Page 89 of Xavier

“I missed the morning check in with your dad. I had a ton of missed calls and texts. He said the two guys boarded a plane this morning headed for Jacksonville. They may already be waiting outside. I don’t know. What I do know is that we need to go. Now.”

Brianna’s face pales as my words sink in, but her spitfire attitude comes barreling back front and center. “Now could be the time to end this. We can call the cops and tell them what happened.”

I shake my head as I head for the door. “No. No cops. We will handle this when and if we can safely.”

She whispers as we get into the elevator. “How? From where I’m standing, we are at a huge disadvantage. They know the hotel we are at and what we look like. We don’t even know what type of car they are driving.”

She’s got a point there. Not to mention that they probably got to St. Augustine hours ago and are staking out the hotel, but I’m not going to tell her that.

There’s no need to worry her.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.” I don’t say anything else because there’s nothing more I can assure her of.

That much is true, but I can’t promise this will be over soon.

I can’t promise these guys will be arrested. I don’t even have handcuffs.

The only thing I can promise is to keep her safe.

We try to act normal as we exit the elevator and glance around at the empty lobby.

Brianna loops her arm through mine and whispers, “At least they aren’t in here.”

I keep my face neutral as we head to the reception desk.

“We’re checking out.” I say as I hand the woman the keycard to the hotel room.

“Did you enjoy your stay?”

Brianna answers for the both of us. “Yes. It was relaxing. Everything was great.”

Movement outside catches my eye, and I turn toward the automatic doors.

A delivery driver pulls up to the door and gets out of his van.

Brianna tugs on my arm and asks in a super sweet voice, “Ready, honey?”

I glance back to the receptionist before turning my attention to Brianna. “Absolutely. Let’s go.”

I steer clear of the delivery guy as we walk past and Brianna chuckles and whispers, “He’s not one of them.”

“You never know.”

Once we are outside, it takes our eyes a few moments to adjust. I shouldn’t have left my sunglasses in the car.

It only takes a moment to catch someone off guard and get the upper hand.

A moment like this would be ideal for them, but luckily, no one is out here waiting for us.

When we get to my car, I do a thorough inspection to make sure everything is safe.

“What could they have done? There are cameras everywhere around here, both inside and outside.”

“Every camera always has a blind spot. It would be too costly to cover every square inch of their property, so I’m checking for cut brake lines, potential problems with the tires, bombs-”

“BOMBS?!” she yells.

“Shh. You can’t just yell that word at will.”

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