Chapter 82 The one who sold me

Chapter 82 The one who sold me
I didn’t expect to see her there.
That was the mistake.
The town came up fast, all noise and dust and people pretending nothing dangerous ever happened in places like this. Shops were open. Kids ran past with sugar on their hands. A man argued with a vendor over fruit prices like the world wasn’t about to tilt.
I should’ve trusted that feeling in my stomach. The one that told me this was wrong.
She stood near the bus stop, hair pulled back, jacket too neat for someone who said she was hiding. Mia.
She smiled when she saw me. Relief. Too much of it.
“Seraphina,” she said, stepping forward.
I stopped a few feet away. “You said you were out of town.”
“I came back when I heard,” she replied. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’m not,” I said. “I just don’t advertise who walks with me anymore.”
Her smile slipped for half a second. She covered it fast.
“Where’s Xander?” she asked.
I didn’t answer.
That was mistake number two.
We sat at a small food place near the road. Plastic chairs. A table that rocked if you leaned wrong. Normal things. I hated how normal it felt.
Mia talked too much. About nothing. About people I didn’t care about. She kept checking her phone, then putting it face down like that meant something.
“You look different,” she said finally. “Stronger.”
“Or harder to lie to,” I replied.
She laughed softly. “You always were sharp.”
I watched her hands. They didn’t stop moving.
“Why are you really here?” I asked.
She hesitated. “I was worried.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She leaned closer. “There are people asking questions. You shouldn’t draw attention.”
“By sitting in the open with you?” I said. “Great plan.”
Her mouth opened. Closed.
That’s when I saw it.
A man across the street. Leaning against a pole. Watching us without pretending he wasn’t.
Then another near the corner shop. Then a third reflected in the glass behind her.
My pulse stayed steady. Anger had taken over the job of fear.
“You called them,” I said quietly.
Mia stiffened. “No.”
“You didn’t deny it fast enough.”
She swallowed. “I didn’t have a choice.”
I stood.
Her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. “Listen to me.”
I pulled free. “You don’t get to touch me.”
“They’re not here to hurt you,” she said fast. “They just want to talk.”
“That’s what everyone says before things go wrong.”
The men started moving. Not running. Not rushing. Like they knew I didn’t have anywhere to go.
Mia’s voice dropped. “If you come with them calmly, it ends here.”
“And if I don’t?”
Her eyes flicked to the pendant. “Then they take it by force.”
That did it.
I flipped the table.
Plates shattered. People shouted. Someone screamed. I moved before anyone could react.
I grabbed Mia’s arm and pulled her into the alley beside the shop. She stumbled but stayed upright.
“What did you do?” I demanded.
“I kept you alive,” she said, breathless. “They wanted you contained.”
“You sold me,” I said.
“I traded time,” she shot back. “The same way your father did.”
“Don’t say his name like you understand him.”
Footsteps thundered closer.
I backed away from her. “You should’ve run.”
She shook her head. “You don’t get it. They’re everywhere.”
“Then you should’ve chosen better sides.”
I turned and ran.
The alley opened into a narrow street packed with people. I shoved through bodies, ignored the shouting, ducked into another turn. Someone grabbed my bag. I swung back and connected with something solid. The grip vanished.
I vaulted a low fence and landed hard. Pain flared in my ankle but I didn’t stop.
A truck roared to life nearby.
I cut left, then right, then straight through a yard and over another fence. My lungs burned. My hands shook. The pendant was hot now, not dangerous, just awake.
I reached the old train depot at the edge of town and ducked inside.
The place smelled like rust and old oil. Light cut through broken windows in long strips. I pressed my back to the wall and waited.
Voices echoed outside.
“They lost her.”
“She’s still here.”
I moved along the wall, climbed onto a stack of crates, then dropped down behind a half-collapsed office. A door creaked under my hand. I slipped inside and closed it slowly.
Someone was already there.
Xander.
We stared at each other.
“You followed me,” I said.
“I followed them,” he replied.
Before I could say anything else, the door burst open.
The man from the street stepped in, weapon low, smile thin. “You make this difficult.”
Xander moved without warning. The man went down hard.
Another rushed in. Then another.
The space exploded into movement. No talking. No warnings. Just action.
I grabbed a metal rod and swung when someone got too close. Pain shot up my arm on impact. He went down anyway.
Xander took a hit to the shoulder but didn’t slow.
Someone shouted orders. Another ran.
Then silence.
Bodies on the floor. Groans. One man still standing near the door, hands raised.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said. “You were meant to come quietly.”
I stepped forward. “Tell your people this.”
He looked at me.
“I don’t belong to any of you.”
Xander knocked him out.
We stood there breathing hard.
“You knew about Mia,” I said.
“I suspected,” he replied. “I hoped I was wrong.”
“I wasn’t.”
“No.”
I wiped my hands on my jeans. “I’m done trusting familiar faces.”
“Then trust actions,” he said.
I looked at him. Really looked.
“Prove it,” I said.
He nodded once.
Outside, sirens wailed in the distance.
We didn’t wait to see who they were for.