Chapter 81

Never in my life had I thought I’d be running away from my savior, but here I am running away from Dante.

“So, it’s just us?” I ask Adeline after a while of spending the car ride in comfortable silence. I realize that it’s nice like this, that somehow, I could pretend that Adeline and I are just two friends going on a road trip. That for a moment, I could forget about what awaited me.

Adeline offers me a sheepish smile. “For now, Miss,” she replies softly. “The boss needs more security, and we have the boys back at the estate.”

Right. The men we left behind. I still feel iffy about that. When we escaped in the dark of the night, we left eight men—eight! Had our enemies launched an attack, they would have all perished. That has never sat right with me, but maybe I can at least make amends.

“Adeline,” I start, not knowing how to impose more work onto Adeline. She’s done so much for me already. But there are things regarding the research that I cannot do on my own. “I need your help with