Chapter 192 THE PRICE OF ESCAPE AND FREEDOM

Chapter 192 THE PRICE OF ESCAPE AND FREEDOM
MARTIN’S POV

“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” I continue, forcing the words out before the silence swallows us whole.

I was making progress, I could see it!

“We have no allies and no safe houses. No one left who won’t sell us out the second they hear our names.”

Still nothing from her but her gaze doesn’t leave mine for a second.

It's like she’s trying to see past the words, with desperation seeping from it.

“Do you think I want to be here?” I ask with a bitter edge creeping into my voice despite myself. “Begging?”

That earns me a flicker of remorse in her eyes until it disappears.
Good. I'm almost there.

“You think this is easy?” I press on. “You think I would come to you if there was any other option?”

Matteo exhales beside me, sounding quiet but strained so I just subtly tap his shoulders to reassure him.

He hates this, I do too but we’re past hating .

We’re in survival mode now.

“Aunt if you don’t help us,” I say with my voice dropping, “we’re going to die.”

There’s no drama or exaggeration in it, just the plain cold and absolute truth to what becomes of us if she doesn't help.

Her fingers tighten slightly against her arm.
Okay, it's working.

“Your sister–” I start.

“Don’t.”

The word cuts through me like a blade and I know I might have taken it too far.

I stop.

But only for a second because what's the worst that could happen?

“She was our mother,” I finish anyway, sounding calmer and softer now. “And she died because of them.”

“You left,” I continued, my voice still calm and quiet.
“You escaped. You built a life away from all of it successfully.”

Her jaw tightens barely but I see it.

“We didn’t get that chance at all like Noah did,” I add. “We were born into that vile place, raised in it and are now trapped in it.”

Matteo’s breathing grows uneven again but I don’t look at him.

If I do–

I might lose whatever control or resolve I have left.

“You’re our only way out,” I say.

And there it is, all of my cards laid bare to her with no pride or ego, just our pleadings.

Her gaze lingers on me for a long moment.

Then–

She exhales finally.
Like she’s coming to a decision she doesn’t want to make.

“I can help you.”

The words hit like a shockwave to my heart and for a second, I don't react.
In my mind, I'm still thinking of strategies and other things to say because I'm not sure I heard her right.

But then, relief crashes into me sharply and overwhelming like I'm baptized under a tidal wave of water in the desert.

“Yes–!” I step forward quickly, grasping at it before it disappears. “Yes, whatever you need, whatever you want–”

“On one condition Martin.”

I stop immediately because how naive of me not to think of that.

Of course there’s a condition, things like this, there’s always a condition.

Her eyes lock onto mine coldly and harshly.

“If I do this,” she says slowly, “you will disappear completely.”

I frown slightly.

“Disappear?”

“You vanish,” she clarifies to me. “Completely. No contact with no traces. No reaching out to anyone for life.”

My chest tightens.

“And not just from the Family,” she continues. “From everyone.”

A beat.

“Shawn.”

I wait as she continues.
“Noah.”

Her voice doesn’t waver.

“The whole world.”

The words settle like chains around my throat as I swallow anyway.

“You will never see them again,” she finishes. “They will never hear from you and never find you.”

Silence crashes down around us in a heavy and suffocating way but I slowly nod and understand what she's saying.

Looks like our retirement, forever.

“You’ll go somewhere remote of my choosing,” she adds. “An island in a country where no one will look. Somewhere forgotten.”

My mind races.

“You’ll live there,” she continues, “for the rest of your lives.”

My breath catches.

“And you won’t be alone,” she says. “You’ll be monitored and supervised. Ensured that you stay exactly where you’re supposed to.”

A cage just like the Family.

Just… a different kind.

“If you ever leave,” she finishes calmly, “my protection ends.”

And we die either by the Family's hand or by herself.

She doesn’t say it because she doesn't have to.

The implication hangs thick in the air.

I don’t speak because I'm processing it all.

This isn’t freedom, this is exile. Permanent and absolute exile for the both of us.

Beside me, Matteo goes completely still.

I don’t need to look at him to know what he’s thinking.

This is worse than death in some ways.

At least death is quick.

This?

This is living without living but on the bright side, Matteo lives.

My jaw tightens as I remember it all.

Shawn, the man I unintentionally fell in love with and the vile Family that pushed me to the brink of mental breakdown.

“Decide,” Lily says, her voice cutting cleanly through the storm in my head. “Because I won’t ask you again.”

I close my eyes briefly for just a second because I already have an answer even without looking at Matteo.

I just don’t want to say it.

But the truth?

The truth is simple. Live like how she wants or die by the Family's hand.

My eyes open slowly as I nod.

“Fine.”

The word feels like signing my own sentence but I don’t take it back.

“I agree.”

Matteo exhales sharply beside me, something between frustration and resignation.

But he doesn’t argue with me, we don’t have a choice.

Relief flickers briefly across Lily’s face before it disappears like she was expecting resistance.

“Good,” she says.

It doesn’t sound like approval but it's okay for the both of us.
We'll live.

Something inside me pushes back hard just as she's about to leave.

Because there’s one thing–

There's one thing I can’t let go of.

“Wait.”

Her gaze sharpens immediately as I step forward again.

“I have a condition too.

That catches her off guard and I see it.