Page 8 of It Starts With A No

He opened his mouth.

“You can’t,” she said, her eyes wide, as if she was trying to convey a message to him.

He had no idea what, though.

All he knew was that he should do what the assailant wanted for now. It had always worked with his adopted mother. Just do whatever she wants, his eldest brother always instructed.

“It’s okay,” Seth said, shifting a hand toward her death-clutch on his sleeve. “I’ll go with him,” he said with his hand hovering over hers.

He couldn’t make himself put his hand on her.

“No,” she said.

“I’ll go with him.”

“No, you can’t.” Her gaze flittered over to the man, then back at Seth. “He has a gun.”

“I can see that.” He was beginning to wonder if she could.

“Stop whispering to each other!”

Her hand on his sleeve twitched, and the hand he had hovering over hers instinctively held it down. If he had the time to marvel at what he’d just done, he would.

Handshakes were a necessity since he didn’t need everyone to know what a screw-up he was. No one needed to know that after so many years away from the Eolenfelds, he was still haunted by what his adopted mother had done to him.

“You haven’t hurt anyone yet,” she said to the assailant. “This doesn’t have to blow up.”

“Stop wasting my time!”

Miss Fiore pressed up against Seth, but her face remained stoic. “The cops are already on their way. If you take us, it’ll just end up as a chase. That never ends well.”

The man sneered. “Nice try, lady. The cops aren’t coming.”

Miss Fiore held up her pendant. “This is an emergency device. Hayes Security has probably informed the police. It has GPS, so the police have my location.”

The man’s brows drew together.

“I’m sure you’ve seen these on TV.”

The man reached for her pendant, but she took a step back.

Seth took half a step to the side to keep her behind him, only because it was the decent thing to do.

“There’s no point in taking it from me now. There’s no undo button,” she said. “I pressed the alert before I even got out of the car. The cops are coming. You should just go.”

“I’m not leaving without him.” The man stepped forward and pressed the gun to Seth’s head. “Get into the car, or I shoot you right here in front of your girlfriend.”

“Okay.” Seth tried to push Miss Fiore’s hand from his jacket. “Okay. I’ll go.”

She refused to let go. “You can’t.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Seth said through clenched teeth.

Miss Fiore’s tongue darted across her lips. “What do you want?” she asked the man. “Money?” She pulled out what looked like an engagement ring. “Here, take it.”

The man slapped her hand away, causing the diamond ring to fly over the cliff. “I don’t want money. I want justice for my sister.”

Sister? Seth frowned. Could it be? No way.

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