“I’m sorry, but I’m not throwing my wife out there to get murdered. And what about Lexi? You’re willing to sacrifice her for the cause?”
Cole’s entire body goes rigid, and his hands are in tight fists. “Of course not,” he says through gritted teeth.
“So what are you saying?” I ask. “Just let Wilson do what he wants with him while we sit back and allow it to happen?” I have to do something. I cannot sit around and let them kill Sutton too! It’s hard to breathe. My pulse is racing. I reach for the wall to steady myself.
“Hey … calm down. Breathe. You need to breathe.” Cole’s arms wrap around me, and it feels like the room is spinning.
Just when I was starting to think maybe there was hope. This can’t be happening … everything’s backward and upside down.
“Man, she’s turning white,” Bruno says.
I hear him, but his voice sounds muffled as I grip Cole’s shirt. I shake my head into his chest, and I can’t believe the words that are about to come out of my mouth. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself.
“We have to”—I swallow hard, forcing the terror back down my throat—“go back in.”
“No way. You’re not going back to the Hole,” Cole says.
I push off his chest and scoot back against the wall. “That’s not your choice to make.”
Cole stews silently, his jaw tight with tension.
“This isn’t about you or me; this is about doing what’s right. What I need to do. What I have to do. I refuse to let Sutton rot in there. So it’s your choice … you can come or not, but either way, I’m going after him.”
He relaxes just enough that I can tell he really is concerned. He isn’t just being pig-headed. “You swore to me you’d never go back.”
“You’re right. I did. But now things have changed. And if we don’t man up and go after Sutton, no one will.”
Cole’s face hardens again, and he shakes his head. But seconds pass, and his expression changes. He’s knows I’m right. He knows I have to do this.
“All right.” Cole drops his eyes to the floor. “We’ll go together.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Look, I know it’s going to be hard. But we can do this. It’ll be different this time. We have the upper hand. No one would believe we’d have the guts to go back.”
“It won’t be that simple,” Cole says. “Guards still patrol the Hole. And do you realize how large it is? It could take years to find him.”
“And you’re the only one who’s branded,” Grace says to me.
“That’s not an issue. Children who are born in the Hole, they’re not branded … just forced to live in the Hole with their parents,” Bruno says.
“Lexi,” Cole says, “do you realize how hard—”
“I didn’t say it’d be easy,” I cut him off. “But we have to at least try. We can’t just leave him there to rot.”
“Have you considered the possibility we might never get out?” Cole asks. “Just because we were lucky enough to get out last time, doesn’t mean we’d be so lucky now. And let’s not forget, not all of us made it out.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I face him, my body rigid and heated. How could he think I’ve forgotten about Keegan and the others who died trying to get us out? “But had it been us, he wouldn’t give it a thought. He’d do the same and more.”
“So then what?” Cole asks. “What are we going to do?”
“We’ll live in the Hole.”
“What? Do you even hear what you’re saying?”
“We did it before, and I have to believe we can do it again. But if Sutton’s in there, then he can’t follow through on his plan, and then we really won’t have any hope of ever being free. Don’t you see? This is the only way.”
“Dude, this sucks monkey balls,” Bruno says. “The Hole sucks. Wilson sucks. This entire situation sucks.”
“If Lexi, of all people, is willing to go back, shouldn’t we be supporting her? I mean, she’s right. Sutton wouldn’t hesitate if it was one of us,” Grace says.
“Yeah, babe. It’s just, you have no idea what it’s like in there. It’s hell. Everywhere you turn, there’s some kind of danger,” Bruno says.
But I’m not paying attention to them as much as I’m watching Cole’s face. From the way he strokes his chin, I can tell he’s contemplating it. His eyes harden, and he takes a short, quick breath.
“Okay. How would this work?” He turns to Bruno.
“Well, before we do anything, we have to get Grace to her family. She’s not going to the Hole, man. Once we get her settled, we can figure out a plan on how we’re gonna get in.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Grace says. “I’m going too.”
“Absolutely not. You’re going home.”
“Bruno. I refuse to be that wife who sits around waiting every second of every day, wondering when or if her husband’s coming back. I’ve made my choice. I’m coming, and you’ll just have to deal with it!”
Wow! I didn’t see that coming. Go, Grace!
Bruno storms off into the kitchen. I hear him open the refrigerator door and slam it shut before he comes back in with a drink.
“Feel better?” Cole says to him.