Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 68870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“Sorry,” he says, running his hands through his hair and clearly upset about what he just did.
I stare at him. He’s being overly apologetic, but something is bothering him. He looks at my badge and then starts reaching into his wallet. Oh please.
Sure enough, he pulls out a food voucher. Just another reason I know I’d never truly be an elite. No matter what my marital status says and no matter if I keep my job, I’m from the wrong kind of lineage. I’ll always carry the label of “illegitimate,” just like my unborn child.
“No thank you,” I say, giving him a dismissive hand wave and not meeting his eyes. He doesn’t seem like a total jerk, he just feels bad for me and my situation. Just another reminder of how this whole system is entirely wrong.
Maybe it’s time to fight back, in a different way.
Brad, who had no idea what’s going on in my head, asks me what he can do since I’m refusing the food vouchers.
I look him straight in the eyes and realize as I form the words exactly how I want to fight back.
“I need someone killed,” I say, and he laughs.
Chapter Thirteen
Minnie
From my dorm room window, I stare down at the wall and the old brewery just on the other side. The lamp is still there in the window. I hope Owen is safe and that no one has found out about him and where he’s staying.
My heart aches at not being near him and knowing I might never see him again. The thought is unbearable. Owen’s dark, intense eyes flash in my mind. I can’t believe he’d ever truly let me go. But I know how much the I Insurgence means to him. He has thousands of people to take care of. To lead. He wouldn't risk all that for me. Would he?
Still, against his wishes, I blink my light off and back on, just once, to show Owen that I’m okay. The last thing I want to do is worry him. Who knows who could be watching me. I desperately want to take comfort in his arms right now, but if the Regime found us together, he would disappear forever.
My heart breaks into a million pieces when I think of how Owen and I can't be together.
But I knew this was the case before he ever put his hands on me. I knew we could never work as a couple. I was a crossover, born into the oppressed society but accepted into elite society because of my scholarship. But still I wanted my stolen moment with him. I just didn't know how hard it would be to let go. I’m sure I can survive it.
But even though I choose to stay and reside outside of the privileged class, I’m still subjected to the expectations of high society. I belong to them in their eyes and they won't let me go. There’s no escaping into the night. They’d hunt me down.
I’m expected to marry an elite, and of course it would be an elite of their choosing. Someone who matches my background and who can give them more elite children. My plan, when I accepted the scholarship, was to infiltrate and change the system from the inside out. With nonviolence measures. I wanted to learn how to heal people and take my skills to my side as well.
But that plan isn’t working. I’m a highly respected nurse at the main for-profit hospital. And now I’m about to be fully immersed in elite society with a husband, permanent residency and a baby that they’ll pretend is my new husband’s progeny. The thought steals the breath right out of my lungs.
The Regime and its followers are good at denying the truth, so as long as babies are born after a wedding, the groom is the father. And thousands if not millions of biological fathers go on with their lives in ignorance.
I will never want anyone but Owen. He’s my soulmate.
But I can’t dare return not knowing what might follow me to his doorstep.
Chapter Fourteen
Owen
Something’s wrong. I can feel it all the way down to my bones. I’m pacing like a caged animal, and I can't wait any longer. I have to get my own eyes on her and make sure she’s okay. Otherwise I’ll end up ripping that fucking wall down with my bare hands.
I head to the basement and pull back the false stack of kegs hiding the door to the tunnel. I push it open and enter into the darkness. Nothing could stop me from getting to her. Minnie belongs to me now. The Regime can't have her.
I haven't seen her in days, and she didn’t return to me on Sunday night like she was supposed to.
It’s Monday morning and a lot has happened. Word spread that a government agent is in the hospital in a suspicious coma. More alarmingly, Brad Chalmers has been shot and killed by someone they call Insurgent No. 1. Except I know the truth behind the story. Brad faked his death so he and Sylvia could be together. They came to me to help them disappear, and I didn’t refuse.