Page 73 of Girl Anonymous

He didn’t answer, his face hard and unreadable.

“Do you have a better idea?” she asked.

“No. But if something happens to Octavia, how many people are going to want to kill me?”

“All of them.”

“Then let’s do this, first.”

“Where are we going, if not to Oakland?”

“Connor’s house.”

“I thought he was dead.” The newly created Maarja found herself asking, “Is he?”

“Perhaps. We’ll find out, won’t we?”

“When you got the call, I assumed while I was in the bathroom you’d check up on it.”

“I didn’t have my cell. Remember?”

“Oh. Right.” He’d answered the hotel phone to get the news about Connor from…someone…because he’d given their phones to the fake Dante and Maarja. She’d thought he had a replacement, but in light of this…

“Why didn’t you call Connor from the hotel phone?”

“I did. No answer.”

“He didn’t recognize the caller ID.”

“Or he’s dead.” Dante anticipated her next question, for he told her, “I got the information from someone I trust implicitly.”

“That someone has betrayed you.”

“Never. That person has received bad information. From who? How was it conveyed? When I get to a phone, I’ll find out.”

He was so sure that the person who’d told him the news was blameless and she couldn’t imagine who that would be. “Who do you trust with your life?” she asked.

CHAPTER 36

“Two people.” Dante smiled at her. “You’re one.”

She didn’t want to experience the warmth of knowing this man trusted her. Yet she smiled back and said, “Yes. You can trust me.”

“Do you trust me?” he coaxed.

She wanted to think about it, the ramifications of trusting him, the consequences of admitting it, but there it was, flowing through her veins, a rock-solid certainty that he’d put his life on the line for her. Again she fussed with putting her tear-away pants back in order. “Yes. I trust you.”

He touched her cheek. “Shy? Now?”

“No.”Yes.

“Why won’t you look at me?”

She glanced at him.

He met her gaze for one swift moment, his eyes all golden warmth, then turned back to the traffic.

She blushed and faced forward.

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