had. She
brushed it off, thinking maybe she’d understand later. She wasn’t going to
worry about it now.
“That’s life,” Cora said with a shrug.
“That’s not how your life was supposed to be,”
Angelica responded.
“Why? Because you said so? Because of some prophecy? Life is
hard, period. You face what it throws at you and you either survive or you
don’t. We happened to have survived,” Cora said without emotion, her voice
sounding hard even to her own ears. She was so overwhelmed by everything that
was happening, she was starting to feel numb inside. She missed Viola and Liam
with such a vengeance, and feeling like she was being pulled in two different
directions was not doing much to improve her mood.
“No. Your life was supposed to be comfortable, stable and
full of love and support. Both you, and Viola, deserved that,” Angelica said
with feeling. Cora could see tears start to build in her eyes again, for the
pain and suffering they’d endured and had no concept of. She felt no need to
enlighten them to any of it either. She’d meant what she’d said about the past
being the past and moving forward.
“If you say so,” Cora replied with a blank tone, and shrugged
her shoulders. She caught Sage giving her a sympathetic look out of the corner
of her eye and looked away.
She was starting to feel claustrophobic being trapped in the
SUV with so many people, many of whom seemed to be picking her apart from
different angles, and for different reasons. It was like she was under some
giant microscope and all she wanted to do was crawl out from under it. She
didn’t think she would ever be out from under that microscope again. That was
the most unpleasant thought she’d had all day. In some ways, she’d almost
rather deal with Patrick and Anna, and their endless depravity, than be under
this type of scrutiny.
When the SUVs began to slow down, Cora was almost crawling
out of her skin to get out of the vehicle. She knew they were out in the middle
of the woods and they had to be very careful of any security measures their
enemy may have put in place. Knowing Anna as she did, there were bound to be
quite a few. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get out, but her.
“Sage, I want you to keep her here, in the car. The rest of
us will search the facility and extricate Viola. If anything goes wrong, get
her back to Liam and get them both as far away to safety as you can,” Thomas
instructed Sage in a firm voice. Sage nodded his head at the orders and Cora
had no doubt he’d follow them, no matter how hard she fought against him.
“But…” Cora started but never got the chance to finish.
“You are not going in there. If you do, and something goes
wrong, we’ve just given them what they’ve been trying so very hard to get back,
both of you. We cannot let that happen, under any circumstances. You will be
left with four guards. Am I understood?” Thomas said, with authority in his
voice that showed he expected to not be questioned. Everyone surrounding her
nodded their heads and murmured their “yes, sirs” as her eyes opened wide in
disbelief.
“Do you understand Cora?” Thomas said in a commanding voice.
“No. That’s my sister in there. We’ve always been
responsible for each other and I’m not going to just hand that over and sit
here, twiddling my thumbs, just because you said so. I really don’t know you
and you just expect me to trust her life, both of our lives, to you. That’s not
gonna happen so you might as well revise that plan of yours to include me,
because I’m coming with you, whether you want me to or not,” Cora rushed out,
furious that he was being so high handed and domineering.
“No. You will stay here with Sage, restrained if need be. I
will not put your life in danger because you are being stubborn. You do not
have the training to enter that building and do what has to be done. If you go
in there, the only thing that you will succeed in is getting yourself
brushed it off, thinking maybe she’d understand later. She wasn’t going to
worry about it now.
“That’s life,” Cora said with a shrug.
“That’s not how your life was supposed to be,”
Angelica responded.
“Why? Because you said so? Because of some prophecy? Life is
hard, period. You face what it throws at you and you either survive or you
don’t. We happened to have survived,” Cora said without emotion, her voice
sounding hard even to her own ears. She was so overwhelmed by everything that
was happening, she was starting to feel numb inside. She missed Viola and Liam
with such a vengeance, and feeling like she was being pulled in two different
directions was not doing much to improve her mood.
“No. Your life was supposed to be comfortable, stable and
full of love and support. Both you, and Viola, deserved that,” Angelica said
with feeling. Cora could see tears start to build in her eyes again, for the
pain and suffering they’d endured and had no concept of. She felt no need to
enlighten them to any of it either. She’d meant what she’d said about the past
being the past and moving forward.
“If you say so,” Cora replied with a blank tone, and shrugged
her shoulders. She caught Sage giving her a sympathetic look out of the corner
of her eye and looked away.
She was starting to feel claustrophobic being trapped in the
SUV with so many people, many of whom seemed to be picking her apart from
different angles, and for different reasons. It was like she was under some
giant microscope and all she wanted to do was crawl out from under it. She
didn’t think she would ever be out from under that microscope again. That was
the most unpleasant thought she’d had all day. In some ways, she’d almost
rather deal with Patrick and Anna, and their endless depravity, than be under
this type of scrutiny.
When the SUVs began to slow down, Cora was almost crawling
out of her skin to get out of the vehicle. She knew they were out in the middle
of the woods and they had to be very careful of any security measures their
enemy may have put in place. Knowing Anna as she did, there were bound to be
quite a few. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get out, but her.
“Sage, I want you to keep her here, in the car. The rest of
us will search the facility and extricate Viola. If anything goes wrong, get
her back to Liam and get them both as far away to safety as you can,” Thomas
instructed Sage in a firm voice. Sage nodded his head at the orders and Cora
had no doubt he’d follow them, no matter how hard she fought against him.
“But…” Cora started but never got the chance to finish.
“You are not going in there. If you do, and something goes
wrong, we’ve just given them what they’ve been trying so very hard to get back,
both of you. We cannot let that happen, under any circumstances. You will be
left with four guards. Am I understood?” Thomas said, with authority in his
voice that showed he expected to not be questioned. Everyone surrounding her
nodded their heads and murmured their “yes, sirs” as her eyes opened wide in
disbelief.
“Do you understand Cora?” Thomas said in a commanding voice.
“No. That’s my sister in there. We’ve always been
responsible for each other and I’m not going to just hand that over and sit
here, twiddling my thumbs, just because you said so. I really don’t know you
and you just expect me to trust her life, both of our lives, to you. That’s not
gonna happen so you might as well revise that plan of yours to include me,
because I’m coming with you, whether you want me to or not,” Cora rushed out,
furious that he was being so high handed and domineering.
“No. You will stay here with Sage, restrained if need be. I
will not put your life in danger because you are being stubborn. You do not
have the training to enter that building and do what has to be done. If you go
in there, the only thing that you will succeed in is getting yourself
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