Page 65 of Double Edged Hearts
Chapter Nineteen
Cora
Richard is quiet for several moments.
I just told him what happened, and what’s happening.
I can almost imagine the panic he must feel.
“Cora…” His voice sounds weak. I always think of him as the worried father when he sounds like that. God knows I’ve worried him enough over the years I’ve known him. “I can’t believe what you’re saying to me. Any of it.”
“I know. It’s a nightmare. All of it.”
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
“No, I’m okay. Richard, don’t worry about me. Please focus on the heist. It’s going to happen in three days. Please don’t let it happen. If you can get to the army base, then you catch Matvey and Zack. Both of them in one swoop.”
“I hear you, and rest assured I have this covered. I’m booking my flight back to Chicago as we speak.”
I feel so much better knowing that he’s taken this in hand.
“Thank you. Richard, please tell Lyndsey I’m okay. I know she would have been calling me and is probably worried sick.”
“I will, don’t worry. Did she know about the phone call too?”
“No. I never got the chance to tell her. I just wanted to tell you. I know with anything like this, the less people who know what’s happening, the less you have to worry. It puts them in danger.” I decide against telling him I showed the photos to her. I should have just kept everything with him and gone to him from the outset.
“Yes. I agree. I was just worried for her too. Cora… you still haven’t told me much about you. I want to come and get you.”
“No…” I say that a little too quickly and glance over my shoulder.
I’m in the living room, and Alex has given me privacy to talk. The only thing he made me promise to do was not to say anything about where we are.
“I’m worried sick. I am the one who’s worried sick. I worried from the minute Giles proposed that you go to Chicago, and now look at what’s happened. Giles is dead and you were nearly killed too,” he answers.
“I’m safe. I promise you.” I’ve been purposely vague about myself in general because I don’t want to talk about Alex with him.
“How did you escape?”
I release a heavy sigh. I might have left Alex out of the story so far, but I won’t lie to Richard about him again.
“Alex saved me. He came for me.”
He goes quiet, but I can hear him sigh. He sounds frustrated.
“Cora, you were seeing him again?”
Again, I won’t lie. “Yes…”
“You said you weren’t.” He sounds upset.
“I know and I’m sorry. At the time I wasn’t.”
“Cora, even after all I told you about your parents, you still think he’s good? I’m grateful he saved you, but that doesn’t change what he is. He’s a mobster, a criminal, and you can’t be a fed and involved with someone like that. You can’t.”
“I know how you feel about mobsters, Richard, and I know how you feel about him. But… I know how I feel about him too.”
“So, you’re going to throw away your career for a guy like that?” He fumes.
