Chapter 325 325
Sabine POV
I’m slower than them, but I manage to keep Didier and Caroline in sight until I reach my own caravan and peel away.
This is it.
Time to run again.
I cannot be caught.
I wrench open the cupboard beneath the sink, grab my backpack, and sling it over my shoulders. My hands shake as I rush to the fridge, fumbling for bottled water. I’ve planned this moment for months, rehearsed it in my head over and over but now that it’s here, I feel wildly unprepared.
I don’t have that hunter instinct. That ruthless edge. I never did.
“What’s going on?” Gilles asks.
He’s standing far too calmly at the steps leading up to my door.
“They’ll just inspect the others and move on. Why are you so worried?” he adds.
I glance past him, pushing my head out the door just as the blue lights grow closer closer to us. Closer to me.
“Gilles,” I hiss.
Across the fields, illegal farm workers scatter as police officers break into a run. The chaos unfolds like something ripped straight from the television dramas I used to watch.
Only now, I’m trapped inside one.
I can’t be caught. If they take me, they’ll lock me up.
“Sab, you don’t need to leave,” Gilles says firmly. “I’ll go talk to the police. Come on.”
He grabs my arm and pulls me out of the caravan. Panic surges through me, and I wrench myself free with every ounce of strength I have.
“No, Gilles!”
“Sab, you’re acting strange.”
“I don’t have a record!”
His brow furrows. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t have a record,” I repeat, my voice cracking. “I’m just as illegal as them.”
He laughs softly, disbelief lacing his tone. “You’re not making any sense.”
I don’t have time for him to understand. Police are already tackling farmers to the ground, slapping handcuffs onto struggling wrists.
Cold fear floods my veins.
That cannot be me.
I’ve stayed off the grid for this long. I can run with Didier and Caroline find somewhere else, disappear again. They can’t afford to be caught either.
“Sab?” Gilles presses.
“I died when I was twelve.”
He blinks. Then laughs. “You’re dead? Well… you look good for it. Explains why you’re always cold.”
The joke lands wrong. My chest tightens.
“This isn’t funny.”
I drag him toward the back of my caravan, keeping my head low.
“Gilles, I can’t be caught. You don’t understand people will look for me. It’s better if I stay dead.”
We crouch behind the caravan, Gilles mirroring my movements. I press my forehead to the cool metal wall, steadying myself for the long run ahead.
When I open my eyes, his face is inches from mine.
He’s watching me too closely.
Something about him has shifted. This isn’t the same Gilles. A shadow flickers through his pupils, something dark and unreadable dancing there.
I shake my head. It’s just adrenaline. Stress. My vision is spotting.
“Who’s looking for you?” he asks quietly.
His voice has changed serious now, protective. Urgency coils beneath his words.
He’s always been crude, careless. Now he sounds older. Grounded. The sudden maturity reminds me of someone else, though I can’t place who.
“Sab,” he says gently, “let me help you. I want to help.”
A scream slices through the air.
I peek around the caravan and see the woman he was with being thrown to the ground, her voice rising in terror as she cries out his name. I don’t understand her language, but fear is universal.
Gilles sees her too.
For a heartbeat, I expect him to run to her.
He doesn’t.
Instead, he pulls me closer, jaw set with determination.
“Who is chasing you?”
“You need to stay away from me,” I whisper. “It isn’t safe for you.”
“I’ll decide what’s safe for me,” he says, his hand rising to cup my cheek. His touch is cooler than most. “Who are you running from?”
“Sab…” Didier’s voice calls softly from behind a tree, his head appearing as he signals for me to come.
I take a step toward him
And Gilles yanks me back by the elbow, his eyes dark as they lock onto Didier.
“You’re really leaving,” he says. “With him?”
“It’s not like that,” I say quickly. “Come with us. But Gilles if you do, we have to leave. Now.”