“You surprise me.”
“I do?”
“A lot of the time, actually.”
“I like to keep things interesting.”
“What did you tell Henry?”
“That one of us should remain stateside in case Mia turned up there.”
Back at JFK he’d wanted to board with us…
“Listen to me,” I held him by the shoulders. “Henry, you can’t go where I’m going. That place…those people are dangerous.”
“I can’t bear to think of her there.”
“If anyone can escape, Mia can.”
“You should call the FBI.”
“If I do that there will be a price on my head from that moment on. The members of this house are more powerful than you can imagine. They’ll come after me, and you, and our entire family. I have this, Henry. I’ll bring her home.”
Leaving Henry behind at the airport had been the only sensible move I’d made these past two weeks. I’d sent him to the penthouse.
“Hey?” Shay stirred me from my daydream. “Mia’s strong.”
“I know.”
He rose and turned to sit beside me. “I’m not landing backwards.”
I forced a smile to comfort him. He’d apologized to me throughout the entire flight, beating himself up for letting this happen. He’d refused to let me take the blame. But I took responsibility for it all, wallowing in guilt and self-hatred.
The question I was pondering right now was how I would deal with Helete in the future. She had friends who would protect her. Maybe there’d never be an opportunity for revenge, maybe all we’d have is a life full of memories, having left ourselves vulnerable.
I couldn’t see how this would end.
Shay leaned forward. “We still don’t have an address, Cole.”
He was right. We’d be landing in Paris with no destination.
“Are you sure you don’t regret us not…you know, with Omani.” He threw his arms up. “She was practically begging for it.”
“I promised I’d keep her safe. Keep the bastards at bay.” I turned my gaze to those dark clouds.
“I can’t believe she refused to tell us the address,” he huffed.
Turbulence hit, causing the plane to shudder, but I barely noticed.
“For God’s sake, Cole, you’re saving that girl from that place. She owes you.”
“Omani owes me nothing.” I held his stare. “She’s scared. And she has every reason to be.”
HE SHOULDN’T HAVE COME AFTERher.
Those eerie words of Galina’s kept running through my mind.
This had to have everything to do with that damn cake and Cameron and Helete playing games with each other. She hadn’t liked Cam visiting her club…maybe that was it.