He didn’t look at her but merely stared at the computer screen. “I know,” he replied softly. “The life you’re compelled to live must be hellish.”
She didn’t contradict him, remembering all the nights she’d been forced to spend in Abraham’s bed, enduring his loathsome touch. Hannah looked him directly in the eye. “You’ll have to help me get out.”
Daniel blanched at the thought. Apparently, it was one thing to teach her about the outside world but quite another to hand her the key to the front gates. “I... I...” he stammered.
She laid her hand on his arm. “Daniel, please! You know I can’t do this on my own. We’re miles from nowhere out here. If I ran away on foot, even if I could climb the fence, they’d hunt me down like an animal.”
He rubbed his forehead distractedly. “I don’t know. I need time to think.”
“It wouldn’t be hard,” she persisted, tightening her grip on his arm. “You told me you go to the city and they let you drive yourself now. Just put me in the trunk of your car. They never search you when you leave. You told me so.”
He raised his head and laughed cynically. “Innocent little Hannah! You’ve been drinking in every single word I said—looking for a way to use that knowledge to escape.”
She was on the point of tears. “What was I supposed to do? You said so yourself. My life is hell. For a while, I even thought about killing myself!”
Those words brought him up short. He stared at her, realizing the depth of her despair. “No, no, you mustn’t do that. I couldn’t bear it.” His voice caught. “I couldn’t stand to see another death laid at my door.”
She took him by the shoulders. “Then help me!”
“Yes, all right. We can think about it. We can plan.” He was trying to buy some time. “It doesn’t have to happen tomorrow. I just need some time to work it all out.”
“There isn’t any time,” she said simply.
He gave her a searching look. “What do you mean? Nobody suspects we’re meeting like this. We can take all the time we need.”
She shook her head and wiped away a random tear that slid down her face. “No, we can’t. I just found out I’m pregnant.”
“What!”
More tears slid down her face unheeded as she gazed pleadingly into his eyes. “If I don’t run now, I’ll never get another chance. If I wait until I’m too far along before I try, they’ll catch me right away. If I wait til the baby comes, I won’t be able to run at all. Maybe I won’t want to, and that’s what he’s counting on—chaining me to him because I won’t leave the baby.”
“Oh Hannah, I’m so sorry.” He reached over and drew her near. “Why is it the one word you keep hearing over and over from my lips is ‘sorry’?”
She clung to him, realizing that at this moment he felt more genuine emotion for her than he had in all the time while they were married. She found herself wondering if he’d changed his mind and wanted her back after all. Then she remembered what Annabeth had said—how distant he was with all his wives. No, Daniel had never wanted to be married to anybody—no matter who. Drawing herself up, she wiped away the tears with the hem of her apron. “Now you see why I did all this. I’ve only got one chance. It’s got to be now.”
The scion’s face was ashen, his gaze fixed off in the distance as if seeing into their future. “This won’t end well, but I’ll help you anyway because I can’t bear to tell you ‘I’m sorry’ one more time.”
Chapter 5 – Defensive Play
“Look at all this! I didn’t know we had a gym here!” Cassie exclaimed. Her eyes traveled around the well-equipped exercise room. Punching bags, floor mats, treadmills, resistance machines.
“The vault has lots of sections you’ve never seen, toots,” Erik replied. “It’s like a maze.”
“Well, color me amazed,” she punned.
He rolled his eyes.
They were both dressed in sweats in preparation for Cassie’s first self-defense lesson. The pythia dropped some spare towels and water bottles on the floor and started to do leg stretches.
“I still say you don’t need this,” the security coordinator objected. “I’ll be there to take care of any rough stuff.”
Cassie paused mid-stretch and gave her companion an appraising look. “You think this is about you?”
Erik registered surprise. “Well, isn’t it? I mean you must think I’m not doing my job or you wouldn’t insist, right?”
“Jeez, what an ego you’ve got.” The pythia laughed. “Or maybe you’re just paranoid.” She bent down to tighten the laces on her sneakers. “For what it’s worth, you’re doing a great job. Really. When I think about how you got us out of that tight spot on Ida. Your crazy plan was a thing of beauty, and I mean that sincerely.”
“Then what’s the problem?” he asked suspiciously.
“You believe you can defy the laws of physics and be in two places at once?”
“Huh?”
“I mean what if you’re fighting the bad guys in one spot, and I get attacked someplace else? Am I supposed to stand there and hope they don’t kill me before you can spare the time to throw a punch my way?”
“So, it isn’t about me,” he repeated warily.
“For the umpteenth time, no! Now can we please get started, or do I have to tell mom you won’t let me play?”
“Goddess, no!” he backed down. “Maddie is only starting to forget about me setting that hotel room on fire. I don’t need her back on my case again.”
“Then train
