

“I
. . .
don’t know.”

A damp hand reached up and stroked my cheek.

“Still believe Adrian is innocent?”

I stared at Caden for a long moment. “I don’t know,” I repeated. I didn’t know what to believe.

“You’re still planning on using his help?”

“Yes.”

Caden’s nostrils flared, but he nodded. “I’m still in.”

I leaned into his touch. “I know,” I said quietly. Because that was the kind of man Caden was. Loyal to a fault. Honorable
. . .
except when it came to seeing me naked.
That
he took thorough advantage of. Nudity aside, he wasn’t the nail and bail. He was the guy that came in after the fact, the one that took a woman as she was—baggage and all—and cherished her for as long as he lived.

His hand paused. Then, dragging a finger down my cheek, he hooked it under my chin and angled my face up.

“Tell me about these missions again,” he said, his face serious. “Leave nothing out.”

And so I did.

By the time I’d finished, lukewarm water sprayed across our skin, and Caden looked agitated.

Caden’s hands cupped my upper arms. “Do you have any idea who else could be doing this?”

I gave him a sad look. “If I had to guess, I’d say my enemy’s enemy.”

Caden let go of me and took a deep breath. Turning, he slammed his fist into the tile. I watched him. I couldn’t say anything as he fell apart in front of me.

“Fucking missions,” he muttered under his breath, leaning against the tile. His powerful, scarred body shook, and when I got a close peek at his face, I could see his eyes pinched together.

I placed a hand on his back and rested my forehead against his shoulder. Long ago he’d held me as I cried in another shower. Seemed that our tragedies played out in the most mundane of places.

He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me to his chest. “Promise me you’ll be safe if it happens again,” he said.

I threaded my fingers through his. There was no safety on missions. He knew that better than me. But at the moment he needed a pretty lie.

“I promise.”

He folded our entwined arms around us and dipped to press his lips to my shoulder, whispering a promise of his own. “This will end. If it’s the last thing I do, this will end.”

Shortly after sunset we headed uphill to the bonfire. It was the first time we’d been out since our arrival.

I breathed in the woodsy scent of this new facility. Odd how something could smell both familiar and not. The woods here smelled wetter.

We passed several other cabins to get to the fire pit. I hadn’t yet caught a glimpse of the facility’s main buildings, but I wasn’t too concerned. They should be located in the opposite direction.

Between the trees I caught a flicker of flame and the echoing sound of chatter.

“Here we go,” Caden mumbled under his breath.

We stepped through the trees. Almost two dozen people stood or sat around the campfire, which blazed in front of us, chatting, drinking soda or beer, and roasting s’mores. Serena and Eric were among them.

“There they are,” a woman said, and all turned their attention to us. Some called out welcomes; others raised their drinks to us.

My gaze snapped to the speaker, a beautiful redhead. She approached Caden and me, her face open, and I was startled to see genuine happiness there. She was also very pregnant. Behind her a man approached, presumably her pair. Like the redhead, he looked open, friendly.

“Caden and Ember, right?” the woman said.

“Yeah.” I plastered a smile on my face, the kind that made me squint. She might know about my not-so-savory history with the Project, but regardless, it was a good idea to make a positive first impression.