Page 95 of Prince Charming

For now, he shut his damn trap.

“I met him in a chatroom, he said he could get me official papers, passports. We arranged a meeting.”

Blood seeped through his vision. “And you went? For fuck’s sake, Marianna.”

That was her snapping point. Whatever he said made her eyes turn frosty. She came forward with her finger ready, stabbing it into his chest, looking up at him like she was wielding a sword. He might be mad as hell, but he was also a little amused at her fire.

“You listen to me, Luke Drake. You can act bossy when you want to get into my underwear. I like it,da? But you do not get to tell me how… how… ugh, the word, what is it? Stupid!Da, yes. You do not get to tell me I am stupid for doing what a mother needs to do to have her children in her arms again.”

Oh, she was pissed. Her accent was thick, and delicious, he could slop it up with a piece of bread. She went right on poking the fuck out of his chest, stabbing after each word.

“I shall seat myself at the devil’s dinner table and ask for seconds if it means I get what I need. I do not care for danger. I’ve been in plenty and here I am, alive and well. If I am stupid then I am stupid for a reason,da?”

Guess that told him.

It took some steam out of Tag’s sails as he watched her slim shoulders sag. Before he spoke, he worked the buttons on her coat, throwing it over a chair. Next he strode over to the coffee machine and tossed in a vanilla cream pod she liked. Then he turned, found her watching him.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes. Four passports and social security documentation.” She ripped open the package. Sure enough, they looked like passports to him. Didn’t alter the fact they could have robbed and killed her tonight. She didn’t know this Mister fucking G character.

“Look.” She said, passing them over.

He took them without a word, felt her hovering at his shoulder as he flipped through each one. Some of his anger came back as he listened to the gurgling coffee machine spitting out its brew. He tossed the papers onto the table, sidestepped her and sloshed creamer into the cup, added sugar and stirred before he looked at Marianna. “How much did you pay?”

She told him.

He sighed. Fuck’s sake.

“You got conned.” He informed. And for a second it didn’t register to her. And then she paused. “What do you mean?”

“Those things are useless, Marianna. They wouldn’t even get you a six-pack at the liquor store, never mind through customs.”

“No. You are wrong. He said they are good fakes, no one will know, he said.”

“Maybe to the untrained eye. Someone who is desperate enough to meet an asshole in the dark and hand over 750 bucks no questions asked. Then yeah, maybe those things look real. But I’m telling you, they’re useless.”

She started pouring over them.

“Look, it says they are correct. I know.”

“Anna,” he said softer. “The cards aren’t even the same material. The markings are all wrong on the passports. If you handed them in at the airport, they would get you and your family arrested.”

“No. It can’t be.He said.”

“He fucking scammed you, Anna!”

Tag hated being right, hated seeing her dejected face when she’d been so relieved only moments ago. He went to a drawer in his living room, grabbed what he needed and took it to the kitchen. Using his own passport as proof against one of the fakes. “See? The marks are all wrong. This part here has a spelling error. Look at the difference in SS cards.” Standing behind her, he laid a hand on her shoulder. Hating he was the one to pop her hope.

She looked at them for a long time and then she shrugged off his hand. The pain of it stabbed him deep. She pushed back the chair, grabbed her coat, and slid it on. “You were right, Luke. I am stupid.” He would have coped better had she been angry with him.

“You’re not stupid for trying, Anna.”

“Then what am I? I feel stupid. I thought this was it, my one chance to have my family back. And all I’ve done is throw money away that I can’t afford, and waste time.”

As she inched toward the back door, he felt every thread of progress between them start to burn away. Moving across the floor, he caught her face in his hands.

“I could have helped, Anna. Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing? I would have looked into this guy, wouldn’t have let you go to some unknown location alone, that’s for damn sure.”

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