Page 120 of Sinful Palace

My eyes widened. “You mean Wilmington, North Carolina?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that five hundred miles away?”

“A little under four hundred,” Jamie said. “But yes, it’s quite a long journey. It’ll take about six hours on the boat.”

“Why Wilmington?”

“A friend of mine owns a private airfield near there,” he said, dragging his fingertip to another point on the map. “That’s where we’ll fly out from to get to the first safe house. There’s no way Logan or anyone else will be checking logs or surveillance images from an airfield that far south, so we should be totally safe to go from there.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense.”

“Not bad for a quickie plan, huh?”

I smiled faintly. “It’s pretty good.”

Jamie went silent for a moment. “Willow, you understand that you can’t come back from this, right?” he finally said, forehead creasing. “Once you’re gone, that’s it. There’s no coming home, ever again.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do it?” he asked, concern flashing in his eyes. “It’s not too late to cancel the whole thing if you want to back out.”

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and lifted my chin. “Don’t cancel it. I need to get out.”

“All right.” He glanced at his watch. “We should probably go soon. Are you ready?”

“Not yet. I have one more question.”

“What?”

“People will realize I’ve gone missing pretty quickly, and they’ll start looking as soon as that happens. What if they check the White House surveillance footage from tonight and see us walking around together? They’ll know you’re involved if they see that.”

Jamie’s eyes crinkled around the corners. “Don’t worry. I already considered that. The security cameras are going to experience a serious malfunction tonight.”

My brows shot up. “You can do that?”

“Being Chief of Staff to the president comes with some benefits,” he said with a grin. “Now, are you ready to go?”

I took another deep breath. “Yes.”

He opened the bathroom door a crack and peered out. “The hallway’s clear. Let’s move.”

We hurried down the hall, heading for the nearest stairwell. Once we made it to the lower basement level, we turned right and headed over to a large storage area. Several dusty paintings were propped up against the wood-paneled wall on the far side.

Jamie pushed three of the paintings aside and pressed on one of the panels. It creaked and then swung open to reveal a pitch-black hole, just large enough for a person to squeeze through.

“Here,” Jamie said, handing me a flashlight. “Use this.”

I switched it on and aimed it at the hole. “Are you sure this is safe?” I asked, squinting at the stone steps leading down into the darkness.

He nodded. “Yes. It’s the best way of getting you out of here without anyone noticing.”

“Fair enough.”

“Go now,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Uh-huh. See you on the other side.” My breath hitched as I cautiously climbed through the hole and took a few steps down. Then I turned and looked back up at Jamie. “Wait a minute…”

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