"You have been bailed," was the last thing I had thought would be heard by me four hours before my execution.
The guard's words hit me like a slap. I stared at him, chains still on my wrists, waiting for the joke. There wasn't one. Paperwork was shoved under my nose, a pen pressed into my hand. I signed without reading. My legs carried me out of Silvercrest on autopilot, the gates clanging shut behind me like a bad dream ending too soon.
Then fear gripped me. Real, cold fear. This was too easy. Too good. They didn't just free an Alpha-killer. Someone had paid. Someone had claimed me. I looked down at the thin silver band now circling my ring finger and remembered exactly how it got there.
Four hours earlier, Simon had slid it across the metal table.
"Say yes, Irene. Say yes and you walk out alive."
I had stared at the ring, then at him, then at the clock ticking down my life.
"Yes," I had spat, hating every syllable.
