Chapter 468: Rebecca Found Out

It was still early morning when I left Carmen’s house.

The Boardwalk had not fully woken up yet.

Everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

But after the Screamer attack, I had started appreciating quiet more than I used to.

I had not slept beside Carmen.

After we had sex, I had gone back to the temporary room she had given me and tried to get a few hours of rest there. Tried was probably the right word.

I barely slept as usual since I gotten myself beaten black and blue by Gaspar.

But the sex with Carmen certainly relaxed my mind.

Carmen had not said much afterward.

Neither had I.

When I woke up early, her room was quiet. I assumed she had gone back to her own bedroom at some point and slept there for the rest of the night.

It should have made everything more awkward.

But strangely, it did not.

The first time I cured Carmen, everything had been confusing. It had happened during the Screamer attack. She had been terrified, bitten, and convinced she would die. I had been trying to save her before she turned, and neither of us had time to understand what was happening.

Last night had been different.

There had been no Infected throwing themselves at the door.

No Screamer tearing through the night.

No immediate threat forcing us to act before we could think.

Carmen and I had spoken.

Not perfectly.

Not enough to solve everything.

But enough that there was no longer the same uncertainty hanging between us.

I had told her what I felt.

And she had told me enough for me to understand that she felt something too, even if she was still afraid of it.

Carmen would probably need time.

I knew that.

The age difference, the loss of her son, Shannon, the circumstances of the cure, the danger surrounding all of us, it was not something she could simply stop thinking about overnight.

But I believed she would eventually come around.

At least, I hoped she would.

As for me...

I was beginning to accept things about myself that I had spent a long time trying to ignore.

I was not attracted to every woman I met.

But when someone treated me well, when I grew close to them, when they became important to me, I had a hard time pretending there was nothing there.

Cindy.

Rachel.

Sydney.

Elena.

Mei.

Maribel.

Summer.

And now Carmen.

Calling myself a scumbag was probably easier than admitting I had real feelings that complicated.

Dullahan had changed me too.

Not just physically.

It had changed the way I experienced emotions. Desire. Attachment. The need to feel close to people. The instinct to stop holding everything back until I turned into someone cold and empty.

Runis had told me that refusing my emotions would only keep me out of sync with Dullahan.

I was starting to understand what he meant.

I had not been pretending before.

My feelings for the people around me had always been real.

But I had been holding back.

Afraid that accepting too much would make me selfish.

Afraid that wanting too much would make me a bad person.

Maybe it still would.

Only the future could tell me that.

But after last night, some of the weight on my shoulders had become lighter.

Things with Carmen were clearer.

And that meant I could focus on what mattered most.

Mei.

Emily.

The rescue.

I headed toward the shore where Tommy usually left messages, near the road leading to the Golden Nugget.

At this time in the morning, I did not expect to find anything.

Tommy had been careful since the beginning. He would not risk leaving a message unless something important had changed. And after all the planning, I assumed the rescue would happen tomorrow night at the earliest.

But when I reached the usual place near the water, I noticed something caught between two pieces of driftwood.

A folded paper.

My heartbeat immediately picked up.

I walked over, picked it up, and opened it.

My eyes moved quickly across the short message.

Then I froze.

Tonight.

Midnight.

I crumpled the paper in my fist.

"Tonight..." I muttered.

I looked down at my watch.

Tommy had not written much else.

No explanation.

No details about what had changed.

No warning about whether something had gone wrong in Brigantine.

But he had been careful from the start. Tommy would not suddenly move the plan forward unless he believed tonight was their best chance.

Maybe he had finally gotten the keys.

Maybe Liam had become suspicious.

Maybe there was a problem inside Brigantine that had forced them to act sooner.

It did not matter.

The message was clear.

At midnight, I had to be there.

"Finally," I whispered.

Relief rose inside me before I could stop it.

The rescue was actually happening.

Tonight, Mei and Emily might finally get out of Brigantine.

Tonight, Gaspar would no longer have them as a way to threaten me.

Once they were safe, Callighan would lose one of the strongest advantages he had over us.

No more warnings that he could hurt them if I fought back.

No more pretending I could not use everything I had because someone I cared about was trapped behind enemy lines.

Once Mei and Emily were back—

We could go after Callighan.

We could go after Gaspar.

I turned away from the water and started walking immediately.

There was no time to waste.

I needed to tell the others.

I headed straight to the Whitesun Hotel.

The Hotel was already becoming more active as I approached. People moved in and out through the entrance carrying supplies, checking weapons, speaking with the guards, and preparing for another day of reconstruction.

I looked around for Cindy, Rachel, Sydney, Christopher, Lucy, or Maribel.

But I did not see any of them.

They were probably dealing with their own things.

I did not have time to search the entire hotel.

So I headed upstairs.

The sixth floor had mostly become our group’s space since we started staying at the Whitesun Hotel. Different rooms had been claimed, cleaned, and used as temporary bedrooms, storage areas, or places to speak privately.

The problem was, I still did not remember exactly which room belonged to whom.

I walked down the hallway carefully.

"Anyone there?" I called out.

No answer.

I continued farther down the hall.

The last thing I wanted was to open a random door and walk into someone changing clothes, sleeping, arguing, or doing something else I definitely did not need to see.

"Hello?" I called again.

Then a door opened behind me.

"What are you doing here?"

I turned around.

Rebecca stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.

She had a serious look on her face, though there was a hint of annoyance beneath it.

"I used to sleep here," I said. "If you remember."

"Not anymore," Rebecca replied. "Didn’t you switch groups already?"

"My stay in the Boardwalk is temporary," I said. "Callighan is targeting this place. I’m helping because they’re a threat to us too."

Rebecca stayed quiet.

Her expression shifted slightly at the mention of Callighan.

She knew what was happening.

She knew Mei was still trapped in Brigantine. She knew Gaspar had almost killed me. And she knew that no matter where our group stayed, Callighan was not going to leave us alone.

"Rachel is upstairs with Kunta," she said at last.

"Thanks."

I started to turn away.

But Rebecca’s voice stopped me.

"Wait."

I looked back.

She had stepped fully into the hallway now.

Her arms were no longer crossed.

Instead, her hands were held tightly at her sides, and she looked hesitant in a way I had rarely seen from her.

"Just tell me something."

Her voice was serious.

I waited.

Rebecca took a breath.

Then she looked directly into my eyes.

"Are you and my sister together?"

For a second, I only stared at Rebecca.

"What?"

Her face immediately reddened.

"You know what I’m asking!" She snapped.

Right.

I did know.

After she saw me kissing Sydney while holding Cindy’s hand, there was no way she had not started putting things together. Rebecca might have been younger and more innocent about some things, but she was not stupid.

Not even close.

She must have been suspicious for a while.

Maybe she had noticed the way Rachel acted around me when nobody else was paying attention. Maybe she had noticed the way I looked at Rachel. Maybe she had seen small things I thought I had hidden well.

The problem was that Rachel and I had never acted openly affectionate in front of everyone.

Not like Sydney.

So perhaps Rebecca had convinced herself that she was imagining it.

That her older sister could not possibly be involved with me too.

Especially not when she had already seen me with Cindy and Sydney.

The idea probably sounded insane from her perspective.

Her sister.

Rachel.

In a relationship with me while I was already involved with other women.

I could understand why she was struggling to believe it.

"That day," Rebecca said, her voice shaking slightly, "you were with Sydney and Cindy. I saw you."

She stared directly into my eyes.

"You’re with them, aren’t you?"

I stayed quiet.

"Both of them," she added.

Her cheeks flushed even more after saying it aloud.

"There are... circumstances," I said.

The answer sounded weak the moment it left my mouth.

Rebecca’s brows pulled together.

"Circumstances?"

I nodded.

I did not want to lie.

Maybe the old me would have.

Maybe I would have pretended not to understand her question. Maybe I would have laughed it off, told her she was imagining things, or tried to change the subject.

But I was tired of hiding things.

And honestly, no wonder Rebecca disliked me sometimes.

I had kept too much from her.

I had treated her like she was too young to understand what was happening, even when she had been there through the same horrors as everyone else.

And now Rachel was involved too.

Rebecca deserved an answer.

"I knew it," she whispered.

She took a small step back.

"You’re with Sydney and Cindy..."

There was disbelief in her voice.

Not anger yet.

More like her mind was trying to process something that did not make sense to her.

Then she looked at me again.

Her expression shifted.

"What about Rachel?"

My chest tightened.

That was the real question.

I had no good answer.

Or rather, I had an answer, but I knew exactly how much she would hate hearing it.

Rachel was her older sister.

Her family.

The person who had probably looked after Rebecca before the outbreak. The person who had protected her when things got bad. The person Rebecca trusted more than almost anyone.

And I was about to tell her that Rachel and I had been together for three months.

Not publicly.

Not openly.

But together.

"Rebecca..."

That was all I said.

But it was enough.

Rebecca’s face went pale.

Then the color rushed back into her cheeks.

"I..." she began.

Her eyes widened.

"I can’t believe it."

I took a step toward her.

"Rebecca, there have been circumstances—"

"Don’t bullshit me again!"

Her voice echoed down the hallway.

I stopped.

Rebecca’s eyes shone with anger and hurt.

"You and Rachel too?" She demanded. "I can’t believe it!"

"Rebecca, just listen."

"No!"

She turned and was already walking quickly down the hallway.

I took another step after her.

"Rebecca, wait."

She did not stop.

Her pace became faster.

Then she disappeared down the stairs.

"Great..."