Page 54 of Lethal Game

"It's probably best to stay here, Alisa."

"I can't." She gave a helpless shrug. "Maybe that's what's best, but I need to breathe fresh air and feel the sun. Or I'm going to lose my mind."

He smiled. "Okay. You've convinced me. We'll get out of here."

"Thank you," she said with relief, moving toward the elevators before he could change his mind.

They didn't talk on the way down to the lobby or out to the car, which was once again parked in front of the valet. As he opened the door for her, his jacket opened, and she was startled to see him wearing a gun.

"When did you pick that up?" she asked.

He followed her gaze. "I've had it all along."

"I didn't notice it yesterday when we crashed. Or this morning when we left the safe house."

"Well, you've been a little distracted."

He was right. Or maybe she just hadn't wanted to see the weapon, hadn't wanted to be reminded of the danger she was in. She got into the car and fastened her seatbelt as he went around to the other side and slid behind the wheel.

She thought her tension would ease as soon as they pulled away from the hospital, but the hill of her nightmares immediately brought it back.

She cracked the window open and said, "Did you get any new leads while you were gone? Do you know where my father is?"

"No. We haven't been able to locate him yet. Did you talk to your mother?"

"I did. I'll tell you all about it, but where are we going now?"

"Back to the safe house."

"How about lunch somewhere? If no one is following us, we should be good, right? We can turn off our phones so no one can follow us and just take a break." She could tell he wasn't super thrilled about her idea, but she pressed forward. "There's a great salad and sandwich place called Stella's near the park by the Santa Monica Pier. The food is excellent. It's pretty fast. And there's even a view of the ocean, which would be nice. I've almost forgotten there's an outside world."

"Aren't you used to being in the hospital all day long?" he asked dryly.

"Yes, but that's different, and I usually have my lunch on therooftop deck. It has a great view of Los Angeles. I'm just a person who needs to be outside for at least part of the day."

"Well, I can relate to that," he said. "Being stuck in an office all day was never my dream. All right. We'll go to Stella's. Do you want to put it in the GPS?"

"I know how to get there," she said, directing him to the nearest entrance for the 405 Freeway.

"So, what did your mother tell you?" he asked.

"She admitted that my dad told her he had a secret past before they married, that he'd changed his name, and he couldn't tell her why. He could never tell her anything except he'd made some positive changes in his life, and he was committed to being a good man for the rest of his days. He said he would understand if she didn't want to move forward with him, knowing he could never answer her questions."

"That's quite a story to tell someone you're dating."

"Isn't it? But what blew me away was her response. She was fine with it. She said she loved him so much she was willing to see what they could have. It makes no sense to me. I couldn't marry someone who told me he had a secret life I could never know about. It would make me crazy."

"Me, too. It's bad enough you never really know who you're marrying until you're in it, but to know going in that there are secrets—that would be a deal-breaker for me."

"My mom said she has no regrets. She reminded me of how great my dad has always been, how he's treated us so well, and how his love has always been there. She said he kept his promise to her to be the best man he could be."

"Until maybe now," Jason muttered. "Obviously, his past caught up to him."

"That has to be what happened, and he's still trying to outrun it. That's why he left. He must have thought that putting distance between us would make us safer."

"He's wrong. You're leverage against him. And there are two of you, which means one of you is…" Jason's voice trailed away. "Never mind. It doesn't matter what he thinks about keeping you safe. He's not doing a good job of it, and we need to find him."

"What were you going to say?" she asked. "I can fill in the blank, but I'm curious what word you were going to use."

---