“Done with school? Graduation is right around the corner,” I said.
“No, I meant done with what has happened here.”
I snuggled against him. The weather was getting a little bit warmer now, and when we kept the windows open, it brought just the right amount of chill into the room.
“My father hasn’t done anything lately,” I said. “He seems to have quieted his hunt for us and is just letting us be.”
“That’s true,” Michael agreed. “But he has done so much in the past that he needs to atone for. And I’m sure that he’s still running his illegal operations within Lineage. We just don’t see them as much now since Goldshire has separated from it.”
That was true. There was no way my father would have given any of that power or money up. It just wasn’t right under our noses as it had been before.
“What are you hinting at, Lisette? Do you want to just walk away from all this and go start fresh somewhere else?”
I didn’t answer right away because I wasn’t sure. Michael rolled me over gently so that he could see my face. “I want to do what will bring you the most peace,” he said. “Everything that has happened here has been so terrible—everything except for you and I finding each other. If you want to stay until we can finally figure out how to take Jack down, then we’ll stay. If you need to do that for your mom, and for yourself, then that’s what we will do. But if you want to leave, and you feel ready to let go of all of this and start new somewhere, then I am ready to do that too. And so are Adam and Julian. Just say the word, and we’ll leave right after graduation.”
I wasn’t sure yet.
I’d had some time to think about everything. Although my feelings were every bit as strong and determined as they had always been, some of the drive that I had for revenge had been replaced with the peace that I found now. Yes, I wanted to stop my father from hurting anyone else. And yes, I wanted to expose the corruption that had resulted in my mother’s death.
Was I willing to risk anyone I loved? I was happy now…we were all happy now. I just couldn’t stomach the thought of putting Michael, Adam, or Julian in danger again. And we were finally coming to a time when we could get out of here and leave all of this behind us. I couldn’t believe I was about to say this.
“I think I might want to just leave,” I said to Michael. “Would you be okay with that? Would you be okay with leaving Goldshire behind, now that you’re acting headmaster?”
“Absolutely,” he said as he smiled at me. “Asheville it is, then? Or someplace else?”
“I don’t know; let’s talk to the other guys about it.”
Adam and Julian, as I had suspected, were in complete support of the idea. In fact, they all wanted to bail on graduation and just leave now. But I had promised my mother that I would walk across that graduation stage, and I intended to keep that promise.
32
“Hey,” someone behind me said as I went to reach for my cap and gown that was being handed across the counter to me.
I turned around and saw David.
“Hi,” I said, surprised to see him here. “What are you doing here?”
He snickered. “With graduation coming up, the colleges are working on the celebration plans, so I was over here with permission. I saw you walking in here and thought I would come say hello.”
“I’m glad you did,” I smiled. “I’ve been wondering how you are. I hadn’t heard anything from you since you left.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said as he looked down toward the floor. “I was a little upset and just needed to work some things out on my own.”
“That’s completely understandable.”
Julian was right. David had just needed some time.
“How are things over at Lineage?” I asked.
But, what I really wanted to know was how my father had been treating him.
He nodded with a sigh. “They’re okay, I guess. I’ve mostly just been staying to myself and focusing on school.”
I tried to lighten the conversation a bit since it was pretty obvious that he didn’t want to talk about our father. “Do you have any girlfriends yet?” I teased.
It felt awkward and a bit unnatural to try to tease him like a brother since we barely knew each other, but I was trying my best to break the ice.
“No,” he laughed. “Guess not everyone is as lucky as you with a whole harem of lovers.”
I rolled my eyes as we walked together. “Trust me, it’s not as easy and simple as you might think.”
“Oh, I’m sure it isn’t simple at all,” David laughed. “What’s going to happen after college, though? Are you guys still all going to live together, or are you going to end up picking a guy?
I turned his question over in my head for a little bit. “I don’t know yet. How about you, what are your plans after graduation?”
“Oh, it’s kind of complicated.” His tone sounded more serious now.
“How so?” I asked.
“Hey, do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow night?” David said.
I could tell that he was trying to change the conversation again.
“Dinner?” I really didn’t want to run into my father again. I had finally committed to leaving everything. I wanted to move on with my life. So, why would I want to put down yet more ties to an area I had every intention of abandoning the second I could?
David continued, though. “Yeah, please? You can bring the other guys too if you want. I think it would be cool to hang out a bit before we graduate, and all go our separate ways.”
