Page 57 of Savage Obsession

“I also took the liberty of reserving three seats. First class, naturally.”

My eyes meet his inscrutable dark gaze. I suspect he won’t be sorry to see the back of me, given the uneasy truce between the Kaminskis and the Savages, and even more so now that he knows I was less than honest with him. Even so, I owe him.

“I’m grateful,” I say. “May I presume further on your assistance…?”

“A helicopter will be at your disposal to take you and your family to the airport. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to arrange passage for the dog at such short notice, but he can remain here until you are able to make suitable arrangements. My sons have quite taken to him.”

There’s nothing more to be said. I’m effectively dismissed, my welcome here at an end. I get to my feet, offer a slight incline of my head to each man present, and go to break the happy news to Julia.

First, though, a call to Kristian.

CHAPTER 14

Julia

“Where?”

“Tenerife,” he repeats, with exaggerated and patronising patience. “Tonight. We leave in an hour, so you need to get packing.”

“I’ll do no such thing. I’m going nowhere, except back to Warsaw.” The very notion is beyond ridiculous. “I have a business, a house…”

“I explained. You’ll be arrested. You can’t run your business from jail.”

“Why not?” she snaps. “Your kind do, all the time.”

He doesn’t bother to answer, just throws another pair of jeans into his holdall. “It’s up to you, in the end. I’m flying to Tenerife, with Lily. You’re welcome to come with us, or you can take your chances with the Polish police. Your choice.”

“Lily stays with me,” I protest. Is he mad? He’s in no position to take care of a twelve-year-old girl.

“She’d be stuck in some foster home within the day, as soon as you’re arrested. Not happening, not after… everything else.” He zips the bag and shoulders it, then grabs Lily’s backpack from where she dumped it on our bed. “I’m going to round up our daughter. Chopper leaves the forecourt at eight. Be there or not, it’s all the same to me.”

I’m left staring at the closed door, his footsteps receding on the stone flags beyond. I rush after him, but he’s already stomping down the steps.

“Wait,” I yell. “You can’t just?—”

I’m shouting at empty air. So I retrace my steps to our room and look around me. Could it be true, this ‘story’ from Poland? Am I really on my country’s ‘most wanted’ list? And even if it is true, surely I can explain. Gerek was unspeakable, a predator. Poland is well rid of him. The police will understand…

Except, they won’t. Of course they won’t. Murder is murder, whatever the provocation. Prisons are full of people who committed crimes on the spur of the moment. My previous unblemished record will count for nothing, whereas Gerek was a respected professional, an upstanding citizen with rich and powerful connections. I drop onto the bed and bury my face in my hands. I’d thought Baz covered everything, that we were in the clear.

I was a fool to trust him.

Except, what choice did I have? What choice did I give him? It was like a red mist descended when I realised how I’d been tricked. I stopped thinking straight and I shot Gerek before anyone could stop me. I clench my jaw. He deserved it, I’d do the same again. And maybe he would have died anyway, after what Baz did to him. It was Baz who killed him, really…

I drag in a ragged sigh. None of that will wash with the police. If they have evidence that Gerek died in his apartment, and if there are witnesses that will say I was actually seen there…

Shit, shit, shit!

Just under an hour later, I drag my holdall out into the corridor.

“Can I help you with that, Mrs Bartosz?”

I whirl to look up at the guard strolling in my direction, a pleasant enough smile across his face. Was he waiting for me?

“It needs to be downstairs, in the courtyard…”

“Of course.” He lifts all my worldly possessions as easily as a week’s worth of groceries and hikes past me in the direction of the stairs.

I fall in behind him.

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