Jonas

"Brydan, tell me where she is."

"Jonas, I told you I don't know. We were at a rest stop, and when I left the men's room, she was gone." I rub my hand down my face, gripping my phone harder.

"Where is A?"

"At home. With my kids."

"She knows nothing?"

"Jonas, I swear to you. A had nothing to do with this."

"Besides for everything else she's done regarding Ms. Ronen." The door opens and closes. When a pair of arms wrap around my waist, I assume it's Iris. My body loosens. I sigh, "I need your location, and where you were headed. Plus any possibilities of where she may be."

"Yes, Jonas." He gives me a list of addresses, as I write them down.

"Brydan, next time, call me before you help a known rebel escape?" I hang up, placing the phone back on the nightstand.

"Hi," Iris whispers.

"Where'd you go?"

"Colton's room."

"How is he?" Iris walks over to the bed, sits. I follow, choosing to stand.

"He was trying to call Vienna."

"He failed?" Iris nods. "Do I need to worry about him kidnapping more of my Order?" She shakes her head.

"Not this time. I think he's only trying to find her to save me." I sit down next to her. Never would I have thought I'd live in a world where he cares more for the Expired girl than Vienna. Never would I have thought she'd become a rebel either. Or that he'd betray me for her. Maybe that last one was plausible.

"Then I hope he succeeds." Iris takes my hand. "Five more days," I whisper.

"That was more than we were ever supposed to have."

"No. Until our Dates separate us. How am I supposed to go on? How am I supposed to marry, raise an heir, knowing you're still our there, with the son or daughter I will never get to meet?"

"With the hope that one day, you will, Jonas. If, when, I step on the Estate's grounds again, I want you to have lived a life, and ruled, in a way that makes me proud to call you my husband."

"How?"

"Allow yourself to love. To hurt. Be human, Jonas. Do good."