“It’s what every good urchin learns from an early age. That or starve.” I offered him some of the food.
A barely concealed look of disgust crossed his face. “Cold eggs and ham. No, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” I guessed you had to be an urchin to appreciate that a meal was a meal no matter what temperature it was. I picked up the piece of bread and sat in the chair across from him. I almost choked on it when I heard the apartment door unlock. Leisel walked in, a Domer following closely behind her. Jack was instantly on his feet.
“Well, here’s the happy couple!” Leisel said with a smile. “Oh, and look, you’re sharing a meagre breakfast. What is that anyway? Cold ham?”
“What do you want, Leisel? Come to finish off the job yourself?”
“Well that’s hardly the response I expected from my jilted fiancé. What, no mourning the loss of my love?” Leisel sneered. Jack just glared at her. “I thought not. I knew you never loved me, Jack, and as much as I would love to finish the job myself, I would never deprive my father of that pleasure. He’s really mad at you. I mean, it took some convincing to get him to let me marry a Kenner in the first place and then you turn around and do this to me.” Leisel pouted. “Your family’s never going to recover from this.”
“Leave them out of it, Leisel. They had nothing to do with it. This is between you and me.”
“I think we both know that’s not true. Your family has been trying to take mine down for hundreds of years, and now my father has a legitimate reason to destroy you all. Starting with you.”
“Why? Why are you doing this to me?” Jack asked between clenched teeth.
His hands were balled into fists at his side, and every muscle in his body was tensed and ready to spring across the room at her. The guard standing behind Leisel tensed up too, his hand reaching for his weapon. Without really thinking about it, I jumped up and grabbed Jack’s arm with both my hands. If he went for Leisel, there was no doubt in my mind that the guard would kill him, and I didn’t want to be left here all alone. I didn’t want to be executed alone. I hung on tight.
“Sunny, how touching. Oh, wait. I think I have a… a… tear in my eye,” Leisel said, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.
I wanted to slap the sarcastic expression off her face. “Shut up, Leisel,” I snapped. My words shocked even me.
“So the urchin has a voice. Not that you need one. I mean no one is putting you on trial for anything. You’re going to die simply for wearing that dress and marrying above your station. And, by the way, I lied to you—that dress looks way better on me.”
Jack scoffed. “You wish!”
Leisel looked taken aback but she recovered quickly when her guard stepped forward to be at her side. “Keep your little insults to yourself. I only came to say thank you. Thank you so much for playing your roles in my little plan so flawlessly. I really do wish I had been there to see the look on your faces when Sunny’s scan actually worked. I bet you were so surprised.” She laughed. She was actually enjoying this. Her guard was smiling, too.
“So what’s your plan, Leisel? You might as well tell us. We’re going to die anyway,” Jack said.
“Why not? My plan has always been to become president. I mean, who came up with the rule that a woman can’t be president? You know, when I went to my father saying that a Kenner was the most eligible bachelor in the Dome, I had hoped he might consider changing the rules. I was absolutely flabbergasted when he said I could marry a Kenner! He’d rather have a male Kenner as president than see his own daughter inherit the title. So that little plan backfired, and I ended up engaged to you.” Leisel shook her head. “It was frustrating, you know? So I had to come up with something else. That’s when I saw Sunny. We’re the same height, and I knew I could alter the dress. I couldn’t believe my luck when you both agreed to go along with everything. I mean you both must’ve been so desperate. You to become president, Jack, and you, Sunny, to save your little friend.”
Summer! All that time I had been thinking about how Leisel betrayed me and never thought that she probably went back on her word about Summer, too. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I did this all for nothing. Now I wanted to kill Leisel myself. I dropped Jack’s arm and headed straight for her, but he grabbed me around the waist, preventing me from reaching my target.
“Let me go!”
“She’s not worth it, Sunny! She’ll just kill you.”
“Listen to him, Sunny, because I will,” Leisel said, all business now. Her guard drew his gun. “Desmond, put that away. Jack at least knows better.”
Leisel placed her hand over the guard’s, a familiar gesture that was hard to miss. She caught me staring at them.
“Desmond has been a huge source of support to me. Without him, my plan would never have succeeded. He’s captain of the guard on this level.” A smile played around her mouth. Now I knew how she was able to get rid of all the guards so I could come to her apartment this morning. “When I’m president, we’ll live in a world where he and I can get married. You see, I do want change in the Dome.”
“I still don’t see how you’re going to become president. Your father won’t agree to that,” Jack said.
“Are you kidding me? After the public betrayal I’ve gone through? The humiliation of being the jilted bride… the broken heart I’m suffering…” She pouted, shaking her head. “When I tell my father I never plan on marrying again, he’ll understand completely. I mean, who’s left for me to marry anyway? I’d have to start scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with someone who’s eligible, and Daddy would never stand for that. I’ll convince him the only way to keep a Holt as president is to let me succeed him.”
“I guess you have it all worked out then. Thanks for stopping by.” Jack gestured like he was dismissing her.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Jack. We did have a few good moments during our… relationship.” Her voice was a purr.
“To be honest, Leisel, I detested the sight of you. So you can imagine what inner strength it took for me not to run every time you touched me. I guess I should thank you, too. Turns out the thought of getting a bullet in the head isn’t nearly as bad as the stress I was under wondering how I was going to get through my wedding night with you.”
By the look on Leisel’s face, Jack’s words hit home. She curled her lips into a snarl.
“Good bye, Jack. The next time I see you, you’ll be with your executioner. Enjoy the rest of your short life.” And with that, Leisel turned and left the room, her guard close on her heels.
I wanted to run after her—claw the door open and race down the hall to find her. A creature that evil should not be allowed to live, let alone have a chance to become president. Life in the Pit was already bad, but it would be intolerable under that monster. And I had unwittingly helped her. She had to be stopped. I tried again to get to the door, and then realized Jack’s arms still had me in a vise-like grip. I tried to pry his arms off me. “Let me go!”
“She’s gone, Sunny. She’s gone.”
“I’ll get the door open. Let me go before she’s gone.” Why did he want to stop me? He must hate her, too.
“Sunny. Sunny.” His lips were by my ear. “Relax. She’s gone. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
My strength left me. He was right. The door was locked, and I couldn’t get at her.
“How did she get in here? You said there are cameras everywhere, but she got in here and said all those things. She wasn’t worried about being caught.”
Jack grabbed his computer, did something on it, and then looked at me triumphantly. “You’re a genius. She has the cameras jammed on this entire floor. And I just locked it in. She won’t be able to unjam it for quite a while.”
“Then I’m not going to waste it. I’m going home.”
The determination I felt was stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I knew I wouldn’t get far. The Dome was only so big. But if I could just get enough time to go home! I didn’t want to die wondering if Reyes thought I betrayed him. I had to let my father know I wasn’t long for this world and he needed to get out of bed and look after himself. I wanted to make sure Summer was okay and that she knew Leisel had betrayed us.